Eleven

Hobie stirred in my arms, and I reached back with two free tentacles for his first surprise of the day. It was Hobie"s birthday, and I was determined to make it a day he would never forget, starting with the thing Nala had assured me would put a smile on Hobie"s face.

Hobie blinked slowly, then peered up at me with sleep-hazy brown eyes.

"Hey, there. Good morning," I greeted softly, and he smiled, reaching up to brush his fingers against my cheek.

"Good morning, Eben." He sniffed the air, his nose twitching adorably. "Something smells good." As if on cue, his stomach rumbled in agreement, making him grin sheepishly.

"Come on, sit up." I did the same myself, helping him up. Then I brought the tray over and placed it on the mattress in front of Hobie.

"What"s this?" he asked, a wide smile taking over his face as he stared at the tray.

I"d made everything myself with Tarika"s help, and while the food looked a little messy, she"d tried everything and given me a solid "It doesn"t taste like shit," so I was hoping Hobie wouldn"t think it was too bad.

"Uh, well, Nala said humans celebrate their partner"s birthday by making and bringing them breakfast in bed, so." I shrugged, suddenly feeling a little flustered. Look at me, what a wise and ancient being I was.

"Oh."

I stared in horror as his eyes filled with tears.

"You don"t have to eat it if you don"t think it looks good," I said hurriedly, reaching to take the tray away. Shit! I"d wanted to make Hobie smile, not cry. This was awful.

"No!" Hobie grabbed the tray and pulled it out of my reach. Well, I could still reach it with my tentacles, but I wasn"t going to if Hobie didn"t want me to. "It looks delicious, and I want to eat everything."

"Then why are you crying?" I asked miserably, and he shot me a smile.

"They"re happy tears, Eben. I cried because I was overwhelmed with how happy this made me."

He glanced down at the tray with the scrambled eggs (that was supposed to be an omelet), mug of hot chocolate (because Hobie didn"t like tea or coffee), and a cupcake with a burning candle, which Nala had baked because I couldn"t get the hang of it.

"You made all of this for me?" he asked, his voice thick, and I shook my head.

"Nala made the cupcake. And Tarika helped me make sure I didn"t accidentally poison you."

Hobie chuckled thickly, his eyes still watery as he gazed up at me. "No one"s ever done anything like this for me before. Thank you."

I wrapped my tentacles around his waist, pulling him into a side-hug. "My pleasure. Now eat before it gets cold. We have a full day ahead of us."

He picked up the plate of scrambled eggs, shooting me a curious look. "We do?"

I nodded, picking up the fork and feeding him some of the eggs. The flush on his cheeks said he liked that, which pleased me immensely. "Yes. It"s your birthday, after all. We"re going to celebrate it properly."

"Oh," he mumbled, smiling down at the plate. The look on his face was so sweet it made me want to pull him into a hug, but I resisted, instead focusing on feeding him. He seemed content to let me do it, and once he"d cleared the plate, he pointed at the cupcake. "I should blow that out, shouldn"t I?"

"Hmm, yes," I said, picking up the tiny cupcake and offering it to him. Nala had baked an actual cake too, but we were going to bring that out this evening. Considering how delighted Hobie looked with the simple cupcake, I knew he"d love the two-tiered monster Nala had slaved over.

"I"m supposed to make a wish, right?" he said, eyes bright, then squeezed them shut, mumbling something that was too incoherent for me to understand. Then he opened his eyes, leaned forward, and blew the candle out with a smile.

Returning his sweet smile, I pulled the candle out and then offered the cupcake to him. He pursed his lips as he took it, then broke it into two. "Share with me?"

There was no way I was saying no to that. "Happy to." I took the smaller half, and he grinned as he stuck the whole piece into his mouth, one cheek puffing out as he chewed.

As I ate my own piece—finding it a touch too sweet for my taste—I was tempted to poke his chubby cheek, but resisted the urge. Barely.

Once he"d finished the cupcake, he picked up the mug of hot chocolate, patting his stomach happily. "I"m gonna get one hell of a sugar rush after this."

I wanted to ruffle his hair at the look of childish delight on his face. I was going to make sure Hobie enjoyed every minute of this day because he deserved to have his birthday celebrated in the best way.

"You have some..." I reached out to wipe my thumb over his upper lip. "...cream here."

I stuck my thumb into my mouth, licking the cream off as Hobie"s eyes went wide.

"Are you okay?" I asked, pulling my thumb out of my mouth as I reached out a tentacle to brush his arm. His cheeks were flushed red, his mug stopped halfway to his mouth.

Hobie made a strangled sound, then swallowed hard and nodded, hiding his face behind the mug as he took a large sip.

I tilted my head to gaze at him, confused by his reaction but unwilling to press further. He seemed to recover after a few moments, and once he"d finished breakfast, he went into the bathroom to freshen up while I deposited the dirty utensils in the kitchen to wash later. Tarika and Nala were at their place, but they"d come by this evening to celebrate with Hobie.

For now, he was all mine.

How could someone so fucking old be so oblivious? Or was it an act?

I didn"t think Eben was the type to put on an act. Sure, I"d only known him a month, and yet I was a hundred percent sure he hadn"t been trying to make a move back then.

I closed my eyes as the sight of him licking the cream off his thumb reappeared before me, my mind helpfully replacing the whipped cream with something else. My cock twitched in my pants, and I cursed to myself, shaking my head and forcing my eyes open.

Get a grip, Hobie, I thought as I scowled at myself in the bathroom mirror.

It wasn"t just that moment that had me all messed up. It was everything. Every second since I"d woken up was making me want to rush outside and pull Eben into a kiss, his plans be damned.

The only thing stopping me was that I didn"t know if I could handle it just yet. My memories of before had a habit of getting triggered by random things, and the last thing I wanted was for one to appear when I was being intimate with Eben. The thought of freaking out in the middle of that...

I shook my head as I washed my hands, giving my reflection a firm look. I was going to stop thinking about anything that didn"t concern today and Eben"s plans for the day. I was going to go out and have fun with him, and forget all about dragging him into bed, at least for today.

Nodding to myself, I wiped my hands and made my way outside, finding Eben perched on the edge of the bed with some folded clothes at his side. He looked up the moment I opened the door, a smile lighting up his face instantly. Did I really make him this happy?

Most days, I felt like Eben deserved better. After waiting for so long, he should"ve gotten a perfect man, not a broken thing like me. But since I was the one he was stuck with, I"d have to work hard to become as close to a man he deserved as I could.

"I picked out some clothes for you. If you don"t like them, you can pick something else," Eben said, holding out the small pile of clothes for me.

I took them from him, finding soft jeans, a pale pink t-shirt, and a burgundy sports jacket. Before I"d come here, I"d never worn clothes so soft, but for the last month, everything I"d worn had felt like being covered in clouds, and this outfit was the same. I"d never asked what Eben did with the garments he found me in. I hope he burned them.

"Do you not like them?" Eben asked hesitantly, reaching out as if to take the back.

"No!" I protested, pressing them to my chest. "They"re great. I"ll go put them on."

In the bathroom, I quickly pulled the clothes on, then took a good look at myself in the mirror. The clothes looked great, and they felt amazing against my skin too. My leg was almost completely healed, so I didn"t have trouble putting on the jeans either.

Having a rich sugar daddy wasn"t all that bad, especially when he was such a sweetie.

Running my fingers through my hair, I walked back outside. Eben"s eyes lit up as they met mine, then roamed over me from head to toe.

"You look great," he said with a small smile, and I dipped my head as my cheeks flushed. How could such a simple compliment fluster me so much?

"Thank you." I snuck a glance at him. He"d changed out of his sleep clothes too. He now wore a beige cable-knit sweater with black jeans, and his red hair was perfectly styled. I"d found it fascinating at first that he didn"t need to cut his clothes to bring out his tentacles—magic was accommodating that way—but it was a common sight by now. "You clean up well too."

Smiling, Eben got to his feet, then held a hand out to me. I took it instantly, relaxing a little the moment we touched. I loved being close to Eben, but I still hadn"t quite figured out if that was just because I liked him, or because he was my mate, or because he made me feel safe. Maybe a little bit of all three?

"Ready?" he asked, his gold eyes peering into mine, and I nodded, smiling up at him. This was already the best birthday I ever had, so whatever we did from this moment on would just make it even better.

Eben led me out of the bedroom, and then down the hall to the living room, which was empty. Usually, Nala and Tarika popped over after breakfast—or sometimes before, if Tarika had made too much and wanted to share with me—but they were conspicuously absent today. Had Eben told them not to come today so we could celebrate on our own? I"d have liked to celebrate with them—I"d never celebrated a birthday with friends—but I didn"t mind it being just us either.

We didn"t stop in the living room, though. Instead, we walked across it to the glass doors that opened onto the patio, and Eben used two tentacles to slide it open. The patio had our usual chairs strewn around the place, but nothing else. Nothing that said we"d be sitting there and admiring the sea.

"Uh, where are we going?" I asked as we stepped outside and Eben closed the sliding door behind us.

"You haven"t guessed?" Eben smiled at me as he squeezed my hand, then led us down the steps and onto the beach.

"In the sea, maybe?" I bit my lower lip. We both knew how much I enjoyed going underwater with him, so of course it was my first guess.

Eben smiled widely, then wrapped a tentacle around my waist and pulled me into his side. "Yes! But not just that, we"re going all the way to the bottom!"

The bottom? I was really going to get to see the bottom of the sea?

Having a rich sugar daddy might be great, but having a rich kraken sugar daddy? Nothing could be better than that.