Page 73 of Demon and the Raven

“Maybe,” I answered, and once she left, I ordered Lorne out of the booth.

“Why?” he asked even as he moved, standing there as I scooted over and stood up.

I gestured for him to go in first.

“Xan, my food is right here.”

Switching the plates, then the drinks, I repeated my non-verbal direction.

“What is the point of this?” But he got in and got situated as I took the seat beside him.

Father Dennis grunted. “The point is Xander being tired of having his fiancé accosted by everyone who happens by the table.”

“What? No,” Lorne said, cutting his cheeseburger in half, then glancing at me.

I stared at him.

“You can’t possibly be thinking about that when we have something scary to talk to Father Dennis about.”

“Lorne, love, there may or may not be a demon walking around Osprey, but I can confirm, without question, that there are lots of people who want to spend time with you. That is more than obvious.”

Lorne picked up his burger.

“Not yet,” Father Dennis said. We bowed our heads, and he blessed the food. “Okay, now we can eat.”

“You have lost your mind, Xan,” Lorne muttered, then took a bite of his burger.

“I don’t think so,” I replied snidely. “You’re just oblivious.”

“I think I know when people are flirting with me,” he said with an eye roll, wiping his mouth—between the cheese and everything else, it was messy—before taking a sip of his lemonade. “And no one is.”

“I thought policemen were supposed to be observant,” Father Dennis goaded Lorne. “My goodness, son, does everyone who comes by need to feel every muscle in your arm?”

Lorne shot him a disparaging look before turning back to me. “Can we focus, please?”

“Maybe now I can,” I retorted, cutting my veggie burger in half.

“Eat boys,” Father Dennis directed. “You need to take sustenance before battle.”

“Battle?” I didn’t like the sound of that.

“Eat,” he ordered me.

I was going to question him or argue that I wasn’t a child and therefore could not be commanded to do things, but as his one lifted brow promised a fairly serious diatribe on listening to one’s elders, I shut up and did as directed.

Back in the police vehicle, Father Dennis chuckled. “You know, I haven’t been in one of these since college. They’re so much nicer now.”

“A Ford Explorer?” I was confused.

“A police car,” Lorne clarified.

I immediately turned to look at the priest through the partition. “You were arrested in college?”

“There were issues, as there still are now, that one must protest. Such as the right for you and your beloved to be wed.”

And suddenly I felt warm and fuzzy toward Lorne instead of murderous toward his legion of admirers. When he reached out to take hold of my hand, I felt everything settle inside me. “I’m sorry I was jealous.”

“That’s okay.” He glanced at me before returning his gaze to the road. “I get a bit jealous myself watching the tourists chat you up on those town tours you give.”