Page 31 of Labor of Love

Zenith groaned. “Ugh. Don’t call me that.”

“He scribbles on everything,” said the intruder. “Napkins, cereal boxes, probably even your skin.”

Emre barely had time to register that Abbie’s crib was just outside the bedroom—she was the most vulnerable right now—when a gray-haired man popped into view, complete with bright eyes and a mischievous smile. He wore a vintage pilot outfit like he’d just stepped out of a movie.

“Why, hello!” said the man. “We haven’t been introduced. I’m Huxton. Scribbly Master’s butt-ler—butt with two T’s.”

“If you don’t shut up, I’m never going to employ you full-time,” Zenith grumbled.

Huxton flapped his hand dismissively. “Pfft! It’s your dream to employ me full-time, and that’s because I come bearing gifts.”

“Gifts?” Emre asked.

Huxton jingled a set of keys. Then he waved a thin plastic folder. “I brought a few of Scribbly Master’s baby pictures, if you want to see them.”

Emre straightened, suddenly very interested. “Baby pictures?”

Zenith slid out of Emre and sat upright, scowling. “Don’t you dare?—”

“Embarrassing childhood stories,” Huxton said slyly to Emre. “I know some of Scribbly Master’s worst ones. Would you like to hear them? They’ll make you cringe.”

“I’m trying to court him,” Zenith growled.

Huxton shook his head with a sigh. “Embarrassing childhood stories and pickup lines go hand-in-hand. They’re guaranteed to win your beloved’s heart.”

“No,” Zenith said.

Huxton glanced at Emre, still with that cunning smile. “Do you want to hear them?”

Emre gulped. “Um. Yes. Sorry!” he said to Zenith. “It’s just, you said we could get to know each other better.”

“I told you!” Huxton crowed in triumph.

“Not by slaughtering my dignity!” Zenith bared his teeth at his butler.

Only for Huxton to dance away. Emre could still hear his voice from the living room though. “Once upon a time, when Scribbly Master was a wee lil one, he accidentally swallowed his Papa’s precious gold ring.”

Zenith began climbing out of bed. “What the—How did you get that story?”

“Now, that ring was a very precious thing. It bore the flight’s crest, and it was a gift from a king that Zenith’s Papa used to serve. Unfortunately, it was a ring that captured lil Zenith’s fancy. He wriggled the ring up and down his Papa’s finger; while his Papa was distracted, lil Zenith popped the ring into his mouth and swallowed it.”

“Oh, gods,” Emre said, feeling sorry for both kid-Zenith, and the adult Zenith in the room.

“The entire household was in chaos. They tried turning him upside down, but the ring would not fall out.” Huxton popped his face back into the doorway and wriggled his eyebrows. “Guess how they got the ring back.”

“Please don’t,” Zenith said into his hands. His ears were bright red.

Emre was torn between finding out, and sparing Zenith the humiliation. Huxton decided it for him.

“It came out the other end,” the butler said with much glee. “Asa lump of metal.It had completely melted in his digestive tract.”

“Shut up,” Zenith growled. “He won’t want to be my mate after that story.”

Emre’s heart squeezed. He leaned over and wrapped his arms around Zenith, holding him close. “I’m still here.”

“Really?” Zenith peeked through a crack in his fingers. It was such an adorable look on him that Emre melted.

“Really,” Emre said.

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