Page 60 of Claiming Xan
The sparkle in his eye told me that he had no intention of sleeping, whatsoever—and I loved him all the more for it.
“Sounds amazing.”
34
XAN
The Howell Halloweenparty was quickly approaching.
I’d spent the last couple of days excitedly planning out me and River’s costumes—because of course, we had to do couples’ costumes. Duh! I just needed to get River on board with it.
Operation Save Halloween was underway!
At first, I was kinda bumming about what sort of costumes I could pull off, because my belly was getting pretty big, but in the end, I decided to embrace my newfound shape and go as a genie. My midriff out and exposed, my lower face covered in a gauzy, sheer fabric, with gemstones clustered around my eyes and down my cheeks.
I lounged on the couch with my sketchbook, doodling ideas with a pencil while scrolling Pinterest on my phone for inspiration.
I glanced up at River, who sat at the end of the couch. My feet were planted in his lap. I wiggled my toes. He didn’t move. So I lightly rolled my heel against his groin, biting down on my lip with a grin as I did so.
That got his attention. “Hi, Beefcake,” I teased.
He huffed. “Hello, Xander.” He made sure to grind out the last part of my name, knowing how much I hated it, but I only laughed and let my sketchbook fall into my lap.
“Sooo, tell me, because I’m oh, so curious. What was your favorite Halloween costume growing up?” I asked.
River blinked, obviously taken aback by the question. He let out a small hum. “I’m…not sure, honestly. I haven’t gone trick-or-treating since I was ten years old,” he admitted, and I felt a twinge of sadness for little-him.
“Do you remember what you dressed up as?” I hesitated, wondering if this might be too painful for him to think about. Damn my curiosity. I quickly added, “It’s okay if you don’t. I’m just nosy, that’s all. I wanna know more about you.”
River’s smile slanted. He let out a sort of half-laugh, then shrugged and rubbed my feet. “I think I was Batman, which meant Sky would’ve been Robin. We always did twin costumes. It was our thing.”
Bingo.
Knocking the sketchpad onto the floor, I crawled over to my Alpha and draped myself over his lap. “Well… We could always do a couples’ costume for the Halloween party? Mom always does costume contests, and couples’ costumes is one of the categories we could win.”
I batted my lashes at him. “If I’m a beautiful genie, you could be my dashing Arabian knight?” I winked for good measure, earning myself a true River laugh.
He shook his head, but I leaned in close. “Really, babe. Let’s get online and find some ideas!” Rolling so that I was tucked snugly between River’s body and the arm of the couch, I cuddled in and pulled out my phone, bringing up Pinterest once more, and we began to search anew.
It didn’t take long. I could tell River’s interest was piqued. “Alright,” he said.
I brightened, grinning. “Really?”
“Sure, why not? If it’ll make you happy?—”
“It will!” I yipped. “Yay!” I threw my arms around his neck and kissed him, none too gently, and the rest of the afternoon was spent together, just like that.
After lunch,we went out for another driving lesson. I had to give River credit—the guy was trying. He was just so damn nervy and stressed the minute he got behind the wheel of the car. He had a lead foot, slamming the breaks and hitting the gas too hard, making the car jerk and jolt. It was like his brain shorted out once he was in the driver’s seat.
But he got better every time we had a driving lesson, and I was quick to praise him. And this time, I had an idea.
“Alright, go straight,” I instructed. River did as I asked, and the car bounced down the gravel road. “Now turn here.”
“Where are we going?” River asked, turning to me, his brow furrowed.
“Oh, you’ll see,” I singsonged. “Eyes on the road.”
I directed him to a small park and had him drive all the way to the end of it, where we were surrounded by nothing but woods and the empty baseball diamonds. It was the middle of a school day, so there were no kids out playing.
