“So? Milkshakes?” Alex asked.
“And burgers,” Wyatt added. “El didn’t have anything to eat when she got up.”
Elspeth glanced at him with surprise. “How did you know?”
“You crept out of your bedroom and climbed down off the balcony,” he pointed out, ushering her toward the SUV. “I hardly think you made a quick trip to the kitchen first if you wanted your mother to think you were still sleeping.”
“No,” she admitted. “You’re right. I didn’t have anything to eat.”
“Wait a minute,” Alex said, drawing them all to a halt as they were about to get in the SUV. Once they’d all turned to peer at where she stood by the back of the vehicle, she asked Elspeth, “Does that mean you didn’t have anything to drink either?”
The way she emphasized the word “drink,” told Elspeth that Alex meant blood. It also drew Elspeth’s attention to the mild cramping she was experiencing and had been trying to ignore. Grimacing, she shrugged and simply said, “I can wait till we get back to the apartment.”
“Oh, hells, no,” Alex said at once, and opened the back of the SUV. “Why would you when there’s no need?”
Eyebrows rising, Elspeth moved to join her, aware that Wyatt was following.
“Hide them under your coat until you get back in the SUV,” Alex said, handing her two bags. “I’ll bring the other two.”
“Thanks.” Elspeth tucked both bags inside her jacket, and turned to move around to the back door on the driver’s side. Wyatt opened it for her, closed it and then walked around to get in the other side as Alex slid into the front passenger seat and passed two more bags back to her.
“Suck ’em back,” Alex said lightly before turning to put on her seat belt.
Nodding, Elspeth slapped the first bag to her fangs. Holding it in place, she then tried to do up her seat belt one-handed. A difficult task, so she was grateful when Wyatt brushed her hand out of the way. At least, she was until he bent his head and leaned in to take over the task for her. His nearness and his hands moving against her waist as he worked the seat belt were more than a little unsettling, and she stared down at the top of his head as her body responded to both.
Once done with the task Wyatt sat back and watched her solemnly and then suddenly asked, “So is our being life mates the reason my body responds the way it does to touching you in even the most casual way? I mean I’ve never got a semi boner just helping a woman with her seat belt before.”
Elspeth found her gaze dropping automatically to his lap and felt herself flush when she saw the expanding bulge there. She wasn’t sure if that was the reason for the heat that suddenly filler her cheeks, or his bluntness. The man certainly didn’t seem to be shy about discussing this stuff. Although, he had kept his voice low, probably in an effort to keep this conversation between them. He failed miserably, of course. Their hearing was as advanced as the rest of their skills and abilities and Elspeth noticed the way Alex turned around to peer at the man wide-eyed.
With the bag at her mouth still a quarter full, all Elspeth could do to answer, was nod, silently. But Sam decided to help her out. Or perhaps she did so to let Wyatt know they could hear him no matter how low he pitched his voice. “Life mates are very,” she hesitated and then finished, “responsive to each other.”
“Life mates are horny dogs around each other,” Alex countered, her voice full of dry amusement. “Horny dogs in heat. They can’t resist each other. They can try, but in the end, if they don’t deal with their attraction and the needs it stirs in them, they can lose it and go at each other at the most inopportune times and in the most unfortunate places.” Grimacing, she added, “Actually, even after they give in to it, they can lose it at the most inopportune times and in the most unfortunate places.”
“Yeah, like you and Cale in the restaurant kitchen when you had Thanksgiving dinner for the family there, the first year you and Cale were together,” Sam said with a grin. Glancing in the rearview mirror at them, she added, “Dinner was delayed until they regained consciousness and we could fetch the food. Of course, it was a dried-out mess by then.”
“Christmas at Nicholas and Jo’s was no better thanks to you and Mortimer,” Alex countered. Turning sideways in the front seat as far as her seat belt would allow, she told them, “Jo asked Mortimer to carry the turkey out, and gave Sam the potatoes. I followed a couple of minutes later with the gravy, but stopped when I saw what they’d got up to and backed up into the kitchen to wait.”
“That was Mortimer’s fault,” Sam said in self-defense. “I put the potatoes on the table, turned to leave and he was there. He gave me a kiss, and . . . Honestly, I think he meant it to be just a quick peck, but it’s never just a quick peck with new life mates,” Sam said on a sigh.
“No, it’s not,” Alex agreed, and then burst out laughing, before adding, “I wasn’t too worried at first. I thought, so okay, dinner’s going to be a little late and cold. Right?” she asked and when Elspeth and Wyatt nodded, wide-eyed, she continued, “But, no! We ended up having to order in because it wound up all over the floor when the table broke under Sam and Mortimer’s weight. Or perhaps the activity was just too vigorous, but whatever the case, it just collapsed with a crash.”
“I was washing cranberry sauce and mashed potato out of my hair for days after that,” Sam said with a grimace, and then pointed out, “But at least we didn’t end up with fourth stage frostbite like Jo and Nicholas did after that New Year party Marguerite held.”
“Oh, God! The New Year party,” Alex said with a groan. “That was a bloody mess.”
Wide-eyed, Elspeth ripped the empty bag from her mouth and asked, “What happened at New Years?”
“Marguerite had a big party for everyone on New Year a couple years back,” Sam explained. “There were dozens of us there. Too many to sit at a table, so she had a buffet so we could grab a plate, fill it up and eat while we circulated. It was really nice, actually, getting to see everyone and visit.”
“Yeah,” Alex grinned. “And then midnight struck.”
“What happened at midnight?” Wyatt asked with curiosity when she paused briefly.
“All the couples gave each other their New Year kisses,” she said dryly. “We have a lot of new life mate couples recently. Marguerite’s been acing it in that department. Well, the minute they kissed . . .” She shook her head. “Marguerite has a lot of rooms in her house, but not that many.”
“I swear every closet, bathroom, and just room, period, in that house had an unconscious couple in it fifteen minutes after midnight,” Sam said with something like awe.
“Yeah, but there were also others who couldn’t find rooms and took it outside,” Alex said with a grimace. “They passed out in the snow and woke up later with frostbite and whatnot. Jo and Nicholas were among them and would have lost their toes and fingers at least if they were mortal.”
Wyatt’s eyes narrowed. “So it’s normal for life mates to pass out after sex?”
Something about the way he phrased the question made Elspeth glance to him with a frown. It sounded almost like he had experience of that and had thought that passing out was something unusual. But they hadn’t had sex yet. Her gaze slid to Alex and she noted that the other woman was peering at Wyatt with concentration, and surprise. She was obviously reading his mind, but whatever she was reading was apparently unexpected.
Elspeth was about to ask what that was, when Sam announced, “Here we are. The finest diner in the GTA.”
“What’s the GTA?” Wyatt asked, glancing out at the restaurant Sam was parking in front of.
“Greater Toronto Area,” Alex explained, and then glanced to Elspeth and scowled. “You’ve only had one bag of blood.”
“Oh.” She peered down at the three bags she still held and grimaced. She’d got distracted with the tales of life mate hijinks.
“Suck ’em back now before we go in,” Alex ordered.
“Wait!” Sam interrupted as Elspeth started to raise another bag. “Tell me what you want first and I’ll go in, get us a table and order while you finish up out here. We only have a half hour. I don’t want Martine bothering Mortimer again because we’re late.”