Page 28 of Treasure and Tarot (Echoes of Secret Springs #1)

Chapter

Twenty-Three

S o, Halloween in Secret Springs was a blast.

After Abby’s requested birthday breakfast, where she’d opened presents and had pancakes in the shape of her age and the letters of her name, they had talked about what she wanted to do for the day.

She’d decided to be very Halloween this year and dress up, and she’d decided she wanted to go to bed right after instead of doing anything else birthday. He had a feeling she would demand more birthday tomorrow.

They had gone to the trunk-or-treat early in the afternoon in Hot Springs Junction, with Abby wearing a super cute highland cow hoodie and a pair of furry pants. Then she had napped and changed into her mermaid costume that Gent had bought custom-made for her in Denver.

The damn thing had built-in fleece layers for warmth, hand covers for when she got cold, and her tail detached so she could walk, but when her uncles took turns carrying her, she could snap the tail closed and stay toasty warm.

They’d hit every booth at the festival. They’d had hot chocolate from the Kiwanis club. S’mores from the Lions. Crepes and poutine from the Fuel food stand.

And God, Abby had gotten all sorts of free stuff because it was her birthday, culminating with a free cupcake with a candle at Fuel.

And now Abby was sleeping in Fuel with Elliot and Antonia while Stone led them all, including Xavi and Xander, on the deluxe Secret Springs ghost tour.

Colton was having a ball.

Too bad Sebastian didn’t seem to be having quite as much fun. Oh, he’d smiled through trick-or-treat and supper, but as the night went on, he was dragging along behind, last in line, not really listening to anything Hank’s business partner Stone had to tell them.

It was so strange, so unlike Sebastian, and he frowned, drifting back from the front of the pack to stand next to his lo—his husband. God, that was still amazing to say.

“Baby? You okay?” Colton asked.

“Hmm? Yeah. Sure.” Sebastian hunched in on himself. “It’s just a little cold out here.”

“Did you want to go hang out at Fuel instead? We can wait for the guys there.”

Sebastian gave him a sideways kind of glance. “We brought three cars.”

“Uh-huh.” Now it was his turn to frown. “Okay…”

“That was sweet! Did you hear that, Colton?” Iago bounced over. “We end at the hotel and, while the old lower-level coal room stuff is off-limits, we get to go to the haunted room on the third floor.”

“Cool. We’ll have to go.”

“Yaaaay.” Sebastian said it mostly under his breath, and Iago was bouncing off again, so he missed it. Colton heard, though.

“Baby, what’s wrong?” He stopped, turning Sebastian to face him.

“Can we go home?” Those green eyes looked a little feverish.

“What’s wrong? Are you okay?” He thought this was great, but if Sebastian wasn’t feeling well…

“Look, husband,” Sebastian rolled his eyes. “Colton. I love you. I stopped taking birth control, and we got married.”

Okay, he wasn’t following. That had been well over a month ago and—“Oh.”

“Yes, oh.” Sebastian gave him a sarcastic little grin. “I’m very, incredibly ready to. You know…”

Suddenly, Colton was completely derailed.

Also he thought he was experiencing maybe a little performance anxiety.

Because this was a very clear signal that Sebastian was ready to spend some long, involved time with him and his cock and his knot in order to try to make a baby.

It seemed very, oh he didn’t know, planned.

Sebastian tilted his head, blinked at him, then his expression stilled. He sort of pulled away, gaze sliding away from him. “We’ve lost the tour. We better hurry up. Everyone’s waiting for us.”

“But I thought—” Wait, didn’t Sebastian want to leave?

“What? It’s no big deal. Let’s go. They’re waiting for us.”

Okay, so he had done something wrong. He wasn’t sure exactly what he’d done, but now Sebastian was pissed, or possibly hurt, or at least frustrated. He didn’t know.

They caught up to the tour, and Sebastian slipped away from him, pushing into the crowd of folks going to stand near Stone, asking questions and markedly not looking at him.

Mason headed over, a wicked grin on his face. “So what did you do?”

“What?” He didn’t know!

“Well, obviously you did something. He’s been hanging all over you, and then all of a sudden, you’re like persona non grata. So what did you do? Tell Uncle Mason.”

“I didn’t do anything, and it’s none of your business.” Dammit. He didn’t need this shit.

Mason chuckled, the sound just bubbling out of him. “Oh, you’re in big trouble, man. Let me guess.”

“Don’t guess.” He didn’t want Mason to guess.

“No, seriously, I want to guess.”

“You are not guessing.” He was not going to do this.

This was personal. This wasn’t about Mason, and he didn’t want to discuss this in mixed company.

Colton didn’t want to discuss it at all.

He just wanted to take Sebastian home, but Sebastian wasn’t even acknowledging his existence right now, and he didn’t know why.

Well, maybe he knew why a little bit.

“Look, I have a little bit of advice for you.”

“Mason, you’re a good friend and I really, really care about you. And if you don’t shut up, I’m gonna punch you in the face.” He didn’t need advice from Mr. I’ll Fuck Anything that Walks and I’ve Never Had a Relationship Longer than an Hour.

“We were all talking, all of us?—”

Oh God.

“—and we thought why don’t we get hotel rooms and then drive back in the morning?

And that way we can have breakfast here, have a lazy morning, and then we can drive back to the Junction in the morning.

Xavi and Xander can’t stay. They both got to work in the morning, and I think Iago was going to go back with them to just hang out.

They’re going to watch monster movies or some shit. ”

“Thank you.” Christ. He was pretty sure that it wasn’t going to work for them. They had Abby, and it wasn’t like they were going to put her in a hotel room by herself. “I think we’ll just take Abby home. It is her birthday, after all.”

“Or,” Gent said, sliding up next to Mason with a smile that could slice tomatoes in the air.

“You could let Uncle Gent and Uncle Mason and Uncle Law have a slumber party with the birthday girl. Hell, I’m fairly sure that she could have a slumber party with Antonia at her Uncle Hank’s house.

And Papa and Daddy could have a hotel room for the night, starting now.

” Gent dangled a key card. “You have my word, man. Nothing’s going to happen to that little girl.

She’ll be here in the hotel in the morning when you get up. ”

Mason winked at him. “You got it, guy? You should go start with the apologizing and the making woo.”

“And the making of a little brother or sister for Abby,” Gent added.

Talk about performance anxiety. Now did he not only know that Sebastian expected him to get business done, but so did his entire team. His balls were going to crawl up inside of his body and just die.

Still, he didn’t want Sebastian to think that he didn’t want to make babies with him. Hell, just to practice making babies with him. The fact was, that at this point, it wasn’t really about making babies. It was about scratching Sebastian’s itch.

And there was a hotel right here.

He took the key card. “Thanks, man. You guys rock.”

“I’m fully aware of that, but thanks for noticing,” Gent said.

“Well, now I am going to get my husband.” He winked, trying for debonair, and limped over to Sebastian. “Babe? Would it be all right if we stayed here at the hotel tonight? My leg is super sore and they have an elevator.”

Sympathy automatically replaced the tight annoyance of Sebastian’s face. “Of course, love. I mean, we’ll have to get two beds so Abby has?—”

“Gent and the guys will take her. Or Hank says she can have a sleepover with Antonia. That way we’re right here if she gets fussy. But they want to spoil her for her birthday.” He held his breath, hoping that worked.

Sebastian’s green eyes lit up. “That sounds like a plan, love.”

“Well, come on, then.” He winked. “If they need to bring her by for kisses, they’ll call first.”

Sebastian took his hand, the one not holding the cane. “Perfect. We can slip away. Stone won’t mind.”

He nodded, walking along slowly with Sebastian, heading into the hotel lobby. The whole place was done up in vintage 1940s and 50s Halloween decorations. The black cats snarled; the witches sneered.

Apparently, the owner, who was a rancher named Jack, picked a theme with his husband every year. How cool was that?

“Ah, Sebastian. Good to see you.” The lady behind the desk waved. “No Abby?”

“Not this time. Birthday slumber party.” Sebastian led him to the elevator. “Have a good night!” he called.

“You too!”

Sebastian waited until they got in the elevator to wink. “Rita is a super-nice lady, but she’ll talk your leg off, no pun intended.”

“No offense taken.” He chuckled. “I want to be with you in the quiet.”

“Exactly.” The elevator dinged, and they headed to the room scrawled on the key card cover. Sebastian’s grin went wide. “You. Me. On holidays, they do twenty-four-hour room service.”

“Oh, so when I work off the crepes we can order fries and ranch?”

“And cake.” Sebastian pushed him to the bed. “I’ll get some ice for your knee.”

Colton sat, letting the cane lean against the wall, and grabbed Sebastian, pulling him between his spread knees. “No, stay with me. I know a better way to get it to stop hurting.”

Sebastian’s cheeks flushed, the color staining his throat too. Oh, he was into it. In fact, he all but climbed into Colton’s lap to take a kiss.

“Mmm.” Sebastian rubbed against him, sliding against him, and even through their clothes, Sebastian felt fever hot. He was so totally in heat. And they were in a hotel room on Halloween, where people expected wild noises.

Fuck yes.

He grabbed Sebastian’s hips, pulling him up a little more so Sebastian straddled his lap but put less pressure on his bad leg. Some guys were into pain.