Page 108 of Edge of Darkness

“Nice place,” Kit said, glancing around.

“It’s one of Austin’s favorites.” Connie sipped his wine. “Of course, that could be because they live right above it. Well, not right above it. Kage has the penthouse, of course. He owns the building.”

“Still, it’s a building right in the middle of downtown.” Kit shrugged. “I like where you are, Hudson. Lots of room.”

Hudson’s dragon puffed up. His mate liked Hudson’s territory. That made his dragon absurdly happy.

Hudson glanced around. Several paranormals caught his eye and bowed their heads slightly. Yup, the gossip mill was going to be working overtime.

Their meal came fairly quickly, and since they’d each ordered something different, they ate off each other’s plates. Privately, Hudson could admit he enjoyed feeding Kit. It appealed to the primitive part of himself.

Once they finished dinner, they opted for an after-dinner drink. Several movers and shakers of San DeLain stopped by the table to speak to both him and Connie.

Hudson made sure to introduce each and every one of them to Kit. By doing so, he showed he considered Kit important.

After a quick check of the time, Hudson paid the bill and escorted his two men out to his SUV. The drive to the movie theater didn’t take long.

He had been worried they would be a little overdressed, but he saw other men who were also in suits.

As they were walking toward their movie, his sensitive hearing picked up some unkind comments being made about how Kit was dressed. From the way Connie stiffened, he’d heard too. A quick glance at Kit’s face showed he hadn’t caught what was being said about him.

Good thing for that human.

They stopped to get popcorn and drinks, and Hudson committed the human’s face to memory. Once they had their goodies, Hudson led them to the theater that was showing their movie and arranged Kit so he was sitting between him and Connie.

Laughter caught his attention, and he glanced over his shoulder. What luck. The asshole human and a group of his friends walked past them to seats closer to the screen. Hudson made note of where they were sitting.

“I’ve been wanting to see this movie for a while,” Kit said as he munched on a handful of popcorn.

“I was surprised you wanted to see this,” Connie said, sticking his hand in the popcorn tub Kit held in his lap. “I didn’t know you were into superheroes.”

“See? That’s the thing,” Kit said. “We really don’t know much about each other, so how could you? But yes, I’m into shows likeSupermanand theX-Men. I also like to see things go bang.”

Connie snickered. “Me too.”

The lights finally dimmed, and the movie started. Since Kit was holding the big tub of popcorn, there was a time or two Hudson’s hand collided with Kit’s. Each and every time he heard Kit’s quick intake of breath.

They went through the popcorn pretty quickly, and when Hudson noticed it was finished, he caught Kit’s hand and gently licked the salt off his fingers. Even in the darkened movie theater, he could see how Kit reacted to the wet heat around his fingers.

Next to Kit, Connie groaned. “What are you two doing?”

“He’s licking my fingers,” Kit whispered to Connie.

“Hey, no fair!”

Kit swirled his newly cleaned fingers around the bottom of the popcorn tub and held his hand out to Connie. Hudson leaned forward far enough to watch Connie lick Kit’s fingers too.

As much as Hudson wanted to pursue that, he reminded himself that they were in a crowded movie theater.

The scent of magnolias was suddenly strong. But even more impressive was that Connie wasn’t struggling for control. It seemed as if showing his dragon to Kit had helped matters.

He held Kit’s hand while Connie slung his arm around the back of Kit’s chair. Kit rested his head on Connie’s shoulder.

They were about three quarters of the way through the movie when Hudson noticed the man who had made the derogatory remarks about Kit walking past.

“I’ll be right back,” Hudson whispered to Kit. “I’m going to make a quick trip to the bathroom.”

“Okay,” Kit whispered back, not taking his eyes from the screen.

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