Immediately the mood shifts and there’s a collective vibe change that shows me tension has eased up. Smiles. Waves. Helloes and heys come our way.
Amelia smiles nervously and gives a little wave to the space at large, but though she does this, I feel her fingertips glide up underneath my sweater. She pinches the skin just above my hip. We move further into the space to the last empty booth.
I don’t hide my grin as she shoots me a dirty look before sliding into the booth. I sit beside her.
“What was that for?” I ask, putting my lips to the ridge of her ear.
“Don’t do that.”
“Introduce you as my mate? It’s the truth.” I kiss the ridge of her ear.
She sighs, working her arms out of the jean jacket she’s wearing over the soft pink sweater. The neckline is low, revealing enough cleavage I feel my jeans go tight. I take the jacket from her and hang it on the hook at the end of our booth, telling my cock it needs to wait a little bit to get back inside her.
I feel the warmth of my mate’s mother’s gaze on me. She’s all smiles, taking in the interactions between her daughter and me.
“Take your jacket, Kathleen?” I offer.
“No thank you, Mason. I’m a little chilly, so I’ll keep it on.”
Cade, dropping menus on the table and leans over, close to Kathleen’s ear. “I can turn the heat up, if you like, Kathleen.”
Her face goes bright pink as she drinks him in, looking like her temperature has already risen.
“Th-thank you,” she stammers.
He gives her another lazy smile.
Kathleen’s eyes bounce to her daughter and go huge as Cade saunters back to the bar.
“Holy cow,” she mouths.
“Wrong animal, Mom,” Amie replies softly.
I feel eyes on me. Roxy. She’s at the bar, pouring a beer. She gives me a shaky smile. I smile back and then my eyes move to Amelia, whose eyes are on Roxy, with question.
I wrap my arm around her and run my nose up her neck. It’s the wrong side of her neck. We should be sitting on the opposite side of this booth. I’ll remember that next time. I graze the mark with my thumb, earning a shiver from her. Her eyes hit mine.
“Don’t do that in public,” she whispers.
“I’ll do it whenever and wherever I need to do, to remind you,” I reply.
A hint of my mate’s arousal hits my senses.
Yeah. I want this scent in my lungs at all times. Even if I can’t act on it right now, it settles me.
“Something between you and Roxy?” she asks.
“Long over,” I reply.
She grinds her teeth. I hear them squeak.
Interesting.
“I didn’t catch that,” Kathleen queries.
“Never mind, Mom,” Amie mutters.
Cade is back, resting his hand on Kathleen’s shoulder, he leans in near her ear and inhales.
“I’ve turned the heat up.”
“Oh. Th-thank you very much.”
Cade looks at me and raises his brows.
“Kathleen, this is Cade.” I take the hint.
“Cade,” she says, face flushed, “So nice to meet you.”
She promptly opens her menu and hides behind it.
Amelia has her lips tight like she’s about to laugh. Her eyes meet mine and amusement dances there. I smile and run my palm up and down her arm.. She leans into me and it sets off vibrations in my chest, which makes her lean even closer.
The purr instinct seems automatic now. This one not because I’m trying to comfort or calm her, instead because I feel joy right now. Because of my mate.
The texts that came in while I was asleep were about the minivan pulling through the village. Someone recognized Kathleen. The texts continued to ping about the surveillance rotations for the next forty-eight hours, giving me and Ty a miss since we’re still freshly mated. Jase asked if we should get Tyson onto our text chain and Linc replied he’d already popped by to see Ty earlier about the code yellow, and that Ty wasn’t thrilled about being tied to a phone. He reluctantly agreed after Ivy schooled him on uses for cell phones beyond reading dad jokes. Linc included Tyson’s cell number so we could all update our phones.
Amelia was quiet during the drive here, looking lost in thought. And I didn’t like the vibe I got from her. Whoever she was on the phone with as we came in from out back clearly upset her. I was tempted to ask if her ex was calling her, but I decided to leave the conversation until after our time with Kathleen. I really don’t like the intensity of the emotions that came at me and I don’t think it’s about her belongings being dropped off by her mother; it was something I wasn’t feeling when I took Kathleen outside.
“Get the chili fries with whatever you order, Mom. Trust me,” she says. “Anyone who says nothing tastes as good as skinny feels hasn’t tried Roxy’s chili fries.”