Magical Midlife Battle （Leveling Up, #8）(41)

He stopped, though, noticing Mac standing not far away, holding his uncooked pizza, watching us.

“What’s up?” Austin asked, glancing at his nephew’s creation. “Do you need help?”

“No. I’m picking up tips on how to woo girls. This is legendary.”

Austin started forward again. “I never did any of this with—” He side-eyed me. “Before Jess.”

“Nice recovery,” I joked.

“But I can see how it would be a good party trick. Wear a stupid apron—”

“Check,” I said.

“Toss the pizza dough—”

“Preferably with shirt sleeves rolled up, exposing muscular forearms,” I added.

“Okay, back up,” Austin said. “Next, Mac, get muscular forearms.”

“Har, har,” Mac said as we stepped outside. “That’s about the only thing I’ve got going for me—

my physique. I have the body of an alpha but not the drive for it.”

“There could be worse things.” Austin handed our creation to Kingsley, who used his fancy pizza peel to move his cooking pizza over and slide ours into the oven.

“You know Auntie Jessie really well, though—”

“Aww, cute.” I smiled brightly at him. “You’re calling me Auntie Jessie!”

Mac paused for a moment, not sure what to make of that apparently, and continued. “What about if I’m going for a girl I don’t know that well?”

“What are we talking about?” Kingsley asked, suddenly gruff. “What girl?”

“You just watch her body language,” Austin said, moving out of the way so Mac could give his pizza to Kingsley. “You stop by things, or suggest things, or randomly talk about things you might do, like fancy versus laid-back—”

“Cheating!” I smacked Austin’s arm. “Very suave.”

Austin laughed. “Just pay attention to her signs. She’ll tell you what she wants, even if she doesn’t voice it.”

We continued talking about idle nothings while the pizza cooked. Once it was ready, Austin sat us away from the others and placed our food down in front of us. One of his hands slid up my shoulder and around the back of my neck, pulling me closer so he could taste my lips. A moment later, he lifted a slice, watching as I pulled a pepperoni from his offering and popped it into my mouth.

“It was a rough start to the night, but I like the direction it’s going,” Austin murmured, his eyes hooded and his body hard.

“I didn’t set up any fondue for afterward,” I said after I finished the bite. I’d done that recently after a date I took him on. The chocolate fondue had been an erotic treat, though soon forgotten as we explored each other’s bodies.

He smiled as he fed me a bite of pizza, and then accepted one from a slice I held up for him, realizing too late what he’d been offered.

“No! You didn’t!” He pulled away from me, laughing and then making a face. “I can feel the olives in there. How dare you!” The last was said to mimic Mr. Tom’s new favorite phrase.

Mr. Tom’s eerie voice rose from the darkness. “If that was intended to mock me, I can assure you, I am not wounded.”

“Feel the olives?” I took a bite of the slice I’d grabbed for him. “Hmm! I don’t know about feel, but they sure are delicious.”

“They have a weird consistency.”

“You have a weird consistency.” I stuck my tongue out at him and laughed again.

We finished that pizza and went back to make more, Austin teaching me how to catch and throw the dough and laughing at how bad I was at even the simplest things in food preparation.

“If it hadn’t been a chore for you, if you’d had passion to learn, you might’ve picked it up a bit better,” he told me, taking over the sauce application.

“Maybe you can teach me?” I sprinkled on the same cheeses he’d used on our first-round pizza.

“I’m sure you can make it fun if anyone can.”

“I’d love to,” he said softly.

We ate our fill and then went back into the kitchen area, where we took seats at the island and drank wine while Austin and I told stories of the Ivy House crew’s crazy antics. Dessert was served, a raspberry tart, and the evening ended with small or half-smiles from most of the shifters, a gleaming smile and hug from Mac, and an overall feeling of goodwill.

“My mother has no idea what to make of you,” Austin said as we drove home in the Taurus.

“She was certainly staring a good bit. But she didn’t belittle me, unlike a past mother-in-law, so I’m cool with that. At least we can be civil.”

“It’s not a like or dislike situation. It’s…” He tried turning the radio down, but the knob didn’t seem to do anything. “Oh-kay.” He left it alone. “I was so much trouble in my youth, and ever since I nearly took Kingsley down, I’ve been labeled as dangerous. I’ve always been the one to watch, the one who might unravel and take everyone with me. I think she worried she’d see herself in you—the survivor of abuse who couldn’t get help because she thought it might look weak to the pack. I think she was ready to help you get free, or help you work through the pain she was certain I’d cause.”