pain?”
“The light still hurts some, but I’m sure it’s because my eyes aren’t used to it, but other than that, no. I’m all good.”
The other Weavers and their mates went inside, leaving Grey and Cort alone in the backyard. Grey let go of his hand and cupped both sides of his face, his eyes running over Cort’s features. “It’s so good to see you, I can’t get over it. Your face is nothing like I imagined. It’s even better.”
Cort leaned in and kissed Grey softly. “I’m glad you’re not disappointed since apparently, we’re stuck together for life.”
“How do you feel about that?”
“I’m thrilled about it. Are you?”
“Oh, hell yeah. I was hoping you could be mine.” Grey slanted his lips over Cort’s and Cort opened his mouth for him, shuddering when that warm tongue slid in to tangle with his. Grey’s hands slid to his neck, his thumbs rubbing over Cort’s chin. The kiss went on and on until Cort had to pull away to draw in air. He stared into those gray eyes, panting slightly. Grey stared with a small smile on his lips. “You have very, very pretty dark eyes.”
“Pretty?”
“Yep, definitely pretty. It’s the only word that fits with those long lashes. God, look at you.” He ran his fingers over Cort’s cheek, then down to his lips. “I was so afraid I’d never get to see your face. I’m tempted to say to hell with dinner and cart you upstairs to my bed.”
“How about we celebrate with your friends first, not that I’m not tempted myself.”
“The dinner is in my honor, so I guess I’d better be good.” He ran his finger over Cort’s lower lip. “But just so you know, the whole time I’ll be thinking about getting you naked so I can see everything.”
Cort groaned and leaned close to kiss him. Naked sounded damn good to him. They reluctantly pulled apart and went inside, where chaos reigned, though this time it was in the kitchen. The goddesses sort of cooked and sort of magically whipped things up. Cort looked at the feast slowly growing on the kitchen counters, his stomach rumbling. But the food couldn’t hold his attention long—not the way Grey stared at him. Something stretched between them, a profound connection that made him hold his breath.
“Whew, you two might need to get a room.” Lucien clapped his hand on Cort’s back. “Another soul mate, how about that?”
“I had a feeling,” Clay said. “You two were getting awfully close fast.”
“But without my sight, I had no way of knowing. Still, I had a feeling, too.” Grey tugged Cort close as if he couldn’t stand to not be touching him.
It didn’t take long for the food to be ready. There were so many dishes—roast beef with mashed potatoes and gravy, barbecued ribs that looked like they’d been on a smoker all day long, several vegetable side dishes and more desserts than Cort would have thought possible. Soon, they were all gathered around the dining room table, the mood so jovial, Cort just felt happy to be part of it all. He gorged himself on food and sweet tea and listened as the goddesses told tales of things they’d seen over their long lives.
“Have you ever seen a dragon?” Baer asked as he wiped his fingers on a napkin. He had a bit of sauce trapped in his beard, and Wiley leaned over to dab at it. Baer smiled at him and threatened to kiss him with his dirty face.
“No,” Flo said. “Dragons aren’t real. But there were these creatures that were similar once, though they’re long extinct.”
“Ooh, speaking of extinct creatures, I wonder if Baer could be a dinosaur!” Wiley picked up his glass of tea and took a sip. “Think you could be something that big?”
“I have no idea, but now I have to try it.”
“That’s all we need. A T-Rex running around the woods.” Lucien shook his head and speared a helping of roast beef. “Though you could eat the pestilents.”
Baer shuddered. “No, thank you. Gags me just thinking about it.”
Calder, holding a rib between two hands, looked at Baer. “I want to see you turn into a pterodactyl.”
This turned the conversation to the scariest dinosaurs, and Cort chuckled as he bit into some corn on the cob. All their knowledge seemed to come from the Jurassic Park movies. Of course, that was all he knew about dinosaurs, too.
He caught Grey watching him and nearly choked on the desire he could see smoldering