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He nodded solemnly before his lips lifted in a sly smile. “I understand. You’re going to need your strength for later.”
It took me a second to figure out what he was talking about. I loved Mei, and the garden, and the egg rolls, but I hadn’t told Felix my favorite thing about the Jade Crane yet, and there was no way he could have guessed. When he raised an eyebrow, I got what he was referring to.
“Oh, you mean our bet?”
“Yeah. What did you think I meant?”
I bit into my half of the egg roll I’d split, rolling the bite around in my mouth because it was still too hot, and shrugged. “I have different plans for after dinner.”
“You promised me dessert.”
“I did. And I’m going to make good on that promise as soon as we get home, but there is something else I want to do first. Are you down?”
“You’re not going to tell me what it is, are you?”
I shook my head. “Nope.” He grinned when I popped thepat the end.
“I’m in. I trust you, Nero.”
His words hit my heart like an arrow hitting a bull’s eye. Until that second, I hadn’t realized how much I needed to hear him say those words. I knew my brothers had been right when they said we needed to get to know each other and learn to trust each other, but hearing Felix say that he trusted me made me feel like our bond was real, even after only knowing each other for a short time.
It was fast, but maybe we were already ready to take the next step and claim each other. I felt ready. Maybe tonight was the night we would fully commit to our fated bond.
Felix bit into his half of our shared egg roll and moaned around the bite, the sound going straight to my cock, which had perked up thinking about claiming Felix.
“God, this is amazing.” His mouth was still half full.
“I know.” I finished off my half and picked up a second, then dropped another onto Felix’s plate.
“This feels like a declaration of love.” He gazed longingly at the perfect golden-brown appetizer on his plate.
“Maybe it is.” The words tumbled out of my mouth before they’d had a chance to run through my brain, and the silence that followed made me want to pull them back in.
My mate just smiled at me and bit into the egg roll I’d given him.
Mei appeared a few minutes later and dropped off more food. Felix dug in with gusto, and I tried to keep it together while he moaned and licked sauce from his lips over and over again. Between bites, we talked about everything and nothing, pointedly staying away from anything having to do with Amanda Vanderkaamp or who was after Felix and the case we had taken on. While the knowledge that he was in danger was never far from my mind, it felt nice to enjoy a meal with him one-on-one.
“I don’t think I can eat another bite.” Felix sat back from the table and rubbed a hand over his stomach. “That was amazing.”He’d told Mei as much when she’d popped by to check in on us, and she’d been pleased by the praise.
“Are you too full to shift?” For me, there was no such thing, but that made sense since my animal form was huge, much larger than my human form. For Felix, the opposite was true.
He shook his head, then narrowed his eyes. “No. Why?”
I looked down at my hands, suddenly nervous to ask Felix to do this with me. Some shifters were particular about showing their animal forms to others, and while Felix was my mate, we hadn’t claimed each other yet. Clearing my throat, I met his gaze. “I want to show you why the Jade Crane is my favorite spot. And I want to show you my orca.”
Felix beamed at me, his smile so bright it felt like the whole room lit up by a degree or two. “I’d really like that.”
“Good.” I slid out of the booth and stood, holding out my hand to him. “Let’s go.”
He started to scootch across the red vinyl seat but stopped suddenly, his hand in mine. “Don’t we have to pay the bill?”
“No. In case you couldn’t tell, I come here a lot. Mei has my credit card on file and strict rules to add a healthy tip.”
Felix giggled. “Cal’s cooking is really that bad, huh?”
I affected a fake shudder in response.
My mate stood, his hand still in mine. “Guess I’ll be getting to know Mei a lot better, then.”
