Page 12 of You Otter Know
River nodded. “Just waiting for midnight.”
Bohdi ordered food, and the next thing they knew, they were back together again, just hanging out, snuggling, which was something he loved. Otters liked to snuggle anyway, and they liked to hold hands. All that stuff people saw on the zoo cams with otters holding humans’ hands? It was true.
Beyond all of that, being with Bohdi left this warm fuzzy feeling in his chest — not the kind that came from having a fever and a deep lung infection, but the kind that came from being with someone he wanted to be with and not wanting to give this up.
“Do you have any fun traditions on New Year’s Eve?” River asked. He didn’t feel terrible pressure to speak with Bohdi, but he wanted to know more every day about this man.
“My family always just drinks a little bit of champagne and then turns into pumpkins right after midnight. My dad bitches about the fireworks everyone sets off, and my mom packs all the food away in plastic wrap. I tend to hide in the guest room until it’s time for me to go back where I belong.” Bohdi’s wry chuckle just scraped over his nerves a little bit. He wished that Bohdi sounded happier. He supposed it had to be hard to be the only shifter who didn’t shift in a family who did. But had they really made Bohdi feel that bad about himself?
“My family is big and boisterous and does food all the way up until the midnight hour. My folks love to watch those silly New Year’s shows that used to have that Dick Clark guy, and now I think it’s someone else, Ryan Seacrest maybe? I don’t know.”His dad also brought some Brazilian traditions with him. But really, it was all about the wine.
“So, what do we want to do tonight?” Bohdi asked.
River chuckled, patting Bohdi’s belly. “Well, since it’s just the two of us, nobody’s gonna care whether we stay up till midnight or not. I thought we’d ring in the new year making love.”
Bohdi’ cheeks heated, flushing a nice deep pink, and River had to admit he admired that. He loved a man who could blush.
“I think that sounds amazing. I’ve never done that before.”
“Neither have I, truth be told.” River shrugged. “I never wanted to spend the holidays with anybody but my family until you. So I think that we’re charting new territory.”
Bohdi cupped his cheek in one hand, staring into his eyes. “I guess we both were here to be alone huh?” he said. “I’m glad you’re here River. I’m glad we didn’t have to spend the holiday apart. I thought it was a mistake, but I think it was fate.”
He took Bohdi’s hand in his and kissed the center of Bohdi’s palm. “I think so too,” he said. “I’m glad it’s you, Bohdi. I can’t imagine having spent the holidays with anyone else.”
Now he just had to figure out after New Years how to make Bohdi keep in touch with him and until he could figure out how to get him and his mate in the same place permanently.
Chapter
Seven
“Mom? Can I talk to you a minute?” Bohdi was at his folks’ house doing an after-Christmas gift exchange. That was weird because it was almost Valentine’s Day, but he really hadn’t had time to get to their place before now.
“Sure, baby, what’s going on?” His mom, a bright-eyed otter shifter in her early middle age, pushed her hair back off her face, the gray strands right around her temples showing off really beautiful and silver.
“I think I’m pregnant.”
When he’d started throwing up a couple of days before this, he’d gone and gotten a pregnancy test at the drugstore. He hadn’t been running a fever, he hadn’t eaten anything bad, and the only thing he could think which would make him so instantly nauseated was the big P-word.
His mom’s eyes widened to where he thought they might pop out of her head, and she stared at him. “Sweetie? Are you going to be the next virgin birth?”
He rolled his eyes. “Ha ha, Mom. I’m not a virgin, obviously, and I haven’t been for a long time.”
She pursed her lips, her hands on her hips. “Yes, but you’ve always chosen to be with humans who couldn’t get you pregnant. Before now, when did you meet someone who could?”
“Over Christmas, I stayed at a lodge in Oregon and I met a giant otter named River.”
Now she blinked rapidly. “You never mentioned you’d met somebody.”
His cheeks heated painfully, the flush so hard he felt like he might burst into flames. “It’s not the kind of thing you tell your mom if you don’t intend to bring him home to her. He’s a shifter, Mom. His favorite thing is to go to the water and turn into an otter and swim around. I can’t do that.”
Sympathy clouded her gaze, and he was glad at least to see it wasn’t pity. “Oh, son,” she said. “Did you give him an opportunity to tell you he couldn’t accept that, or did you just assume?”
“I snuck out.” He ducked his head when she made a sharp exclamation, wordless as it was. “I know. I suck. I should have at least told him I was going, but after the time we spent together and how wonderful it was, I didn’t want to ruin it by having to do a weird goodbye.”
“Son.” She flapped a hand in the air. “That’s not okay. Do you even know how to get a hold of him?”
Miserable, he hunched his shoulder, his hands in his pockets. Nausea was coiling in his belly again, and he knew he was going to have to bolt for it and puke his guts up any minute. “I really don’t. I mean, I know his whole name, and I’m pretty sure I know where he’s from. His dad’s Brazilian and grew up on a vineyard. But no, I really don’t know anything else.”
