Page 34 of Deck the Skulls
“In a minute,” he said. “Let me hold you for a moment longer. I need this.”
“Me too,” she agreed.
After a few moments of silent cuddles, Zan spoke up. “I want to help,” he said. “Can I do that?”
She pulled away to look up at him. “You want to help here?”
Zan nodded his head. “I want to do what you do. I want to fight the good fight.”
“It’s a never-ending fight,” she warned him. “And sometimes, people come in with an attitude because they’re frustrated and upset.”
“No problem,” he said, flashing her his best grin. “I can charm anyone.”
“Yes, you can,” she agreed. She grabbed a few forms off the table. “First, everyone needs to fill out one of these. It helps us estimate how many people we help and that gets us funding.”
Zan listened intently, excited to learn more about this part of Rissa’s world. He wouldn’t fail her.
Chapter 12
Rissa
There was only one patron when Anatoly came down at five in the evening. Instead of taking his normal spot, he swept behind the bar, took her hand, and led her away.
“Hey!” Zan protested with a grin. He moved fast and grabbed her other hand before Anatoly could reach the door to the bar. “Where do you think you’re going with my employee?!”
“You’ve been with her all day, now it’s my turn,” Anatoly answered. His voice was stern, but his lips twitched a little as if he was holding back a smile.
“That’s not fair,” Zan whined, his eyes sparkling with humor. “I didn’t get to do fun stuff with Rissa. We did serious and important things. We helped people.”
Rissa could hear the pride in Zan’s voice. To her surprise, not only had he not gotten bored, but he’d learned a lot in the hours they were there and actively started helping people by the end of their shift.
“I shouldn’t leave,” Rissa said, although she really wanted to spend time with Anatoly. “Zan needs me.”
“Zan and Sanguine survived years before you showed up,” he said. “They can manage for one evening.”
Then Anatoly tugged her close, pulling Zan with her. Predictably, Zan used this as an excuse to make her the filling of their sandwich hug!
“Good times should always be serious,” Zan agreed in a husky voice, then kissed Anatoly. Watching the two kiss would never get old, but she wanted to be part of it.
“Me too!” she demanded.
The men broke the kiss and leaned down as one. Zan captured her mouth, and Anatoly licked the shell of her ear. The bar around them disappeared as she lost herself to their touch. She whimpered and clutched Zan’s shirt with one hand and reached back to curl her other arm around Anatoly's head.
“If you three are going to go much further, you need to take it upstairs,” someone said, breaking the spell.
Ending the kiss, Rissa pulled back and gazed up at Zan. “I wanted a little affection, not a full-frontal assault.”
He was unrepentant. “You’ll be getting that frontal assault later,” he promised, then slid his gaze up to Anatoly. “There might be some rear-guard action going on too.”
“That was the cheesiest shit I’ve ever heard!” someone shouted. Rissa was forced to stifle a giggle.
“Shut up or you're cut off,” Zan threatened.
Anatoly tugged them both out of Zan’s hold. “Be a good bartender and take care of your patrons.”
For the first time, Zan really did look disappointed. “I could kick them all out and join you guys.” There were some clear sounds of distress from the patrons. Rissa knew Zan didn’t have the heart to break up their fun.
“We’ll be back before you know it,” she promised.