Coffee and Cupcakes
Ella and Ari
Monstrous
Since leaving the nest and joining—at least nominally—the human world, Ella had learned a lot.
She’d learned that coffee was the nectar of the gods and a really good cup could go a long way toward brightening a person’s day. Especially Ari’s if she’d spent her night wrapped up in her Liath Mor mate’s arms.
Right now, Ari was staring blankly at her laptop, a slight frown creasing her dewy forehead.
The nymph might be on the verge of falling on her face in exhaustion—all night sex marathons would do that to a lady, Ella knew—but she looked fabulous, all the same. Blonde hair pulled up in a messy topknot, her skin had the glow of a woman deeply in love who knew she was loved in return.
It was a good look on the firecracker of a nymph, Ella decided.
She wondered at times, if others looked at her and saw the same.
Prodding Ari in the shoulder, Ella handed her a cup of coffee and waited until she’d taken her first sip before trying to engage her in conversation.
She’d learned lots of things since joining Ari and the others, not the least of which was you had to let the caffeine kick in before some people were coherent. With Ari, she didn’t have to wait until she’d drained the mug and started on her second, but she did have to let that first sip hit her bloodstream.
“Holy Mother of Pearl,” Ari breathed after a moment, “that’s good stuff.”
Resting her chin on her fist, Ella grinned. Ari said the same every morning in that same reverent tone.
It was just one of the reasons Ella found her so delightful.
Her sister harpies back at the nest might scoff and claim Ari was just a nymph and shouldn’t be trusted to do anything requiring heavy mental lifting, but Ella liked how forward Ari was. She was terrible at hiding her emotions so she rarely bothered trying.
It was a nice change from all the petty backstabbing among her own kind.
If Ari was upset with you, she told you. If Ari was happy, her ear-piercing squeals let everyone in a five mile radius know.
Ari was loud and silly and the best female friend Ella had ever had.
The best.
“What do you say we blow off work today and go binge on cake and ice cream?” the nymph asked the room at large.
Ella looked at the spreadsheet Ari had been attempting to read before she got distracted by her coffee. It was the same spreadsheet she’d been working on last night.
Cocking her head, she slid the laptop toward her and studied the entries.
One day, Ari had quietly told her she didn’t think she had the chops to be a business woman and it killed her that she was going to be letting down all the supernaturals who had submitted applications to her matchmaking site. In some ways, Ari was right. She didn’t have the patience for some of the more tedious tasks, but her brilliance at finding mates for everyone she’d coerced into signing up with the site was an unparalleled gift and Ella wasn’t about to let her give up.
So she’d taken over some of the more time consuming tasks, freeing up Ari to work directly with the supernaturals looking for mates.
Of course, that meant Ari often felt guilty that she was getting to have fun while Ella was stuck pecking away on the laptop as she built their client database.
It didn’t seem to matter how often Ella told her she enjoyed working with the raw data, Ari still tried to shoulder her share of the work.
Silly nymph.
“I like cake,” she told her boss absently. There. That was where the mistake had been made. A simple enough fix and all the data suddenly lined up.
“Great.” There was a long pause as Ari slouched down into the couch and stared up at the ceiling, coffee cup still cradled in her hands. “Do you think Michael would be a sweetie and swing by that new cupcake place off Fourth for us? That way we could cake without leaving the house.”
Ella pulled herself away from admiring the clean lines of data and snorted out a laugh at her friend. Liam must have really worked Ari over last night if the lusty nymph didn’t want to move today.
“He probably would. Call him.”
It was weird. As territorial as Ella was about her mate, she had never felt a moment’s twinge of jealousy that Ari and Michael had once hooked up.
If she took a long view of it, if Ari and Michael hadn’t done the dirty, things might not have fallen into place the way they had. Ella might still be living in the nest, her harpy brethren her only companions.
Was it weird to know her mate and her best friend had seen each other naked?
Ella choked on a laugh and couldn’t drag in enough air to explain what she found so funny to Ari when the nymph looked over at her.
EVERYONE had seen Ari naked. The woman was shameless and had no hang-ups about her body. She and Liam had been caught doing their own dirty more times than Ella could count.
And Michael? He was a werewolf for goodness sake. He routinely stripped down and went furry around his friends.
Seriously? What was a little nudity and bumping body parts when the end result meant she, Ella, found the mate she didn’t know she’d been looking for.
Now, if Ari decided to set her lusty sights on Michael now, she might have a different response. But Ari was so blissfully happy with Liam, she didn’t even seem to notice sexual tension that didn’t involve the big, green guy.
So they were good. All good. Friends who’d boned. Nothing to it.
When Ari didn’t make a move toward her phone, Ella rolled her eyes and snagged it off the table. Yeah, Liam must have been more vigorous than usual to leave an oversexed nymph like Ari in this state.
“Hey, babe,” she chirped when Michael rumbled out a greeting. “Ari and I are craving some of those cupcakes from the new place on Fourth.”
“And you want me to pick some up for you two degenerates?”
Michael’s voice held amusement and the slam of a car door and his truck roaring to life made Ella grin again. “Would you? You know, if you don’t mind.”
“Anything for you, my winged beauty.”
Ella flushed. He’d called her that last night as he gently stroked her wings and it had made a ball of happiness settle in her gut.
Her man made her so ridiculously happy it was borderline obscene.
“Tell him to get a variety. I want to try alllllll the cupcakes,” Ari said from her boneless sprawl at the end of the couch.
Michael laughed. “Tell her I’m on it.”
Gods above, Ella adored these two. They were her best friends and she had to be the luckiest harpy in the world to have found them.
“See you soon, honey bear.”
She hung up while he was growling about his new nickname, happier than she’d ever thought possible.
The End
Want to see how Ella joined the Monstrous gang? Monstrous Matchmaker: The Complete Series introduces her. (Or grab Operation Werewolf if you prefer to read it as a serial.)
Missed any of the other shorts? Check out the Series Shorts page and get caught up.
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