Page 12 of Old Secrets

“You’re right. We can sponsor entire families in need. I shouldn’t have thought of such a limit. We’ll just have to make sure the sponsorships are located far enough apart she has to work to meet them all.”

“I’m not sure how that’s how the sponsorships work, babe.”

I stared into his eyes. “It is now.”

“Please marry me.”

I laughed at the memory of how we’d fallen together in the first place. “Once your mother has at least a hundred sponsorships to contend with, we can go run away and do a little ceremony properly somewhere. It’s an excuse to put you in a suit. I’d also like to remind you that we have done the get married thing once already. It remains a disaster, although our therapist seems to think there’s hope for us, assuming we ever leave our bedroom.”

“But why would we want to leave our bedroom?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. The last time she asked me that, I pointed at our RV and asked her if she’s ever seen you with your shirt off. Then I freaked out because she has seen you with your shirt off, and then I cried because of the competition.”

“You have no competition, Karma.”

“I know that, my fox knows that, but some stupid part of my brain is utterly convinced there’s competition who is going to steal you,” I reminded him.

“I like reassuring you several times a day. You get very cuddly when you need reassurance.”

I bet he liked it. “If it turns out I look just like my mother and anyone else in my family, it’s not going to end well, Jake. The only reason I handle Amelia around so well is that she just keeps getting these absolutely disgusted looks when you don’t have your shirt on.”

“I am really not her type. And her wolf knows I’m claimed property. Your fox has acknowledged Amelia isn’t a threat, so you don’t think she’s a threat. Your fox still views Mellisa as a threat. She’s really not.”

“Logically, I know this.”

“It’s probably because you can’t smell the mating bond like Fenerec can.” Jake captured my hand in his and brought it to his mouth, giving me a kiss and taking a sniff. “You smell like a fox who has rolled around in the scent of a handsome male wolf.”

I could distinguish the various scents of the wolves, identifying Jake by his unique signature, but I couldn’t detect his scent on me or mine on him. Everyone promised it was there, but my nose refused to acknowledge it. “Do you think we’re missing some form of step that would make me be able to smell it?”

“It’s possible. The mating bond didn’t take hold until you’d decided you wanted to find out what being submissive would win you. You’re usually anything but submissive. Maybe it has to deal with how you struggle to balance your submissive and dominant sides? It’s something worth exploring.” He gave my hand another kiss and released my hand. “We can try that the next time we cuddle.”

“Experimental cuddling while we join the mile high club?” I snickered. “They put intimate cuddling right on our itinerary, Jake. We’re being expected to be perverts on a plane.”

“Talk about them being damned good hosts, though. This is definitely going to be the best flight experience of my life. I can’t imagine any flight ever topping this.”

I couldn’t, either. “We should definitely experiment with our intimate cuddling session. What do you have in mind?”

“We shall take turns pampering each other. There shall be zero selfishness allowed on this flight.”

“We’ve already lost that whole idea, Jake. Being the pampered party is a complete act of selfishness.”

Jake frowned, and then he shrugged. “I more meant we had to try to figure out what the absolute best way of pampering each other is without indulging in our personal cravings at the time.”

While it took me a few minutes, I realized what he meant. “Oh, that is a good idea. Does the pampered party get to help with the guessing?”

“It’ll be like paint by numbers but with cuddling.”

“You have good ideas. You should make these suggestions more often.”

“We’ll need to set timers or one of us will get carried away.” Jake smirked at me.

As I couldn’t figure out which one of us he meant, I shrugged. “I’m sure we’ll figure it out as we go. We’re getting good at that.”

“That we are.”

FOUR

“Our hosts find us to be funny.”