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Coffee, breakfast, juice, lunch packs, recess, kiss…

Noah repeated the litany over and over in his head as he moved around the kitchen.

Quiet as a ghost, he set out the mugs and cups according to preference, spooning out the grounds into the press in readiness for the water when it was boiled.

Tea bags, cocoa, and juice were all set out in order.

The coffee took longest to get ready, then the tea, and then the cocoa.

Juice stayed cool for some time at this hour of the morning, so that was poured out and put on the table in the appropriate spots as well.

He wanted to start cooking breakfast. That’s what the guys liked best, fresh cooked eggs and bacon.

Flick preferred muesli. He set out a bowl for her, a small pitcher of milk and sliced up a banana on top.

He’d thought about using the strawberries, but she’d never voiced an interest in them before, so he chose to leave that for now.

Nutri-grain for Kade, no milk, with a promise of pancakes on Friday morning.

He’d ask for them every time, and it killed Noah to say no, but his mother was firm.

Even though he’d seen Tirian kids grow strong on a diet of just about anything, Flick had some outsider ideas about nutrition.

Don’t undermine her. Support her decisions , he told himself as he kept on moving.

He set up eggs, bacon, bread, butter, the different sauces the others liked—tomato, BBQ for Peter and Sen, HP for Aidan—on the table.

Cutlery, plates, pans, spatulas… It wasn’t until it was all laid out before him that Noah felt like he could stop and take a breath.

His mouth was bone-dry, his heart pounding despite the fact that he’d done this every morning since Flick said he had a place in her pack.

He did it because she’d looked so pleased the first time, a pretty blush colouring her cheeks, her hand going to her lips.

He did it because he’d caught the little half sob when she’d seen the lengths he’d gone to.

He did it because Flick needed this—to be pampered and looked after for all the times she wasn’t, and for all times going forward.

“She’s my girl…” he rasped to himself, propping himself up by placing a hand on the kitchen counter, that shivery feeling rushing up every time he dared give voice to those words.

She wasn’t, he knew that.

“The woman always chooses, Noah,” his mother had said. “And you might have to prepare yourself for missing out. The women…”

He didn’t need her to finish the sentence. He knew exactly what the women thought of him—nothing at all. He was just a face in a sea of guys all clamouring for a place in a pack, wanting, needing that connection. To see her sink her teeth…

He shook his head. He wasn’t going to give into that. No point mooning over something that may not happen. Focus on this , he thought. Focus on her.

He sculled down a full glass of water, finally paying attention to his body’s clamouring needs and waited.

“Hello…”

Did she know her voice sounded like nails on satin? He felt Flick’s arms go around him as she buried her head against his chest. He dropped his down, wrapped them gently around her.

Not too close, too hard. You can’t force this , he told himself.

He kissed the top of her head, closing his eyes and breathing in the floral scent of her.

He wanted to hold it deep in his lungs, clog his nostrils with her, trap it so he could still smell her when she was gone.

He’d spritzed some of her perfume on one of his shirts, thinking that would do the trick, but it didn’t.

Some kind of alchemy happened when the perfume mixed with her own natural one that he couldn’t repeat.

“You making breakfast again, mate?” Aidan asked, staggering out and then clapping his hand on Noah’s shoulder. Noah watched the way the man took possession of Flick with hungry eyes.

Don’t let her see it , he told himself.

Noah would have hated to see the pain in her eyes, the discomfort when she realised he watched their every move, sucking in the casual way Aidan dropped kisses on her lips, rocking her with his body, smiling with the satisfaction of a man who knew his place.

Aidan was Flick’s mate. He belonged here.

And as if to confirm this, Kade came barrelling down the hallway calling out, “Aiiiidaaan!” He wrapped his arms around the other man’s waist, hugging him hard, smooshing his face into his dad’s side.

“How you doing this morning, champ?” Aidan asked. “You sleep all right?”

“Good, thank you,” he replied dutifully before pulling away and turning to Noah.

The child’s blue eyes seemed to take in everything in one look, Kade taking a tentative step towards Noah, then another. He just watched the boy approach, scanning his body and his face for indications of what he had planned, and then Kade wrapped his arms around him.

“Oh my god…” Flick said in a hushed voice, but Noah barely heard that. He lifted his hand slowly, letting it come to rest in the same spot on the boy’s shoulder. Every sound was blocked out but the whoosh of his heart as he wrapped his arm around Kade.

“You tucked me in, made sure I was warm,” Kade said in a low voice. Noah could only nod in response. “Thank you.” Noah’s pale eyes stared into Kade’s, both flashing green for a moment before the child pulled away. “Now, can I have pancakes for breakfast?”

“Friday,” Noah replied, moving away to rustle around in the kitchen drawer.

“Aww…! But I feel like pancakes.”

“Kade, you know—” Flick said, but Noah stopped all conversations when he produced a set of pancake moulds. Both Flick and Kade’s eyes went wide when they saw the Star Wars themed metal rings that could be placed in a frypan and have batter poured into them.

“Chocolate chip Yoda, coming up, Friday,” he said when the boy’s mouth started to open. “Today, Nutri-grain, no milk.” He pointed to the table where the bowl had been set up at the end.

The boy regarded the two options and then nodded his head, moving over to take his place at the table.

“You got them for Kade?” Flick asked.

“Of course,” Noah replied with a shrug.

His eyes dropped down to the floor. He wanted to stare into her eyes like the other guys did, but emotion came roaring to the fore when it did, flooding his body, wrenching them away before he could. So when she wrapped her arms around him again, he jumped a little.

“Thank you,” she said, and that was it, all he wanted.

He froze there for a moment, the violence of what he felt shocking him to his core, and he couldn’t do a thing but let her hold him.

He felt it, the expectation that he should, his mind grabbing random social scripts and applying them to the situation before discarding them.

He had nothing, no words, no appropriate reactions to draw upon.

Of course, people had thanked him for things before but this…

His heart ached so much when she pulled away, he was forced to rush into the kitchen and get the frypans going to cover for it.

“Do you want some help?”

Peter appeared at his shoulder, crowding the space near the cooker for a moment.

Noah could feel his eyes on his skin, but when he looked up, the other man’s gaze was warm and understanding.

Of what? What did he want to help with? The possibilities dizzied him, so he just shook his head and said, “I got this. What’s your order for today? ”

“Sit, Noah,” Flick said when he delivered plates to the table.

“I will. I was just going to put some extras on in case?—”

“Sit,” she said, covering his hand with hers and smiling. “The boys are perfectly capable of making their own breakfast. Well, everyone but Aidan.”

“Hey! I made toast the other day and didn’t burn it. Now, Noah mate, if you could chuck a few more rashers of?—”

“Ask someone else,” Flick told her mate with an even look. “Noah needs to eat as well.”

“Oh, it's OK. I’ll just grab?—”

She ignored him, pushing him down into a chair, and he watched her go to the kitchen with a growing sense of alarm.

But she measured out his favourite cereal into a bowl, bringing a spoon and a bottle of milk to the table so he could add it himself.

He blinked when he looked at it. He couldn’t stand soggy cereal.

The texture coated his mouth and made him…

“Thanks,” he said, staring at Flick as she smiled and sat back down.

“C’mon, Kade, time to jump in the shower,” Noah told the boy when he came into the kitchen. “Thanks for bringing your dishes in.”

“Do I have to?” he asked as he slotted his bowl and spoon into the dishwasher.

“Of course! Otherwise, you’ll get all stinky. People don’t like stinky.”

The boy considered that for a moment.

“Boys don’t mind stinky.”

“Some boys don’t. I’m not a fan, but Mum…” He watched the boy’s shoulders sag.

“Mum doesn’t like it,” he finished the sentence in a heavy voice.

“That’s right, and Mum’s the boss, so let’s go. Shower in your bathroom.” Noah’s eyes flicked to the clock on the wall. “The guys will be in the big shower. I set up your Yoda towel on the rack last night.”

“The one that looks like a cape?” Noah nodded. “All right!”

Noah allowed himself a couple of minutes to just enjoy the win of watching Kade run up the hallway.

Bathtimes were a bone of contention with the boy, his mother and Kade locking horns regularly over desirable levels of cleanliness.

He had worked out now that bathtime was mandatory every day—except on some lazy Sundays, when it might happen late in the day if at all—and that incentives were powerful motivators for the boy.

Renee had brought around the towel set, which had been a massive hit, so Noah monitored the item, washing it as soon as was required and running it through the dryer if he had to.

His eyes glanced at the clock again, seeing the hands had shifted, and then hustled into the shared bathroom himself.