Page 99 of Hiding From Laughter

“Yes.”

I was the best Dom ever for not stranglinghim when he sighed again.

“Okay. Let me think.” Closing his eyesagain, he released my hand and started counting on his fingers as his brainbegan processing the question. “I liked the biker kind of theme you had goingat the beginning. You fuck my throat really well. Good job.”

Lord.

“Thank you.”

Still wasn’t helping my desire to stranglehim, though.

“I liked how the bathroom was decorated andnot having to worry about cleaning up the mess. Even though you did a good jobwith the spray thing and I liked losing control. That’s two. No, that’s three.”The way he shifted his fingers around said he had been counting. “Wait. Hadthat been four?”

Shaking his head as he mumbled somethingabout the bathroom compliment, he decided to figure it out later and kept goingon his curious list.

“I liked the way you saved me even thoughit turns out Cooper doesn’t bite. That was nice and you were really brave.” Hisdefinition of bravery was highly flexible. “He’s got big teeth.”

Cooper did not have big teeth.

“That’s five. At least five.” Lifting hishead, he turned back to me. “Five is enough to make you feel better, right?”

Deep breath in.

Slow exhale out.

“Okay, maybe you need more.” Ashtonfrowned, probably because thinking on his feet when he was tired never workedwell. “I liked the cookies you brought. I liked the alpha marking his matething.”

Head cocking to the other side, he frowned.“Doing that on the fly was probably a good idea. I might’ve overthought thatone if we’d actually planned it out. You made good points, though. Authors havereally gone vanilla when it comes to shifter sex and alpha omega sex.”

“That omegaverse stuff?” Fuck it. “No.You’re not distracting me with knots and slick.”

The stuff he made me say.

“Not my fault. It’s a logical topic for thediscussion.” Shrugging, Ashton didn’t look sorry at all. “You brought up thealphas too. But you seem like you need one more…um…I liked the way you tookcare of me.”

Leaning over again, he kissed my cheek,aiming to look sweet and talk me down off the ledge he thought I was on. “Youalways take good care of me. I know it’s because you love me. But I’m kind of apain in the ass and you still take good care of me. So thank you.”

I would never be able to understand how hemade me want to strangle him one second and lap him so I could tell him howmuch I loved him the next. “I do love you. I even love you when you’re nuts. Itmakes life fun.”

As he scoffed, I took his lips in a long,slow kiss. Something about the whole thing made him giggle and he pulled back,resting his forehead on mine. “You’re so ridiculous. That’s one of the reasonsthat I love you. It makes life fun.”

“I’m glad. Because you make me ridiculous.”As he snickered, I stole another kiss. “You also take good care of me. Howabout you treat me to the drive-thru and get me two big burgers? I’ll treat youto chicken nuggets and a big fry.”

He gave me a teasing glare. “I’m notlittle.”

“You have the palate of a toddler no matterwhat headspace you’re in.” As he laughed and nodded, he snuggled close andrested his head on my shoulder. “You’re also snuggly when you’re big orlittle.”

“I’m snuggly now.” Yawning, he pressed hisface against my neck, nuzzling and kissing me softly. “But I get my rewardstomorrow. I was really good. A good helper. A good player. A good…I was good.”

And not as big as he’d claimed to be.

“Deal.” Letting him relax against me, Islowly stroked his back and mentally debated if he’d last even five minutesbefore he fell asleep. “We’ll do rewards tomorrow and have a relaxing datesomewhere.”

“The zoo.” His yawned-out answer was soridiculous I couldn’t even roll my eyes. “That’s relaxing. I like the…I likethe monkeys.”

If he made it out of bed before ten I’dconsider it. “I like the zoo.”

But I wasn’t making any promises.

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