Total pages in book: 45
Estimated words: 42829 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 214(@200wpm)___ 171(@250wpm)___ 143(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 42829 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 214(@200wpm)___ 171(@250wpm)___ 143(@300wpm)
“Really? What is it?” Mack asked eagerly.
“Let’s go look in your closet. There’s something on the top shelf.”
“I saw a present in there.”
“That’s for you, Little boy. Grab Poutine. Let’s go find out what it is.” Grey watched Mack dart to the couch to grab the teeny stuffie he always kept with him. When he returned, Grey held out his hand for Mack’s and let the Little boy pull him down the hallway.
“Is it really for me?”
“Well, for you and Poutine. I think you’ll both love it. Here, let me hold your stuffie while you open that.” Grey cradled Poutine in his hand as he opened the closet door and pulled down the blue gift bag from the shelf above where Mack’s clothes now hung.
Mack eagerly pulled out the tissue paper filling the top, making the area around his feet look like a puff of snow. “What is that, Daddy?” he asked, peeking inside.
“Pull it out.”
Reaching inside, Mack withdrew the soft item. “You got me a stuffed kangaroo? I already have Poutine. She’ll get jealous if I have another stuffie.”
“I thought Poutine might like a friend who could jump her around,” Grey suggested.
“Jump her around?” Mack repeated, looking confused.
“This kangaroo, as all others, has a very plush pouch on her tummy. Poutine will fit just inside.”
“Ah! And she can hitch a ride. That is, if they get along,” Mack warned.
“I bet they will. How about if we take them to the bedroom and you can introduce them while I get out of this stuffy suit?”
Grey looked at Mack when the Little boy snickered. “What?”
“That’s a lot of stuffies going on. Stuffy suits and plushie stuffies.” Mack laughed.
“You are very clever, Little boy,” Grey said with a laugh. “I think your kind of stuffie is a lot more fun.”
“Maybe we should get you a real stuffie suit. You know—like an otter onesie. You’d look really good as one of Poutine’s relatives.”
Mack scanned his body slowly. His playful expression became so much more as his gaze rose. Grey felt himself respond to the admiring glance. He waited until Mack had finished and they looked at each other once again.
The heated look in the younger man’s eyes made the exorbitant cost of the finely tailored suit completely worthwhile.
“Come on, Mackie. Bring your stuffed buddies. You’ll have to come up with a name as well—if Poutine approves of your new friend.”
“Poutine likes you. If you picked out Hops for me, she says Hops must be incredible. Poutine enjoys being lazy. I think she fancies letting someone else jump her around.”
“I knew otters were incredibly smart,” Grey said as he ushered Mack and his buddies from the room.
“The smartest,” Mack confirmed. “I would have never made it through my job interview at Armando’s without Poutine reassuring me and telling me how to answer.”
Mack climbed up on the bed to sit cross-legged. Grey listened to him formally introducing the two stuffies as he shrugged out of his suit jacket on the way into the large walk-in closet. A few minutes later, dressed in cotton exercise shorts and a T-shirt, Grey emerged to find Mackie hopping the large kangaroo around the bed with true abandon. Poutine peeked out from the pouch.
“The two are buddies now, hmmm?” Grey asked.
“The best. Are you going to work out?” Mack asked.
“I thought I’d see if you’d found the gym.”
“Onelia offered to show me where it was, but I didn’t want to mess anything up.”
“That’s the last time you think that. This is your home now. Enjoy anything inside or out in the yard. The only place off limits to you is my office.”
“O-okay. Thanks,” Mack said uncertainly.
Grey could tell he hadn’t erased any reservations from Mack’s mind. He appreciated him being concerned about not overstepping, but it was important that he settled in. Grey wanted him to stay for a long time.
“Let’s get you changed into some workout clothes,” Grey suggested.
“Shirts optional?” Mack asked.
“Always.”
Mack grabbed the bottom of his sweatshirt and pulled it over his head, tossing it onto the bed. “I’m ready.”
Grey enjoyed the sight of the young man’s bare torso before motioning for Mack to follow him. He paused in the hall when Mack didn’t appear immediately. A second later, the younger man stepped into the hall with Hops and Poutine in his arms. As Grey had expected, Mack squeezed the two stuffies to his chest. The kangaroo fit perfectly into his arms and allowed him to be faithful to the small otter who’d been his companion for so long.
“Everyone decided to work out, hmm?” Grey asked with a smile.
“We did. Hops only loves leg day and Poutine wants to swim.”
Grey led the way past the kitchen to an isolated room that looked over the backyard. There was an expanse of trees a short distance from the deck outside. He opened the glass-walled exercise area.