Page 22 of It’s A Little Bit Bunny (Fangs on Ice #4)

Twenty-one

Jules

H aving made a mental list of things I wanted to show Nikolai when he next visited me helped. Being near him was strangely distracting. More than once I lost my train of thought because the sun shining through the windows glinted on his hair, or how his warm eyes lit up when I smiled at him.

Barnabas, who had been out in the garden to dig for worms, ventured inside to follow both of us around.

“Oh, hello, baby,” he crooned like he had done the first time he’d seen my pet. “I missed you, big boy. How have you been?” Nikolai hummed and tickled the bit of fur between Barnabas’ antlers. My Wolpertinger huffed happily, angling his head. “Hey, you want to lick my hand, sweetie?”

Don’t be jealous of your pet, Jules!

An image from that dream I’d had flashed before my eyes: Nikolai straddling my hips and bringing my hand up to his mouth so he could suck on my fingers.

A tiny gasp escaped my lips, low enough that his ears didn’t pick up on it. He’d looked so beautiful in his pleasure and had felt so good around me.

“Did you look out for your daddy? I bet he’s so happy he has you.” Bunny placed a tiny peck on Barnabas’ muzzle, and I almost fainted when I heard him call me Barnbas’ ‘daddy’ .

“Very happy,” I muttered. Nikolai looked up at me, lips pursed in a soft smile.

I wasn’t brave enough to take Bunny to my bedroom, and he didn’t ask to see it. Perhaps he sensed how much of a test it would’ve been for my self restraint and decided not to put me through it.

I showed him the study I hardly ever used and another unused room full of spare furniture I’d collected over the centuries. That was back when I ventured out into the human world more frequently. Before it got so loud, so busy, and so overwhelming. I kept it in case my manor decided to grow another room for me.

“How about we go outside for a bit? It’s such a nice day. We could take the cake I made. And maybe some coffee?”

“That’s a great idea. Maybe we can say ‘hi’ to the chickens again?”

“Of course, Bunny.”

“You really dig that nickname, don’t you?“ Chuckling, Nikolai followed me down the stairs to the entrance hall and into the kitchen.

“I do,” I confirmed.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Nikolai asked me, leaning his hip against my kitchen counter.

“Yes, you could cut up the cake, if you want? The strawberries come from my garden.”

I showed him the drawer with the knives and where to find the cake I had baked this morning.

“Oh my God, Jules! That smells fantastic!” Nikolai inhaled the scent of the fresh strawberry cake and popped a few crumbs into his mouth. “Sorry, I can never resist.” He gave me a cheeky grin. I had only known Nikolai for a couple of weeks, but even I had noticed a change in him. When I had first met him he had been grumpy and downcast. These days he showed me a more relaxed version of himself. Had that been a mask, too? Or had his life changed enough to allow himself to be happier? I brewed coffee with the old-fashioned drip filter made from white porcelain I found next to a bin for recycled glass on one of my outings.

Barnabas always looked at me funny when I returned from one of my adventures into the outside world laden with spoils. I simply couldn’t resist urban foraging. Once the coffee was done, I poured it into the beat-up flask the wanderer left all those years ago. It kept my drinks warm for hours. This was especially handy in winter when I stayed outside in the forest for hours at a time, or when I cut firewood.

Nikolai grabbed the coffee, I carried the tray with the cake, plates, and forks as we made our way outside into my garden. Barnabas joined us but disappeared between the bushes, probably to hunt for bugs.

“Oh, wow!” Bunny put the plates and the tray down on a little wrought iron table next to my garden swing and cautiously sat down. I couldn’t quite remember why I hadn’t shown him this the last time.

“I love this, Jules.” He pushed himself back with his foot, still handling the swing as if it was going to break at any moment.

“It’s okay, Bunny, I built the swing myself. It can hold your weight.” It could probably also hold both of us while we engaged in frisky business, but I didn’t say that.

“You built that thing yourself? Wow, you’re so talented.” Nikolai looked at me as if I had hung the moon.

You are too vain for your own good, Jules.

Part of me wanted him never to stop looking at me like that. I wanted to be worshipped by this beautiful human.

This is dangerous, Jules. I knew I should tell him to go and never come back, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t go back to the old life I had led, to what I now knew had been emptiness and a bleak, lonely existence.