Page 19 of Surprise Mother Pucker

Twenty minutes later, we were sitting at a table, a glass of red wine in my hand and a game of Scrabble laid out in front of us.

Eli had let me pick the first game.

“I’m going to judge you on your vocabulary,” I informed him as I perused my letters.

Eli smirked, resting his chin on his hand as he did the same. “I fully expect that. In fact, I would be shocked if you didn’t. Though, most of my vocabulary consists of mathematical terms that sound like a foreign language.”

I snorted. “A dictionary may be needed.”

“Luckily for you, we have dictionaries on our phones,” Eli said as he adjusted his tiles, reordering the letters as he tried to decipher what words they could make.

As he did that, I pulled the menu toward me. “There’s a good selection of food,” I commented.

“There is,” Eli agreed. “But I would say, avoid the fish. The chicken is always perfect, though.”

I quirked an eyebrow. “Is there a story behind why you won’t recommend the fish?” I asked.

“My pack mate, Charlie, had the fish tacos the first time I dragged him here, and let’s just say, he was sick as a dog later that night.”

“Definitely no fish, in that case.” I winced. “Do you think the barbecue chicken panini is safe?”

“More than safe. That’s actually what I tend to get.”

I nodded, a smile tugging at the corners of my mouth.

“I’ll get that then, and maybe a side of fries. Fries make everything better.”

“I agree with you there. Stay here, I’ll go put the order in.” He stood up gracefully and ambled to the counter before I could even pull out my wallet to pay for my food.

“Let me know how much I owe you,” I said as he returned, sliding into his chair with far more grace than I ever could.

He paused, giving me a disbelieving look for a moment before chuckling. “Yeah, that’s not happening, killer. I invited you out, I pay.”

I wanted to protest, but the look he gave me silenced my complaints. It would clearly be useless because Eli was set on this.

“Ladies first,” he said, gesturing to the board.

Taking a sip of my wine, I looked down at my tiles. One word immediately jumped out to me. I snorted, picking up the tiles and laying them down with a smirk to spell the wordkiller.

“That seemed apt.” I chuckled.

Eli bit his lip, trying to contain his laughter. “You’re right, there.”

We played a few words each, taking sips of our drinks in between.

“So, you mentioned your pack mate Charlie… How many members are in your pack?” I asked.

Eli smiled as he tapped a tile against the table, his eyes locked on mine. “I have three pack mates. Charlie, who I’ve mentioned, is the same age as me. He’s studying sports medicine. Micha is younger, and he’s studying computer science. Then there’s Storm. He’s a hockey player and a sports therapy student. They’re a pack of idiots, but they’re family.” His face was serene as he spoke about them.

“How long have you been a pack?”

“Two or three years. We’d planned to officially pack up and file the paperwork after we all finished studying, then I decided to do a PhD, and we wanted to live together. The university offers pack housing, so we made the jump early. We don’t regret it at all, though. What about you? What’s your family like?”

I swallowed a large gulp of wine as I tried to think of my answer. “It’s just me and Charlotte.”

Eli’s face lit up. “Is that your child’s name?”

I nodded. “She’s nearly seven months old now,” I said as I pulled out my phone and located the photo I had taken of her chewing on her toys earlier that night, turning my screen around so Eli could see.

---