Page 46 of Tail, Dark and Handsome: Celestial Mates
They ignored her.
Correction, Winter ignored her. Joseph yelled, “Do something! He’s going to claw my eyes out!”
“You do not deserve eyes,” Winter snarled.
Mari grabbed the nearest thing on the counter and brought it down on Winter’s back. Hard.
The bottle of olive oil bounced. The force failed to grab Winter’s attention. She frowned at the resin container, wishing it were glass and that she could swing it hard enough to shatter.
Mari unscrewed the cap and dumped the contents onto the writhing tangle of Winter and Joseph.
That got their attention. Winter leaped off Joseph and stood before her, shirt and hair covered in aromatic oil. Rosemary. Lemon. He removed his shirt and tried to wipe up the mess, which only made him spread the oil over his chest and arms.
He glistened and smelled delicious.
“I paid good money for that. It came from Earth,” she snapped.
“Then why did you dump it on me?”
“Because you were going to kill my stupid brother!”
“Your—” His tail slinked down to his side.
“Winter, my brother, Joseph. Joe, this is Winter Cayne. I’m flying his ship to Corra.”
“Apologies. I mistook him for your false mate,” Winter said.
“False mate?” Joseph said. He used a dish towel to mop up the oil on him, but he had about as much success as Winter.
“Sweet celestial bodies, Joe is my brother. Tomas is the guy—” Her voice gave out, because Winter tackled a stranger, thinking he was the man who hurt her. She should have been appalled at the barbaric behavior, not grinning from ear to ear. He shouldn’t have done it, and she shouldn’t have liked it. More disturbing, she failed to muster even a little concern about what she should and shouldn’t be feeling.
“Yes,” Winter said, answering a question she didn’t know how to ask.
“I’m fine, by the way. Bruised and covered in grease,” Joseph said, pushing himself into the conversation.
“Rosemary- and lemon-infused olive oil,” she said.
“Oh, that’s much better. If Mr. Growly Claws will move his ass, I’ll wash up at the sink.”
Winter stepped to the side, letting Joseph scrub off the oil in the sink, and Mari totally didn’t admire the way the light glistened on his arms, because she wouldn’t objectify her boss like that. Don’t be gross.
“How about you wash up in the cleansing room? You can clean your clothes, too. It’s through the bedroom,” she said to Winter, not watching his tail as he stalked away. Satisfied that she wasn’t a complete creeper, she turned to her brother. “What are you doing here?”
Joseph used way too much soap on his hands. “In case you missed it, I came to help you pack. I have a few days between runs.”
“That’s…nice.” She noticed the paper bag and bottle of wine on the ground. At least that hadn’t broken. Hooray for shatterproof glass. “You brought dinner.”
“The wine is ruined.” He picked up the bottle and sighed.
“It’s fine.”
“No, it’s skunked. All the particles and junk that settle at the bottle are all mixed up now. It’ll taste foul.”
He was such a snob. She took the bottle from him and placed it in a nearly empty cooling unit. “It’s fine. It just needs to chill for a bit.”
“So that’s the guy?”
“That’s my boss. Mom told you?” She peeked in the bag, stomach instantly growling at the aroma. Joseph brought fried chicken and sides from her favorite place.
