Page 45 of Tiger Bitten

He held her hand the whole way to the big house and chattered for the entire ten minute slow walk about their favorites. They were learning each other, and sure, they were doing this backwards. Things were happening so fast for them, the small talk was coming after intimacy, but she didn’t care. It all felt so…so…right.

As they walked out of the tree line, she could smell the scent of steak cooking on the grill. Her mouth watered as she picked up hints of garlic butter and a savory blend of seasonings. Dame stood out in front of a big barbecue grill and waved his tongs when he saw them. Misty came out of the front door with a tray of, what looked like from here, cheeses and fruits and crackers. A charcuterie board. “Hi!” she said excitedly as Ren waved to her.

Mars kissed her knuckles before he released her hand so Ren could go grab the platter from Misty’s hands to help. She cracked up when she got a closer look. The board was in the shape of a dick, balls included. There were layers of carefully placed crackers and grapes on the ballsack.

She was giggling so hard, she was scared she would spill it as she walked it over to a pretty seating area near a fire pit. It had a big outdoor table, and an umbrella opened over it for shade, and cushioned chairs. She set it on the table and picked up the stack of plates and began placing them at each seat. By the time she was setting the silverware on napkins, Misty had returned with a blue cooler of iced down drinks.

She was pretty strong for a human. Impressed, Ren asked if she could help with anything else.

“I’ve got a fruit salad, which the boys won’t even pretend to touch, and a Cesar salad, that they will make gagging faces at, and the baked potato toppings inside if you want to help me carry them out.”

“I’m on it,” Ren told her as she fell into step with Misty. “Your home is so beautiful.”

“Oh gosh, I stumbled into this place. Dame has lived here for a while. Stellan lived here at different points too. Mostly in the woods though. His tiger used to be a mess.” Misty frowned. “Actually, I’m pretty sure that he is still having trouble with his animal.”

“Yeah, that was a pretty charged moment earlier,” Ren said softly. “Where is he anyway? Does he know dinner is at six?” It was currently 6:05.

“He bounced. I haven’t seen him since earlier and he is back to not answering his phone. I checked the RV, but it doesn’t even look like he’s been inside.” Misty shrugged. “He might need some space. The amount of distance these boys need is absolutely ridiculous.”

“We can hear you,” Mars said from where he was standing with Dame, matching beers in their hands.

“Good. I’m judging all of you. Do better.”

Ren giggled. “You’re awesome.”

“Thank you,” she said with a mushy little grin. “I got us matching dresses.”

“Ha! Mars said you were thinking about it. What color did you settle on?”

“Oh, since he doesn’t know any basic facts about you yet?” Misty teased. “I got us both black ones. I figured we could dress them up a little and maybe go out in them tomorrow night.”

“What’s tomorrow night?”

“The official one year since the boys have seen each other. I found a bar in Salt Lake that does ax throwing and I reserved the whole room for us.”

“I have always wanted to do that!”

“Me too!”

Misty led her up the porch steps and inside of the tidy home. Good grief, it was so nice in here. There was a cinnamon candle burning in the kitchen that gave it such an inviting smell too. It was so homey. “I really love your place,” she uttered on a breath, looking around.

“I’ve never been so happy in a home,” Misty admitted. “Hey, do you want to see something?”

“Hell yeah,” Ren told her.

Misty grinned and grabbed her by the hand and led her into a bedroom down a short hallway, then to the dresser, which had a jewelry box on it. She opened it up and pulled out a gorgeous diamond solitaire ring, and slipped it onto her ring finger, then put her finger to her lips when Ren gasped.

As quietly as she could, Misty told her, “Dame proposed three months ago. We haven’t told Stellan and Mars.”

“Why not?” she whispered, gripping her hands and studying the princess cut diamond. It was the prettiest ring she had ever seen.

“Because we have a plan to bring the boys back here in a few months for the wedding. We had planned to have it this weekend so they could all be a part of it, but then we had this idea to drag them back here before the next annual reunion.”

“Smart,” Ren whispered on a breath.

“We are going to tell them after this trip. I can’t wear the ring because they will want us to just do a courthouse wedding and refuse to come in a few months. Don’t tell Mars.”

Ren zipped her lips. “I won’t tell a soul.”