Page 16 of Silent Fire

Tomas smirked. “Been a while, Dot.”

She poured the coffee for a customer seated at the counter then nodded toward an open booth. “Go on and grab a seat. I’ll be with you in a sec.”

He led his mate to the closest booth near the front, one with cracked red vinyl and a view of a jukebox that looked like it might electrocute someone.

Noel slid in, eyebrows lifting at the plastic gecko clinging to the salt shaker. Tomas sat across from him, grinning.

He watched, mesmerized by the way Noel’s slender fingers traced the contours of the figurine, brows furrowed just a bit as he studied the intricate details. It was so painfully endearing that Tomas had to resist the urge to reach across the table and still those restless hands with his own.

Lips curving into an amused smirk, Tomas leaned forward, tracing the back of Noel’s hand with the calloused pad of his finger. “Relax, cariño,” he murmured, his voice a low rumble meant only for his mate’s ears.

Noel’s cheeks flushed a delicious shade of pink. He opened his mouth, no doubt to fire back some snarky retort, but seemed to think better of it. Instead, he worried his plump bottom lip between his teeth, holding Tomas’s heated gaze for a beat too long before ducking his head.

The silence stretched between them, charged and electric. Tomas could practically taste the current of awareness sparking in the air. He allowed his finger to linger against Noel’s skin, feeling the warmth, the thrum of his mate’s pulse.

“You’re cute when you’re flustered,” he murmured, pitching his voice low so only Noel could hear the words.

Noel huffed out a breath, but it did nothing to hide the pleased glint in his eyes. “Keep it in your pants, lobo.”

“No promises.” Tomas grinned, finally retracting his hand. He leaned back, crossing his arms as he draped one long leg over the other under the table. A calculated display, one meant to draw Noel’s appreciative gaze. “You make it very difficult to behave around you.”

The scent of Noel’s arousal, subtle but unmistakable, teased Tomas’s senses. His wolf preened at having such an effect on their mate. Tomas allowed his gaze to roam slowly, appreciatively, over Noel’s slender frame. When their eyes met again, he arched one brow in silent challenge.

Noel’s cheeks redden further. But the spark in his eyes refused to dim. “You’re incorrigible,” he muttered, though the corner of his mouth twitched with reluctant amusement.

“I've been called worse,” Tomas countered with a lazy grin. “Like ‘drop-dead gorgeous’ and ‘utterly irresistible.’”

Noel rolled his eyes so hard Tomas was mildly impressed he didn’t sprain something. “You’re also incredibly full of yourself.”

“Por supuesto,” Tomas agreed without a shred of shame. “I contain multitudes, cariño.”

“Yeah, multitudes of ego,” Noel shot back, but there was no real heat behind the jibe.

Dot came over, offering a friendly smile as she flipped open her notepad. “What can I get you boys?”

Noel looked away first, straightening in the booth. “Oh, uh, pancakes sound great. Blueberry if you’ve got ‘em. And glass of orange juice, please.”

“You got it, sugar.” Dot’s pencil scratched across her pad as she jotted down the order. She turned expectant eyes on Tomas.

Holding her stare, he drawled, “I’ll take the sausage.”

Noel made a small, choked sound. Tomas didn’t dare look, fighting to keep his expression impassive even as he inwardly smirked.

“Anything else?” she asked, oblivious to the sudden tension crackling between them.

“Nah, we’re good.” Tomas offered her a warm smile. “Thanks, mamacita.”

She snorted, giving him a playful swat with her order pad before sashaying away, leaving them alone once more.

The second she was out of earshot, Noel rounded on him with narrowed eyes. “Did you really just order sausage and call the waitress little mama?”

Unable to hold it in any longer, Tomas threw back his head with a rumbling laugh. “What?” He chuckled, delighting in the way Noel’s cheeks flushed darker. “You’d prefer I ordered a big, thick Polish this morning instead?”

“Oh my god,” Noel groaned, burying his face in his hands as his ears turned pink. But Tomas didn’t miss the way his lips twitched with a suppressed grin.

Moving to his mate’s bench, Tomas slid closer until their thighs pressed together beneath the table. He leaned in, letting his breath ghost over the delicate shell of Noel’s ear. “Unless you’d rather I just ate you for breakfast instead, cariño.”

Noel shivered, a delicious little full-body tremor Tomas felt all the way to his gut. Slowly, he lifted his head to pin Tomas with a look that somehow managed to be both sultry and sweetly flustered.

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