Page 43

He charged out, yelling over his shoulder, “You haven’t done the other toilet, have you? If so, we have a problem.”

“No, not yet.” Hmmm, my plan had a few hiccups which I’d have to iron out.

Joss trudged out of the second bathroom and headed for the couch. He flung himself on it and cocked his head.

“That’s odd. Usually when I jump on here, it shifts a little.”

I held up a hand, so pleased he’d picked up on that. “It’s bolted to the floor.”

“Why?”

“Because we don’t want our little one to tip it over.”

Joss’s eyes wandered around the room. “Our child won’t come from Planet Krypton.”

“Huh?” I’d studied the planets as a kid but had never heard of that one.

“Never mind. One day I’ll introduce you to human comics.”

I was never a comic fan unless the hero was a fox shifter, and there weren’t many of those.

“What is this?”

My mate peered over the back of the sofa as I crouched near the stove.

A tinny voice rang out, and Joss cringed. “A small person is approaching the stove. Danger, danger.”

I leaped up, smiling and clapping. “It works.” Next I tried to open the cupboard under the sink and both our phones buzzed, followed by an alert. “Possible intruder near the sink.”

Joss clutched a cushion and begged me to make tea and toast. “This is so much to take in.” His clenched teeth and weird expression suggested he was in pain, but when I asked, he begged for his food.

My mind was occupied with how much baby-proofing I still had to do, and I dropped a spoon. Odd for a shifter, but I’d been distracted.

“Danger, danger. Small person detected.”

“Sorry.” I stood up. Had to make sure I didn’t drop anything again.

The floor lit up with fox paw prints. This was intended to show the baby the way out and far from danger. I jumped from one print to the other as Joss gave me side-eye.

“It’s cute. You gotta admit it, but…” I deliberately allowed my voice to trail off to get my mate’s attention. I stood in front of what looked like a lock box. “Look, instead of waiting until we get our little one a snack, they hold their palm under here and a cracker topples out.”

“Babe, we need to talk.”

I was a little deflated because my mate didn’t sound overly enthusiastic about my progress. He patted the couch, and I sat beside him with coffee in hand.

“I love how you’re forward thinking, wanting to protect our child, but I don’t want to live in a home that screams danger at me if I bend down.”

I was silent, trying to imagine the situation from Joss’s point of view. “I’m sorry. I’m just so excited about being a dad, and I want to protect our little one just as I do you.”

He took both my hands. “And I love that about you. But perhaps you could scale back a little.” He looked at me, his expression hopeful.

“Fine. I’ll work on that. I suppose I could get rid of the laser trip wires.”

Joss slapped a hand on his brow.

I burst out laughing. “Kidding.” But I made a note on my phone,Remove laser trip wires.

“You know what I’d love? If you got all the pillows, blankets, and duvets in the house and piled them on our bed.’