Page 115 of CowSex

“Gracie, this is Kai.”

“All right,” I greet him and note that Koa’s eyes slice to Kai’s and their lips twitch in sync.

“What?” I rub my hand over my face in case I have flour on it from the batter mix.

“Hey, Gracie, happy to meet you. Smells good. What’s cooking?”

He leans in, and we shake hands briefly.

“Well, I didn’t know that your dad planned on taking us out, so I used the mince we bought the other day and made a shepherd’s pie and a Yorkshire Pud.”

Kai opens his mouth, closes it, and looks at Koa. I watch both of them as they burst out laughing.

“What’s funny?”

They continue laughing.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Gracie.” Kai continues to smile. “But I have no clue what you just said.” He looks towards his dad. “You’re right, she does sound like Adele.”

I turn my gaze to Koa, who’s getting a beer out of the fridge.

“You want wine, Gracie?” he asks.

“You think I sound like Adele?”

Koa closes the door of the fridge, a bottle of white in one hand a beer in the other. He’s still grinning and looks as guilty as all fuck.

“I’ve got red.” I nod towards the glass of wine I poured earlier. “You reckon I sound like Adele?” I ask again.

“Yeah, when you talk, at least. When you sing, not so much.” I can’t sing for shit and am well aware of it. I just wasn’t aware that Koa was, too. It will never stop me from giving it a go, though.

“Can I have a beer?” Kai asks his dad, both of them apparently unaware of my nervousness and mortification that they’ve obviously been discussing me during the car ride here.

“No. You can go get washed up for dinner,” Koa tells him.

“Fine. What room am I in?”

Koa turns his head to me, just as I look at him.

“Shit forgot to mention that boy. We started the renovations. Hope you don’t mind taking the room next to mine just for this trip. I’ll try to be better organised next time you visit.”

“Visit? This is my home, Dad. Next time, I’ll be here to stay.”

“We’ll see about that, we’ll see.”

Koa gestures to me to head upstairs, and I make my way up there ahead of the boys, not wanting to miss the reaction Kai has to the work we’ve done.

I walk in first and turn on the lights, then I turn to watch his face as Kai takes in his new room.

“What the fu......Hold. The. Phone. Who did this? Wow, Dad, this is fantastic, man. Thank you.”

He turns around and slaps his dad on the back as they share a blokey cuddle, and I look on with a lump in my throat.

“I just did the grunt work with a few of the boys, it was Gracie who picked everything and designed the look.”

That’s when I get my own cuddle.

Kai’s almost as tall as his dad but not as broad. Still, I feel dwarfed standing here with both of them.