danger either. He knew he’d have to take a Weaver with him when visiting his clients.
Grey touched his arm, and he looked at him and realized that some of his emotions were leaking to Grey. “It’s going to be okay,” Grey reassured him softly.
“It has to be,” Cort said as he leaned over and kissed Grey. “It just has to be.”
Chapter 23
Grey accepted the plate Cort had rinsed under the faucet and placed it into the last open spot in the dishwasher. They’d drawn the short straw when it came to cleaning up from lunch, and Grey wasn’t complaining. It was nice to be able to do many of the things he’d simply taken for granted before with such ease. And it didn’t hurt that he was now sharing so many of these little domestic chores with Cort.
He’d had his sight back for three days now, and everything had been quiet. He was spending time exercising in the practice field with the others, making sure he still had a solid hold on his powers. There was some additional fight training, and Grey had been working with Cort in feeling comfortable using a gun.
His heart broke a little for his lover. Cort was a tender spirit. A healer like Dane. It wasn’t part of his natural makeup to hurt another living creature, but he didn’t doubt that Cort would squeeze the trigger if it came to protecting his new family. Grey just planned on doing everything within his power to keep Cort from being in that situation in the first place.
Right now, Grey’s big concern was Cort and his job. The man loved what he did, and Grey didn’t want to take him from it. But he was not willing to risk Cort’s life. His employer was perfectly fine with Cort’s leave of absence and had even offered to give him two weeks off rather than risk losing Cort. The problem was that Cort didn’t want to take the time away from his patients. They were going to be lucky if they kept him at the house for the full two weeks. As it was, Cort had been off for barely more than a week, and his man was already becoming twitchy.
There was no avoiding it. They needed to take care of John and the pestilents so Cort could resume something of his normal life.
But right at that second, Grey was determined to simply enjoy the time he had with his mate. Even if they were just doing the dishes.
“You know…I was thinking. We really need to decorate for the holidays,” Cort murmured. He grabbed a dish towel and dried off his hands while staring toward the family room.
“Yeah, Wiley was saying something about that last night. It’s our first Christmas together.” Grey grabbed the detergent and dropped two green-and-purple pods in before shutting the door to the dishwasher. He started the machine and leaned against the counter with Cort. “I think with my injury and all the craziness with the pestilents, no one has given much thought to the time of the year.”
Turning toward Grey, Cort rested his chin on Grey’s shoulder. “Well, you’re no longer injured and from what it sounds like, the pestilents are going to be causing problems for quite a while. At least until that final Weaver shows up. No sense in putting off happy times if you can get them.”
“Too true.” Grey turned his head and kissed Cort lightly. This was heaven. He never thought he’d have this. It was all so comfortable and well, maybe not easy. He and Cort were still skilled at butting heads, but it all felt natural. “How about when we all meet up at dinner, we suggest it to the other guys? See if there are some old decorations around here. Or if Wiley has ordered some. The guy seems to always have something scheduled for delivery.”
Cort’s face lit up like a little kid. “Maybe we could make a quick run for a big tree.”
Grey tensed, making a face. “Fake would be best,” he said quietly.
Cort winced, looking like he was torn between laughing and crying. “Earth Weaver…right? Probably wouldn’t react too well to us hanging lights on the corpse of one of his little friends.”
Grey laughed so hard, he had to grab the edge of the counter to keep his balance. “I wouldn’t put it quite like that, but I think he’d appreciate it if we stuck to fake trees rather than dead ones.” He brushed a kiss