Series: The Weavers Circle Series by Jocelynn Drake
Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 108405 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 542(@200wpm)___ 434(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108405 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 542(@200wpm)___ 434(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
“Well, this is a treat. I’ll go get Lucien and Grey,” Wiley announced as he stood up and left the kitchen. He walked out the French doors, obviously going after Grey first.
Cort made a ton of pancakes, keeping them warming in the oven as he worked. When Grey walked into the house, his attention was caught by the man, taking in his sleep-tousled hair and the way his gaze zeroed in on Cort. He was still getting used to the way Grey looked at him…and the fact that he could.
Grey walked into the kitchen and came up behind Cort, wrapping his arms around him. “Missed you when I woke. I didn’t expect to find you cooking for this hungry group.”
“I offered. You guys have fed me often, and pancakes are one of my specialties.”
“Love pancakes, so I’m looking forward to this.” Grey let go of him and got the maple syrup out of the refrigerator. “I’ll just heat this up. Are they ready?”
Cort opened the oven to show him the huge stacks of pancakes and Grey laughed. “That might be enough.”
When it was all done, they gathered in the dining room with their plates. Cort settled at the table with his own stack and began to doctor it with butter and syrup. He grabbed a couple of strips of bacon and bit into one, the salty goodness making him groan.
“So Cort can obviously cook.” Clay spoke around a mouthful. “We’ll have to put him into the rotation. What else do you have as a specialty? Because these pancakes are fantastic.”
“My mama’s gumbo, and I can throw together a decent lasagna. But I can cook most foods. My mother worked long hours, so I learned to cook for myself and my sister.”
“I haven’t had a good gumbo in years,” Baer said as he forked a bite of pancakes. “We’ll have to go out and get the ingredients for that.”
“We can make a store run today.” Clay picked up his coffee and took a swallow. “Maybe it’ll even be uneventful since John told Grey he would hold off on the attacks for a while.”
“He didn’t actually say that, but he sort of implied it.” Grey reached for a piece of bacon. “But I’d risk a store run for some real gumbo.”
Clay nodded. “I’ll go with Lucien, then. The rest of you stay here. Dane is expecting another delivery, and we’ll need to make sure it’s an actual delivery again.”
“Maybe we shouldn’t greet him with a lion this time,” Wiley said with a low chuckle. “Hell, we may be on a No Delivery list like Grey said.”
“This is coming from a local store, so it should be fine.” Dane wiped his mouth with a napkin. “I’ve got bullet holes to patch up and oh, the new couch should be arriving any day, too. It’ll be nice not to be picking stuffing off our clothes.”
Grey’s hand landed on Cort’s thigh under the table, and Cort threw him a smile.
“Pancakes are good,” Grey murmured. “Thanks for making them.”
“I like to cook, so it was no trouble.”
Grey laughed. “Oh, you’ve gone and done it now. We all fight over who’s cooking next and to have another like Dane—someone who actually enjoys cooking—means you’ll get more than your fair share.”
“I don’t mind.” Cort took another bite of bacon, turning his head toward Clay. His heart warmed at being included in the cooking rotation. Again, he felt like an integral member of their group. Being included was wonderful. “There are enough of us here to make it interesting. I’ll put together a grocery list before you go to the store, Clay.”
“Thanks,” Clay replied. “We’ll go this afternoon. Sound good, Lucien?”
“Hell yes, if it means gumbo.” Lucien cut into his pancakes with his fork. “We need to make another liquor run, too. Though last time, we did run into pestilents at the liquor store. Seems they like to drink, too.”
That seemed weird to Cort, but then he knew next to nothing about the pestilents, other than they wanted to suck all the energy out of this world. And they liked to enthrall people and send them in with guns. That they wanted to kill all the Weavers and possibly their mates. He looked at Grey again, realizing it would kill him if something happened to the man. He was so in love with him, and he needed to tell him that. Tell him every damn day.
Grey looked at him, and it was like he read Cort’s mind, because his gaze softened.
“Newlyweds.” Lucien pointed his fork at them. “I can guess what you two will be up to today.”
“I do have to get some work caught up,” Grey said, his gaze still on Cort. “But I don’t have to work all day.”
Dane laughed. “If he gets caught up in work, you might not be acting like newlyweds today. He tends to focus hard and disappear into those books.”