Page 36 of Peach Tree Family

Chapter 9

Finally sleeping on something other than the floor, Theo would have called that a good night's sleep if he didn't get woken up by the cat jumping on his legs. He was well into a string of expletives before he noticed Ace staring at him with bleary eyes.

"Your cat jumped on me," Theo said to him as he got to his feet and placed the cat next to Ace.

There was no point trying to sleep now. He might as well go and shower.

On his way, Theo stopped as he saw that Seth's bedroom door was open. He was on the mattress, turned on his side, one leg sticking out from under the covers. He was wearing sweatpants, so the sight shouldn't have done a thing for Theo.

But there was something about seeing him asleep, his lips parted, the same lips Theo had felt against his own. Damn it. Now he was going to be jerking off in the shower to nonstop fantasies about Seth.

Theo finished up his shower and got busy on his laptop while Seth and Ace took turns in the bathroom. His battery was running low and he was getting the charger from the bedroom when he heard noise coming from the kitchen. Going in to check, he found Seth holding Butter, and Ace laughing.

"What happened?" Theo asked as he poured himself some coffee.

"Butter jumped on Seth," Ace told him.

"The cat was on top of the kitchen cabinets and she jumped on me. Startled me," Seth said but he obviously wasn't holding a grudge since he was petting her.

"You get extra points for not swearing," Theo said to him.

"When Butter jumped on him in bed, Theo said bad words. It was funny," Ace snitched on him. "She jumped on me too, but I didn't say anything bad."

"I guess we'll need to watch out for her," Seth said but kept petting her like she was a perfectly good and well behaved cat. "She got us all up early, too, She's better than an alarm clock."

"I don't want to be woken up by twenty pounds of cat landing on me," Theo groused.

"She was just playing," Ace said, defending her. He took her from Seth and cuddled her protectively as he went into the living room.

"I'm making eggs. That OK?" Seth asked getting the carton out of the fridge.

"Sure. This is almost like a lazy Sunday morning except we have to go to work," Theo said as he watched Seth crack eggs into a bowl and then whisk them with a fork.

"We have a little time before we have to go, and it's nice to start the day without a freezing cold shower," Seth said.

"Looking on the bright side again?" Theo asked him.

"I guess."

"But it is good to have hot water," Theo admitted. "I didn't even want to come out of the shower until I thought of the water bill." He made sure not to dwell on what he did in there and who he was thinking about.

"I didn't linger but I was sorely tempted," Seth said.

"That's because this house is pretty damn cold," Theo said as he noticed how nice it was to be next to the stove while Seth was heating up the pan for the eggs. It was also nice to be next to Seth, but Theo dragged himself away and opened his laptop on the kitchen counter and plugged it in to charge. "We have electricity but no heat. A guy is supposed to come and unclog the chimney on Monday. Then we can have a fire. I hope."

"Should I go get some firewood after breakfast?" Seth asked.

"You have an ax?"

Seth chuckled. "No, but with you giving me a lift, I have some time before I need to be at work. I can pick up loose branches just to start you off."

"That sounds more like a job for Ace."

"He can come too. You need to stay on the computer?" he asked since Theo was checking out some things on his laptop using the connection from his phone.

"No. I'll come too. I'll be done soon." Theo was looking into what kind of internet connection they could get that he could afford. He didn't like his choices.

"These eggs are going to be ready soon. You want to eat them standing up?" Seth asked.

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