Page 14 of A Quiet Man

Tomas felt a smile twitching on his face and his somber mood lifting. "Dude, I'm not going to jump on you if you say the wrong thing. It's fine. Honestly, I don't even feel like a cop on my days off, unless I witness a crime or something and have to spring into action. Heroically, of course." He laughed. Sometimes he barely felt like a cop when he was working, but he decided that might be oversharing.

Auden smiled wryly. "I'm a nervous talker. Can you tell?"

"You could spill some coffee on me if it would make you feel more at home."

Auden's laugh sounded like he was going to choke to death. He actually doubled over. "I can't believe you—" He slapped his knee. "No, no! I wouldn't spill coffee onyou. You're not homophobic enough!"

"Ooh, there's a benchmark?"

"Yes. My temper gets away from me after a certain point, and — oh, shit. I just confessed to you, a cop, that it wasn't an accident. Maybe you've witnessed a crime after all."

Tomas clicked his tongue. "Hardly. I was there, remember? It was definitely an accident. Besides, it was me they were gossiping about, so I'm glad you did."

"It was you? I wondered. The way they acted when you looked at them. All flustered, and not just because you're—"

"A cop? Yeah, they work at the precinct as well. Not closely with me, thank goodness."

"Yeah, if they're that bad when they barely know you...! So, you have a wolf partner, then? That's cool. I always thought that program sounded really neat."

"It's not bad," Tomas conceded modestly. Sometimes he felt like the luckiest guy in the world, so, no, it wasn't bad. Riley's friendship was more than he'd ever dreamed of.

"Did you know there's a TV show being planned with that basic concept?"

"What, the Shifters and Partners program?"

"Well, yeah. There's not much information out about it yet, but it's in the planning stages. It sounds really cool. From the guy who producesCop City, you know — so I'm expecting gritty crime with some heart-wrenching human drama."

Tomas struggled to know how to respond to that. Would it cause problems for the program? More likely it was a publicity stunt, knowing how ruthlessly and cleverly the people in charge promoted the program. He had nothing against them — it worked, right? — but they always seemed to be thinking about twelve steps ahead.

"I'll definitely watch it when it comes out," continued Auden. "I'll probably review it on my blog, too. If it takes off, I bet you and your partner will get a lot of people asking if it's accurate or not. It'll probably get annoying, unless it makes you feel like a superstar." He looked at Tomas teasingly.

Tomas smiled. "I'm pretty sure it's my partner who would be the superstar, not me, and he'd jump out of his skin if people talked to him unexpectedly." Was that disloyal? Not really. "That's why he's got me, though. So people don't do that."

"Is that why he doesn't come with you to lunch? He's too shy?"

"Ha! No. He's not too shy to eat." When it came to appetite, Riley could compete with the best of them. "He likes to spend time with his husband on lunch breaks. I let 'em have some peace."

"Ah," said Auden. "Keepin' the old spark alive, eh? Getting in some real work-life balance. Or even a little afternoon delight?" He broke into some undignified cackling.

"Would you stop?" Tomas said mildly. "And if you ever do meet him, for pity's sake don't say that. He'd die of embarrassment."

"Ah. I wouldn't. He sounds sweet."

"Put it this way: if he's unhappy, I'm unhappy — and coffee goes all down your front."

Auden burst into more laughter. He had the least dignified laugh Tomas had ever heard, and Tomas couldn't help grinning like a loon when he heard it.

"Oh, no, save me from the coffee cops!" Auden did jazz hands in the air, still smiling. Face lit up like this, he was charming. "Don't haul me away to the land of donuts and cream! Oh boy...I just saiddonutsto a cop. That's definitely jail time!" He covered his face with a hand as he laughed.

"You're a riot, pal," Tomas growled in a fake tough-guy accent. "Take him away, boys!"

"Ooh, officer, I swear I'll be good. I'll never make another donut joke in my life!"

"Throwing yourself on the mercy of the court, eh? Too late. We haven't had our coffee yet — and not one donut!"

They both started laughing like that was the funniest joke ever. It definitely wasn't — just a little silliness — but, man, did it feel good to laugh.

Tomas found a conveniently placed parking spot and pulled in carefully. "All right, here we go. Careful getting out into traffic. You can slide over and get out on this side if you want." He patted the driver's seat after climbing out.