Page 22

Why would I want someone else when Neko; the wondrous, funny, brilliant, sensual man smiling and teasing his audience, was mine?

“They want you to answer the next question,” Neko said. He shoved in another spoonful, and when I glanced down, he’d all but finished.

“Do you want more?” I asked.

“No, I’m stuffed. Thank you for this, I’ll show my appreciation later.” Neko leaned forward and without pause, I met him halfway and captured his lips in a kiss that grew out of control. We both realized then where we were. With great reluctance, Neko straightened and I followed. He blinked, and I laughed, cupping the younger man’s cheek, and giving him another peck.

“What do they want to know?”

He finished the last of his lunch and glanced at the screen. “Well, for one, they want to know how old you are?”

“Thirty-three, about to turn thirty-four… soon.”

“How soon?” Neko asked.

“Tomorrow,” I whispered in his ear.

His spine straightened and there again went the blinking before he narrowed them. “We’ll be talking about that after the stream.” Turning back to the chat, he asked, “Have you ever married?”

I shook my head.

He narrowed his eyes and read, “Are you an asshole like the last one?” His eyes widened before he addressed his chat, “Hey, people, not everyone is like Donovan. I’m glad you are aware of my past, but go easy. Graham’s a streaming newbie, and these are personal questions.”

“I’m nothing like that…” I leaned closer, inhaled his lemon scent, and asked, “can I curse?”

“Yeah, we’re good here.”

I leaned back and growled, “Yeah, nothing like that piece of shit.”

Neko leaned forward and laughed. “They say of course you’re not, you brought me food and didn’t protest when I reached for you and dragged you inside.”

I wriggled my brows when he glanced up at me, beaming.

He turned back, and his eyes narrowed at the next question. “What are your intentions toward Neko-Ren?”

Something about the question made me pause. “Is that your mom asking? Because if it is, I’d rather answer her in person than somewhere I can’t gage her reaction to the answer.”

A scoff escaped his throat before he paused, making sure the question wasn’t from Reo, before he shook his head. “Nope, after the Monopoly game, or maybe Clue, but the day after we’d met, she asked me what three colors I liked. I rattled off cornflower blue, pearl white, and royal purple.”

“Why three colors?”

“For a wedding, at least it’s what she told me when I’d asked later. Why are your eyes widening? Please don’t freak out, I’m not proposing, and I’ll protect you from my family if they try to force us to a church or the courthouse. Or better yet, we’ll run away until wedding fever dies down or my mom snaps back into sanity, whichever comes first.”

I whispered, “You… have you thought about getting married before?”

He answered in the same low voice, “I hadn’t thought about it, but I wouldn’t discount it if, for instance, we dated for several years and you asked me. Or if I got a crazy idea in my head to tie the knot one Thursday afternoon and found a justice of the peace, but then if we did that, my mom would thump me on the head and the guilt trip from the twins would be interminable.”

“I vote for the second one, that way we don’t have to plan anything or wear stuffy formal wear, and we can invite your family to the courthouse, so that solves one problem.”

Neko’s answering smile held me captive for a long minute until he jolted and glanced back at his monitor. His mouth dropped open before his hands came up as he gasped, and I looked around to see what stunned him. It was then I noticed the donation levels.

He’d raised over a half a million dollars.

Because he’d finished eating and his chat seemed happy, I grabbed his morning empty water bottle and the dirty dishes. I stood but leaned over, capturing his lips in a brisk kiss, and said, “I’ll let you get back to your stream. Congratulations, sweetheart, you did it and I’m proud of you.”

He beamed at me, glancing down at my lips, before he rolled his chair closer and started thanking everyone who contributed.

“This community is the best and your donations will help a lot of well-deserving people. And like I promised, here’s mine. Oh, and Graham?”