“Yeah, right,” she said on a laugh. She was definitely cooking, Allie decided, and turned back to Liam, pausing briefly when she spotted Teddy Jr., Sunny, and Gracie peeking into the room from the hall. She smiled at them briefly, but then said, “Okay, Liam, go get dressed and I’ll find some clothes and get dressed too, then we’ll go downstairs and make pancakes.”
“I don’t know where my clothes are,” Liam said at once.
“They are up in the room you slept in,” Magnus told him. “The Walmart bags in the corner of Stephanie’s room. Find something to wear and then bring the bags down here. Your mother’s clothes are in the bags too.”
“Okay.” Liam spun away and rushed out of the room.
“Mabel did not know which bags held his clothes and which held yours and did not want to poke through them so took them all up,” Magnus explained as the door closed.
“Oh.” Allie nodded and then blinked as her eyes landed on the towel around his waist and she noted that it was presently imitating a tent.
“Do you think he noticed?” Magnus asked dryly, peering down at himself.
Allie burst out laughing at the question, and slid out of bed to head for the bathroom. “I’m sure he did. He rarely misses anything. I’m just surprised he didn’t ask you about it.” Pausing at the bathroom door, she turned back and warned, “But prepare yourself, because he’ll probably ask you later, and no doubt when it will be most embarrassing. Like at the breakfast table when everyone’s there.”
She heard Magnus groan as she closed the bathroom door and grinned as she turned on the shower. By her guess, she had just enough time for a quick shower before Liam returned. It was going to be a cold one.
“Where is everybody?”
Allie looked up from the crossword puzzle she was doing at that question, and smiled at Tricia as the blonde closed the kitchen door and bent to remove her boots. “Well, let’s see. Stephanie, Victor, and DJ are sleeping. They stood guard all last night, so headed to bed as soon as Tybo, Drina, and Harper got up to relieve them. Mabel and Elvi went to Mabel’s house to get a few things for dinner tonight. Tybo stepped out just a minute ago to check on something and said he’d be right back. The kids are in the rec room downstairs playing hoot owl, and Magnus went shopping.”
Tricia’s eyebrows rose at this news. “Shopping for what?”
“I don’t know. He wouldn’t tell me,” she said with a shrug. “He just kept smiling and saying you will see.”
“Oh. I see,” Tricia said with a knowing smile as she shrugged out of her coat.
Allie narrowed her eyes. “What are you thinking? Sex toys?”
A laugh burst from Tricia and she shook her head. “Why, Allie, who knew you had such a dirty mind?”
“You did,” Allie said dryly as the blonde walked over and dropped into a seat at the table. “Or you should. You’ve been reading my mind since we met.”
“I don’t remember reading any dirty thoughts before you turned,” Tricia assured her with amusement. “But I can read that you’re just teasing me now.”
“Yeah,” Allie sighed. “I was never really interested in sex before Magnus. Now I’m a raving horndog. Is that the nanos? And how long does it last?” she asked with frustration.
Tricia and Drina had said to ask them if she had questions, and she had questions. Mostly how long this torture was going to persist. All Magnus had to do was smile at her and her nipples got hard. The brush of his arm against hers made her shiver and get wet, and a kiss, even a light peck on the forehead or cheek, was enough to make her want to drag him upstairs and jump his bones. Allie knew this because the man had driven her crazy all morning before going out shopping. He’d helped her make pancakes this morning and she’d discovered the kitchen was much smaller than it seemed. They’d constantly been bumping into each other, and when they weren’t, he was touching her. Innocent little touches—the sweep of his fingers down her arm, his hand at her back, brushing against her as he reached for something. She’d been in a constant state of arousal since coming downstairs, and it hadn’t left when he had. She’d been sitting here pretending to do a crossword puzzle, but her mind was not on it.