Willow smiled serenely. “I still find it a beautiful moment. I love love.”
“I do too, but I don’t want to know about Rusty’s dick,” Oliver said.
“I mean, your loss then. He has a nice dick,” Gem sniffed.
“Stop talking about my dick!” Rusty growled as his tail flicked in annoyance.
With a pout, Gem agreed glumly. “Okay, fine. Sue me for being excited that everyone knows we’re boinking now and we don’t have to keep it secret. Gods!”
“That is not a good enough reason to use the wordboink, Gemmy,” Toni said with another exaggerated gag.
“Well, sor-ry,” Gem drawled childishly. “I was just trying to be classy because I didn’t think it was work-appropriate to talk about Rusty butt-fucking me.”
“None of this is work-appropriate!” Quin cried, smoke rushing from her nostrils as her keratin-tipped tail whipped furiously. “I have half a mind to fire all of you.”
“What?” Oliver straightened, eyes widening in horror. “But I didn’t do anything.”
“Exactly!” Quin pointed at the line of customers gawking at them. “You should be helping customers.”
“Oh no, we’re fine,” the Nymph said, and nearly everyone in line nodded their agreement. “Don’t stop on our account.”
Rounding on the Nymph, Gem scowled deeply. “Oh my gods, Brenda, put your phone away! Ever heard of personal privacy?”
“I think you sacrificed privacy the moment you saidboink,” Toni mumbled morosely.
“Or talked about my dick in front of everyone,” Rusty seethed.
Gem had the audacity to press a hand to his chest in offense. “Oh em geez, it was a compliment!” Rusty arched an eyebrow, and Gem cringed. “Okay, sorry, I’ll stop talking about your dick. You still want to be my boyfriend, right?”
With a half-amused, half-exasperated huff, Rusty stepped closer and squeezed Gem’s hand. “Yeah, Gem, I still want to be boyfriends.”
A happy hum vibrated from his arm and leg fur, and Gem framed his face, smiling so wide Rusty feared his face would crack in two. “Good. I like being boyfriends with you.”
Even though everyone was staring, Rusty gathered his gumption and popped onto his toes as Gem bent to eliminate the remaining distance. They met in the middle in a sweet, chaste kiss, and even though several people clapped and several moreoohedandawwed, Rusty didn’t break away. Because Gem wasn’t ashamed of this, so why would Rusty be?
So he purred in contentment as Gem kissed him, ignoring Toni’s disgusted noises of denial and the embarrassing coos from his coworkers. He was allowed to be happy; he was allowed to have beautiful things. And by gods, if this wasn’t the most beautiful thing of all.
Chapter thirty-two
Friendsgiving
Gem
A week later, atOliver and Jude’s insistence, everyone gathered at the cafe on Sunday to celebrate a human holiday called, “Friendsgiving.” Oliver had explained what it was, but if Gem was being honest, he’d been distracted at the time by Rusty’s poochy belly and the memory of riding him on the couch the night before while he held on to those delicious love-handles. So, he’d missed the explanation.
Apparently, it was mostly about hanging out with family and eating good food, and since Gem loved both those activities, he was fully on board. So he rode the train to Purgatory, carrying his contribution to the day’s festivities. Disposable plates, cups, and cutlery, along with some food items and decorations.
Gem wasn’t sure what the decorations were for until he walked into the cafe and saw a very large tree in the corner. It wasn’t a tree he’d ever seen before, so he assumed Oliver had brought it over from the human dimension. Spiky, green bristles covered the branches, but it smelled nice.
“Why is there nature in here?” Gem asked as he set the box of decor on one of the three circular cafe tables that had been shoved together to form one large table.
“It’s a Christmas tree,” Oliver said, nearly vibrating with excitement. “It’s a human tradition to decorate one in the month of December, and Glyma said we could do it here. It was a nightmare getting it over the border, though.”
“Yes, but I got it done,” Liel said haughtily, and Oliver beamed down at the Gymnot, giving him a hearty kiss.
“You did, babe, and it was very sexy.”
Electricity popped between Liel’s fingers as he grinned, revealing sharp teeth. “Oh it was, was it?”
