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“Seems silly, really,” Zeb adds.
“We could use a home base,” Phineas says. “Somewhere to come back to when the traveling is done. And we thought perhaps New Orleans could be that place.”
My brow twitches down. I know what I’m hoping, but I want them to speak the words out loud. I need them to because I don’t want to be wrong about this. “What are you saying?”
Huck gives me a nervous smile. “Maybe we could make that home with you?”
I stare at them, my heart galloping in my chest and Creepy dancing for joy in my mind.
Zeb reaches over and takes my hand. “You run your business here. We travel as needed and then… come home. You get your space, we don’t lose our work, and we all, you know”—he shrugs, that confident grin hovering around his lips—“live happily ever after.”
My mouth moves for a moment before I can find words, while inside my head, Creepy bounces with excitement. “You’d do that?”
“Only if we can always come home to you.” Zeb glances to the others. “Yeah?”
Huck nods eagerly. Phineas smiles.
I let out a shaky breath. “That… I don’t know what to say. That’d be wonderful.” Reality dims my happiness. “I guess we’ll have to find a house. Or, you know, stay here or…”
I trail off, feeling conflicted. I don’t want to be rude about the apartment they found after the traders broke into the last one. But like their previous place, this doesn’t feel like a home. It’s too sterile. Too much like a rich guy’s vacation bachelor pad.
I can’t imagine my clients feeling comfortable meeting me here, to say nothing of the lack of space for any of my associates from the underground who might pass through.
“Well,” Huck says, smiling hopefully. “We were kind of thinking we could stay at your place.”
“My… burned place?” My heart aches at having to acknowledge the damage.
“Only for now,” Zeb says. At my confused look, he squeezes my hand. “You’re not alone in this, Mabel. Whatever the insurance company does, we’ll make sure you get your house back.”
My mouth moves. “Thank you.”
He nods. His hand doesn’t leave mine, but suddenly a quivering feeling passes through his grip.
“In that case…” He grins. “I told you I had something special planned for you.”
Now I’m confused again. “What are you?—”
His arm shifts into a tentacle.
“No,” I protest. “Zeb, no! You’re still healing.”
He sits up straighter in bed as tentacles emerge from his back as well. “I’m healed up enough, beautiful.”
“And orgasms are quite beneficial for your health,” Phineas adds.
I throw him an exasperated look. “Not helping.”
The tentacle tightens on my hand, pulling my attention back. “I’m okay, Mabel. But if you really don’t want to?—”
“I didn’t say that!”
At my blurted answer, Zeb grins again. “Then, as I was saying before we were so rudely interrupted weeks ago…” He pulls me out of bed. His grin stays even as he shifts, his eyes going white and his tentacles unfurling all around him, and suddenly Ghastly is looking back at me instead. “I planned something special for you.”
The Hyde’s voice is a dark and insidious murmur, like something from deep within a watery cave, and it sends a shiver down my spine that’s equal parts fear and arousal. Though his arms are gone, his legs remain, and he steps closer to me in a sinuous movement that feels as much like he’s dancing as walking.
“Puck,” he says shortly.
I start to turn, but Ghastly’s tentacles catch me. They slip beneath my shirt and undulate around my sides and up my spine. Another slithers around to the back of my neck and into my hair, keeping my head in position so I’m facing him.
