20. Anders

Chapter 20

Anders

"Wait, is that all you've got?"

Even though Brett had been spending most nights and weekends at my place when he wasn't working, today was finally move-in day. I'd borrowed the community center truck and had parked in his driveway nice and early so we could get this done by sundown.

He had a suitcase, a backpack, a box of condiments and dry goods, and a cooler.

"Yeah. It's more than I arrived with." He side-eyed the vehicle. "Did you expect me to fill that with all my worldly belongings?"

I shrugged. Stuff didn't matter, I understood that. Things were meaningless, and what counted was love, safety, and community, and my mate had all of those now that he'd begun this new life.

But I liked mementos; a photo here, a shirt I'd worn the day I formed my company, the parking ticket I got when I double-parked when I arrived in Oakville, not knowing anyone, and a pic of us both with our pregnancy test.

"Let's go home." Unpacking would be quick.

Brett already had a drawer and hanging space in my closet for the nights he stayed with me, which was most of the time. He'd had space in the bathroom for his toothbrush and razor, but I hadn't let him see the renovated main bedroom and bathroom.

In the last few weeks, we'd used the guest bathroom and second bedroom, and I kept the doors to the renovated spaces locked, wanting it to be a surprise. When I showed them to Brett after completing the finishing touches, I needed them to be perfect.

But now it was official and my house would be our home, I was a little nervous.

Why? My beast failed to understand why Brett moving in should be the happiest day of my life.

Make that second happiest . Finding out we were going to be dads was the best day ever. The guest room will have to be redecorated, as it'll be the nursery .

This bedroom was currently a dumping ground for all items that didn't have a home. We could make the decisions regarding the nursery as mates.

Great. More noise. More dust . My snow leopard grumbled.

No .

"What's going on in that head of yours?" Brett slammed the truck door and buckled up.

"Thinking of how much fun we'll have decorating the nursery?"

He shuddered. "Dust and noise."

"That's what my beast said, but it'll be painting, maybe wallpapering, curtains, light fixtures, maybe a sofa, crib, and other baby paraphernalia." I redid the carpet this year, so that didn't need to be changed. "There'll be very little dust or noise."

My mate squeezed my hand. "Great. I look forward to swatches of fabric, paint samples, and shopping for our little one."

Hard to believe a short time ago I'd been complaining to Jonah about my life and the lack of love. Now I had a mate and a baby. My heart was full.

Brett told me he'd settle in while I returned the truck, but I wanted to see his reaction when he took in the renovations.

"Ta-da!" I opened the door to the master bedroom. I was hit with more self-doubt because the choices were all mine and this space was a shared one. A panic attack loomed, but I took a couple of deep breaths.

I longed to say, "What do you think?" But that would pressure him into saying something positive about the changes.

I tried to see it from his eyes. Neutral walls and bedding with pops of color on the cushions, a rug, and the curtains. The atmosphere was now soothing instead of being a chaotic shamble of colors and patterns.

Brett made a running leap toward the new bed and bounced onto the mattress, and Choccie followed him.

"We approve, don't we, little man."

I cut off, "Be careful. Think of the baby." He was a grown man.

"I love it and look forward to waking up here every morning."

"There's more." I stood in front of the bathroom door.

Brett picked up our puppy, whispering, "There's more!" Choccie barked, and my mate cheered.

I let my mate open the door into the newly renovated bathroom while I waited in the bedroom. Instead of a shower over the bath, we had a separate shower enclosure and tub, twin sinks, and new lighting.

His slack-jawed expression could have indicated horror, excitement, or something in between.

"Did you do this? Is this ours?"

"I had help, but yes, welcome to our new spa." It wasn't a spa, but there was a hint of luxury that made it special, where we could sit in the tub after a long day, warm water soothing our bodies.

My mate flung his arms around me, peppering my face with kisses. "I never imagined I'd live in such luxury. Thank you."

He ripped off his clothes and turned on the water over the bath. "No. Don't go anywhere."

I had no plans to leave, and he took off, his cock bobbing, and came back with the cooler he brought from his place. He removed the lid and pulled out chocolate, grapes, and strawberries.

"Bubbles?" He didn't wait for me to reply and tossed bubble bath solution into the tub. "Oops." The bubbles sparkled and peaked. "Too much? Nah, you can never have too many bubbles."

He climbed in and popped a grape in his mouth. Choccie whined, and I dragged his bed and toys in, along with a packet of snacks. He narrowed his big chocolatey eyes at me but took a snack and lay down with his toys.

Ridding myself of my clothes, I climbed in with my mate. I'd chosen a big enough tub that we could stretch our legs.

"Could we live in here?" Brett fed me a strawberry, followed by a piece of chocolate. Yum. The combination had me closing my eyes and leaning back. This was the life. Shame we had to work to pay for it.

Choccie put his paws on the side of the bath, and I bopped his nose with bubbles. He sneezed and returned to his bed.

"Should we start planning the nursery?" Brett asked.

"We could." I didn't open my eyes. I was done with renovating, but making the other bedroom into a nursery would be a breeze compared to what I'd done in here.

My mate chuckled and stroked my leg with his foot. "You don't sound terribly enthusiastic."

"The hot water is putting me to sleep. But I'll summon my energy when you're ready to make plans."

We had plenty of time before the baby arrived.

"No problem." Even with my eyes closed, the crunching from the other end of the bath along with a whiff of cocoa suggested he was biting into chocolate. But moments later the water heaved from side to side and my mate got out.

When my eyes fluttered open, he was staring at me from beside the tub, wearing the new robe I'd bought, one that matched my own.

"Are you coming?"

"If you put your mouth on my dick, yes, or if I insert my cock in your hole, yes. I'll come if you give me a hand job."

"No, let's look at paint samples for the nursery."

My face must have registered something other than enthusiasm, because his crestfallen expression stabbed at my heart.

"Absolutely. I'm ready."

"Liar."

I was half out of the bath, but Brett pushed me back in. "We can use a phone. Just don't drop it." He handed me a piece of chocolate. "Before perusing paint chips, we need caffeine and sugar."

"Shame we don't have a coffee machine in here." But the caffeine in the chocolate would have to suffice.

"A soft gray would be nice." My mate gave me his device, and I scrolled through fifty shades of gray paint.

"Excellent choice. Paint done."

"Anders! No. Which one?"

I had a solution, but my mate might not like it. I'd been through this with the recent renovations, but I'd only looked at five paint samples.

"How about we use the same color as the one in the main bedroom?"

Brett got out of the tub again and stuck his head into the bedroom. "Oh, I like it. Good choice."

Go me!

"Now let's look at wallpaper."

There wouldn't be an easy solution with the wallpaper as there was with the paint because I didn't use any in our bedroom. But I had a suggestion that would keep Brett occupied.

"Look at Jonah's social media and scroll back a few years to when his kids were little. Do the same for Dylan. And Isabella. They all had wallpaper in their nurseries."

"I think the way you think."

The warm water lulled me close to sleep until my mate shook me, saying he'd found three wallpapers he liked; one from each of our friends. We decided on the bunny one Isabella had used.

"We're doing so well. And now to cribs."

"How about we look at cribs in person." From listening to my friends' conversations, they'd all visited the stores so they could examine the cribs.

"Excellent idea. You're amazing. Let's go."

I grunted as I left the warm bath. Sometimes I wished I wasn't as amazing as I was. A less amazing person could have stayed in the bath!