My One and Only (Bewitched and Bewildered #10)(37)

Sebastian paled. "I am sure I can manage our kitchen and helping Kari, you do not need to cook Magnus," he backtracked quickly.

Meryn's fingers were already moving. "Magnus will you buy me a real flame thrower."

"Of course, dear," Magnus answered.

"See! That! That right there!" Aiden exclaimed. "We need parameters."

Meryn stuck her tongue out at her mate. "He already said yes."

Sebastian wiped his hands on his towel. "I will ask Pavil if he knows of any squires that he trusts to move down to Level One. We can conduct interviews after the virus is cured."

"But..." Magnus protested looking crushed.

Sebastian shook his head. "Stay out of my kitchen." He looked around the table. "Looks like we are out of coffee. Be right back." He hurried through the doors to the kitchen.

The moment the door closed Meryn's fingers stilled and she put her laptop away beside her chair. She and Magnus exchanged winks.

Beth gasped. "You..." she covered her mouth with her hands and looked around making sure Sebastian couldn't hear her.

Magnus took a sip of his juice. "What a truly amazing morning," he said to no one in particular. He looked over to Kari. "I think getting you a squire is an excellent idea. Babies are a lot of work and you will need someone you can rely on around the clock to assist you."

Sebastian slunk back into the dining room looking defeated. "I still want to help babysit," he said quietly, holding a carafe of coffee to his chest.

Kari stood and hurried over to the squire. "Of course, you can! In fact, I will not take on any squire unless you approve of them. They must pass every test you can think of. Getting someone you recommend is the second-best thing to having your help. I trust you implicitly."

Sebastian looked overwhelmed. "It would be an honor to help." He kissed her forehead and she walked back to her chair. He glared at Magnus. "That was mean."

Magnus shrugged. "You will be busy arranging things for our Bethy even after she returns to Lycaonia, do not be greedy and try to monopolize all the babies."

"That is true, I already have things on backorder for her." He reached down and plucked at Magnus' sleeve. "And you need an entirely new wardrobe," Sebastian said staring at Magnus' rolled up cuffs again.

Magnus eyed his shirt in disgust. "I could understand if I gained height like Gavriel or even noticeable bulk like our commander here," he said pointing to Aiden. "But to only grow enough so that none of my clothes fit is ridiculous." He blushed slightly. "I will not even go into how my underthings chafe."

"You should totally wear sweats and free ball it," Meryn suggested.

Magnus' eyes narrowed. "Does that mean what I think it means?"

Around the table the men nodded and a chorus of 'yeses' sounded off.

Sebastian shuddered. "Just. No."

Gavriel nodded in sympathy to Magnus' plight. "Do not remind me. It took months to replace all my leather."

Beth lowered her fork. "What leather? I've never seen you in leather before."

Gavriel turned to his mate. "Before our uniforms were designed to mimic the human military, most units wore leather pants, vests and jackets. It is a long-lasting material and can be hardened to act as light armor."

Beth's eyes traveled down his body. "Hmmm."

"Beth!" Gavriel exclaimed, looking shocked.

Caspian hid a smile behind his napkin. "I have days when I wonder how much I influenced Bethy growing up, then we have moments like this and I am like, "oh, there I am'."

"Y'all are leather daddies!" Meryn declared, her eyes wide. She reached down and pulled her phone out of her bag.

Around the table Rex, Law and Grant spit out the juice they had just sipped. Rheia pounded on Colton's back, as he choked, while he tried to stop laughing long enough to breathe.

Aiden looked down at his mate. "Do you know what that means?"

"Yeah, it means that y'all wear leather." She gave him an exasperated look. "My furries talk about leather daddies all the time. And bears." Her face grew thoughtful. "I didn't think that many of them were bear-shifters though."

Aiden snapped his mouth closed and took a deep breath. "Pass the syrup," he said, pointing to the dispenser. Meryn handed it to him and turned back to her waffles while she checked her phone one handedly.

Declan stared at him in awe. "I think he just deleted that from his memory."

Grant nodded like that made sense. "I think that's how he survives."

"Wait until my furries find out y'all are leather daddies," Meryn said her thumb moving a mile a minute.

Without even looking up from his waffles Aiden simply plucked her phone from her hand and threw it up in the air behind them. Ryuu caught it easily and tucked it away in his jacket.

"Rude!" Meryn bellowed. Aiden continued eating his waffles.

"Good job Aiden," Beth said in admiration.

Aiden glanced down the table at her and winked. He shoved another two waffles in his mouth and reached for his coffee.

Grant turned to Declan. "We are in the presence of a master."

Meryn pulled her laptop back out. "Okay, so obviously if I am banned from Facebook then I misunderstood what a leather daddy was."