Page 26 of Doran

A small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. “I see.” He leaned down to kiss my forehead. “And your neck?”

“A teeny weeny bit tender. You weren’t kidding about that venom stuff. That shit made me fly. Ten out of ten, would recommend.” I took a bite out of my sandwich. It was egg salad, perfectly made. “This is good. You make it yourself?”

He nodded, looking pleased. “I asked Bob what humans liked to eat on sandwiches and asked if it included eggs. He coached me through the recipe, and then we flash chilled it.”

“Well, it’s perfect.”

Loud knocking rang out through the house.

Doarn startled, a guilty look on his face. “I best get that! I forgot to unlock the front door!”

I burst out laughing at that. Laura looked startled, then giggled too.

“Yeah, Dor-Dor is funny, yeah?”

“Dor-dor! Fuh!” she giggled some more.

“There’s our princess! Daddy’s home and look, I brought Pata with me!” Darren cooed as he and Tarek clattered into the kitchen.

“If you two sit down, I’ll get you your sandwiches,” I offered.

“Sounds good,” came the reply.

“I’ve got it. You enjoy your lunch,” Doran said, coming in behind them. He quickly took out two small plates and placed two sandwiches each on them. “Here you are. What would you like to drink?”

“Just water for me,” Tarek answered. “I’m parched. We had to chase after an escaped hop- a-long.”

“Did you catch it?” I asked.

“No,” Darren laughed. “The little booger got clean away. He was determined he wasn’t going to get back into that crate.”

“Oh? He escaped while being transported, and not from his pen, then?” Doran asked, handing Tarek a glass of chilled water.

“Yup. Being sent up to a freighter who wanted to sell them as exotic pets. The little fellow had opinions on that, it seemed.”

I giggled.

“I’ll take water too, thanks.”

Doran complied.

“So what you’re saying is, your first full day on the job and you’ve already had a jailbreak,” I teased.

Both males laughed.

“I reckon we did,” Darren chuckled. “I gotta ask, though, why was the door locked? You do know Laura can’t do the same thing on her own, right?’

I blushed. “Oh, that, um…”

Tarek excused me from further embarrassment.

“I believe they were otherwise occupied for a short while.” He tipped his head to my neck.

“Oh! Um, well. Yes. That makes sense. Congratulations!” He touched the side of his own neck. “We, ah, did that back on the ship. That venom. Wowsers, am I right?” Aaaannnd I’ll shut up now.”

I couldn’t help it. His awkwardness was cute. “You’re not kidding! Boom chicka wow wow!” I fanned myself.

Both of our mates preened.