able to smell the man before. That he couldn’t look his fill. So, he did now, staring.
“What?” Cort whispered.
“Just love looking at you,” he replied.
Cort gave him a private smile and turned to listen to some story Baer was telling. Grey wasn’t paying attention, too caught up in feeling thankful that he’d gotten his sight back. Feeling thankful that he’d found his soul mate. And feeling thankful that he’d found this group of men who made him feel so connected to the world.
He took a bite of his roll, the cinnamon sweet on his tongue, and chewed slowly. Clay got up to baste the turkey, sending another wave of that fantastic smell through the house.
Wiley stood suddenly, looking all kinds of nervous. “Okay, I got you all something. I know we said we weren’t exchanging gifts, but this is just a little something I’d already done.”
He handed out the presents, even giving one to Cort. Grey opened his to find a framed character drawing of him with a colorful aura around him. Cort had a drawing of him and Grey with Grey’s arm draping his shoulders. The drawings were really damn good, each caricature looking so much like the real thing, it was uncanny.
“These are great, babe.” Baer held up an image of him morphing into a tiger.
Clay returned to open his, showing everyone an image of him entwined with tree roots. It was a gorgeous picture.
Calder was surfing with water tentacles coming from his fingers.
Lucien held a fireball while the trees around him burned.
“Of course the trees would be burning,” Clay growled.
Dane had a toolbelt and was hammering something into a wall filled with a gorgeous mural of the woods outside their home.
Each drawing had individual characteristics, and each could have easily been in one of Wiley’s comic books.
“Thank you for doing these,” Clay said. “I love them. We should hang them all up here in the family room.”
Everyone agreed. Dane grabbed a hammer and some nails and even used a level to hang each one up. He also measured between them. Grey couldn’t help but laugh because he was so damn meticulous. Clay had an indulgent smile on his face as he watched his husband do his thing.
When they were all up, they looked fantastic. Grey draped his arm around Cort’s shoulders as they looked. Dane had hung them up in a staggered fashion that was somehow perfectly in alignment.
“I’ll add to this wall when the new Weaver and soul mates come,” Wiley said as he straightened one of the frames with a frown from Dane. He just laughed and moved it back.
“You’re assuming the rest of us are getting soul mates.” Lucien scrubbed a hand over his jaw. “I can’t imagine how I’ll meet mine stuck here so much.”
“It’s all worked out so far,” Wiley pointed out. “Maybe the goddesses will start getting more involved in that part of this.”
“You mean like steer them here?”
“Jo did point me toward the bakery, after all.” Wiley grinned at Baer. “We found each other pretty fast after that.”
“I’m surprised they aren’t here. Wonder what they do when they’re not around.”
“Interesting goddess-type stuff.” Wiley laughed.
“I’ve got to check the turkey again,” Clay told them as he turned to leave the room.
Everyone followed until they were all in the kitchen. Soon, they were all mixing dishes for their big meal, the music still playing and the talk about inconsequential things. Just enjoying each other’s company on a holiday.
Grey caught Cort watching him and he lifted an eyebrow. Cort nodded toward the dining room, and he followed him in there only to get pinned against the wall once they were alone. Cort kissed him, and the kiss went straight to Grey’s head.
“What was that for?” he whispered when Cort pulled away.
“It had been a couple of hours since I’d done that. Needed to feel you. I can’t seem to get enough of you right now, and I’m tempted to cart you to the apartment for a while.”
“Think they’d notice if we disappeared and didn’t help with the dinner?”
“I don’t think they’d care. But I just needed the kiss.”
Grey slanted their mouths together again, sighing as Cort’s tongue slipped into his mouth.
“Found them,” Baer said, humor lacing his tone. “Making out in the dining room.”
They pulled apart and Cort took his hand as they made their way into the kitchen to the good-natured ribbing of the others.
“Yeah, yeah, get it out of your systems,” Grey muttered. “It’s still so new, you know?”
“We do,” Clay