Page 16 of Reindeer Flames
"My sister can be … feisty." Silver's grin lit up his whole face. I hoped one day he would look like that when he thought of me. "Once she tastes this, I think she'll want to meet with Laurie."
"What's your plan?" I asked. "Make the croissant and fill it with the chocolate sauce, but then what?"
"We could sell them at both places and split the difference. She doesn't have as much room in the dining area."
"True, but she has more tables than you do."
He nodded. "We have more tables, but they would only collect dust. Most of our business is takeout."
I had more questions, but a familiar high-pitched laugh drew my attention to the front of the subway car. I hadn't even noticed we'd stopped at the village hub already. The next stop would be the bakery. The one after that was near the apartment complex my cousin Bopp called home.
"Look who it is! My LO-fucking cousin! Are you trying to hide in that ridiculous hat?"
"What's LO?" Silver asked.
"Large omega," I said, surprised my voice stayed even.
"That makes you an LOL!" Bopp laughed at his own joke, not caring that he was the only one laughing.
"Large omega lover," I whispered.
Silver huffed a laugh, but smoke rolled from his nostrils. "I'll have you know I'm quite the lickable omega. That's what it means, right? Lickable? Or did you mean lustrous?" He scrunched his perfectly styled hair. "Or did you mean luminescent? Ever wondered what a reindeer looks like when he's on fire?" He stood up and grabbed the rail over my head, taking a step toward my cousin.
Bopp swallowed his laughter and took a step back toward the door. "Wait. I didn't. Let's not … I was only joking."
The train lurched, and Bopp fell into the seat by the door. He hopped up and pressed the button to enter the car in front of ours. Then he glanced over his shoulder with a nervous laugh. "How precious. An omega big enough to stand up for my spineless cousin."
"You're the one running," I reminded him when the door opened. He slipped into the walkway between cars. Silver waited for him to enter the next car before he sat back down.
"Large Omega Lover." Silver laughed. "That's the best he can do?"
"It's an old family tradition." I'd never been more embarrassed to be a Comet in my life. "Our grandpa called my dad and papa that when they first started dating."
"What kind of omega?"
"Reindeer." I sighed. "Papa's not that big, and Dad's small for an alpha. Together?—"
"Together, they made you." Silver patted my knee. "That's all that should matter. Well, that, and if they're happy."
"I think so?" I loved my parents, but I didn't spend much time with them beyond Sunday dinners with the entire extendedfamily. To be completely honest, I was embarrassed by them. They were the reason I'd tried so hard to win the time trials, so I had something good to tell my grandpa and granddad over dinner … except …
"That asshole," I growled. "He used Tinsel to take the focus off my success. The one time I did something Granddad would praise, and he glossed right over it because Skiff and Bopp had brought omegas to dinner."
Silver's hand had never left my knee, and now he gave it a comforting squeeze. "I'm sorry."
I shook my head. "No. It's fine. I'll find a way to get him back."
The words felt hollow, though. I didn't want revenge. I wanted Silver, and my whole family be damned if they thought his size mattered more than how perfect he was for me.
CHAPTER 7
SILVER
Hart deflatedthe moment he saw his cousin on the subway. Even when we arrived back at the bakery and Gold had him taste-test one of our flaky croissants with some chocolate sauce in the middle, his smile didn't reach his eyes.
I'd all but given up on a goodbye kiss, but Hart called me to the door. I'd already donned my work apron. He pulled me in by the neck strap and kissed me there, right in front of my sister and the handful of late-morning customers still sipping their coffee and eating their pastries.
The kiss didn't possess the same fire as our first kiss in the locker room, or the one before he left my apartment later that night, or any in between, but I didn't care. Hartley Comet kissed me in public. LOL or not, he was serious about dating me.
