Page 88 of Silent Fire (Sin & Steel #6)

“No promises.” Tomas grinned, finally retracting his hand. He leaned back, crossing his arms as he draped one long leg over the other under the table. A calculated display, one meant to draw Noel’s appreciative gaze. “You make it very difficult to behave around you.”

The scent of Noel’s arousal, subtle but unmistakable, teased Tomas’s senses. His wolf preened at having such an effect on their mate. Tomas allowed his gaze to roam slowly, appreciatively, over Noel’s slender frame. When their eyes met again, he arched one brow in silent challenge.

Noel’s cheeks redden further. But the spark in his eyes refused to dim. “You’re incorrigible,” he muttered, though the corner of his mouth twitched with reluctant amusement.

“I've been called worse,” Tomas countered with a lazy grin. “Like ‘drop-dead gorgeous’ and ‘utterly irresistible.’”

Noel rolled his eyes so hard Tomas was mildly impressed he didn’t sprain something. “You’re also incredibly full of yourself.”

“ Por supuesto ,” Tomas agreed without a shred of shame. “I contain multitudes, carino .”

“Yeah, multitudes of ego,” Noel shot back, but there was no real heat behind the jibe.

Dot came over, offering a friendly smile as she flipped open her notepad. “What can I get you boys?”

Noel looked away first, straightening in the booth. “Oh, uh, pancakes sound great. Blueberry if you’ve got ‘em. And glass of orange juice, please.”

“You got it, sugar.” Dot’s pencil scratched across her pad as she jotted down the order. She turned expectant eyes on Tomas.

Holding her stare, he drawled, “I’ll take the sausage.”

Noel made a small, choked sound. Tomas didn’t dare look, fighting to keep his expression impassive even as he inwardly smirked.

“Anything else?” she asked, oblivious to the sudden tension crackling between them.

“Nah, we’re good.” Tomas offered her a warm smile. “Thanks, mamacita .”

She snorted, giving him a playful swat with her order pad before sashaying away, leaving them alone once more.

The second she was out of earshot, Noel rounded on him with narrowed eyes. “Did you really just order sausage and call the waitress little mama?”

Unable to hold it in any longer, Tomas threw back his head with a rumbling laugh. “What?” He chuckled, delighting in the way Noel’s cheeks flushed darker. “You’d prefer I ordered a big, thick Polish this morning instead?”

“Oh my god,” Noel groaned, burying his face in his hands as his ears turned pink. But Tomas didn’t miss the way his lips twitched with a suppressed grin.

Moving to his mate’s bench, Tomas slid closer until their thighs pressed together beneath the table. He leaned in, letting his breath ghost over the delicate shell of Noel’s ear. “Unless you’d rather I just ate you for breakfast instead, carino .”

Noel shivered, a delicious little full-body tremor Tomas felt all the way to his gut. Slowly, he lifted his head to pin Tomas with a look that somehow managed to be both sultry and sweetly flustered.

“Maybe next time,” he murmured, the barest hint of challenge in his voice. “I prefer to be wined and dined before getting consumed.”

White-hot lust surged through Tomas’s veins like lightning.

His mate was a force of nature, all steel and spitfire wrapped in an adorably rumpled package.

He wanted to devour Noel, claim him in the most primal way possible.

But he reined in the urge, content, for now, to simply bask in the tension thrumming between them.

“As you wish, mi dulce adicción ,” Tomas purred, letting the endearment roll off his tongue like a caress.

He held Noel’s heated gaze for a long moment before leaning back, draping one arm along the back of the booth in a casual display of possession. Let his mate catch his breath, let the anticipation build to a simmer.

Grinning wolfishly, Tomas settled more comfortably into the booth. A subtle shifting of his weight had their legs aligning from hip to knee. An innocent enough touch, yet laden with the unspoken promise of more to come.

* * * *

After paying the check, Tomas stood and stretched, his shirt riding up to reveal a tantalizing glimpse of toned abs. Noel’s gaze lingered, warmth pooling low in his belly at the sight. Clearing his throat, he tore his eyes away before Tomas noticed his staring.

They exited the diner, the morning sun bright overhead. Noel’s sneakers scuffed against the pavement as they walked toward Tomas’s motorcycle.

“I think I ate too much.” Tomas rested a hand over his stomach.

“Eating too much sausage is never a good thing.” Noel smirked. “You have to limit your intake.”

Tomas gasped, placing a hand over his heart in feigned indignity. “Blasphemy!”

God, the guy was so damn charming. Noel snickered, feeling himself blush. “Just be thankful you didn’t order any Polish sausages. You’d probably be in a coma right now.”

“Seriously.” Tomas slid his hand over Noel’s, stopping them on the sidewalk. “I had a good time, carino. Thanks for coming with me and brightening my morning.”

Noel didn’t know what to say. It was the best morning he’d had in years. Honestly, it was probably the best morning of his life. “Me too.” He gave Tomas’s fingers a gently squeeze. “And you were right. The pancakes were worth that fever dream.”

The way Tomas stood there looking at him had Noel blushing even harder. Especially when he thought about what the guy had said to him inside the diner. He looked like he wanted to say something but smiled and began walking again. “I have to run a few errands today. Wanna come with me?”

That wasn’t what Tomas was about to say, but Noel wasn’t going to ask what that strange look in the man’s eyes was all about. “Sure. Not like I have anything better to do.”

“I can think of a few things.” Tomas winked.

“You’re still incorrigible.” Noel released his hand, walking a little faster. “Stop staring at my ass.”

Tomas barked out a laugh, the sound making Noel weak in the knees. It should be criminal the way the guy used charisma as a seductive weapon.

An uneasiness began to settle inside Noel’s belly the closer he drew to the motorcycle, though he couldn’t figure out why.

Noel covertly glanced around, afraid to tell Tomas what he was feeling.

What if it was nothing? He didn’t want to look like an alarmist if it was just his nerves.

Tomas had sparked something inside of him with all the flirting, and Noel was a bit flustered.

Maybe that was it. Just simple nerves from being practically seduced under the watchful eyes of all those ceramic lizards.

He frowned when something on the bike’s seat glinted in the sun, catching his eye. The uneasiness intensified with each step. Nausea rolled up his throat as cold chills formed in his chest.

Oh god. It was a ring. Tungsten, with a brushed finish and beveled edges. A thousand memories assaulted him—Brian’s cruel whispers in Noel’s ear, the twisted sense of ownership that had driven his obsession.

The thundering pulse in his ears drowned out the sounds of passing cars and Tomas’s footsteps behind him.

Noel couldn’t move as tremors racked his body, even darker memories threatening to swallow him whole.

Nights huddled in corners, cradling bruised ribs as Brian raged nearby.

Flashes of furious eyes and the bone-deep agony of the man’s fists flickered behind Noel’s lids every time he blinked.

“Noel?” Tomas’s voice cut through the static, his hand settling on Noel’s shoulder with grounding warmth. “What’s wrong, carino ?”

But Noel couldn’t form the words, couldn’t explain the terror gripping him with icy fingers.

His gaze remained locked on that simple tungsten band, breaths coming in shallow gasps as the world tilted around him.

Distantly, he heard Tomas speaking, the low rumble of his voice urgent but indistinct over the pounding of blood in his ears.

All he could see now was Brian’s heated gaze as he slid the ring onto Noel’s finger. The cruelty that followed when Noel shouted he could never marry a monster. He’d ripped the ring off and gathered the courage to run from his ex’s abuse.

But the ring was here. That twisted symbol of possession and pain had found him again.

Tomas pulled him close, gathering Noel against the solid warmth of his chest. One arm banded around his back while the other cradled his head, fingers stroking soothingly through his hair.

Noel shuddered, every muscle in his body pulled taut like a bowstring. He clutched at Tomas’s shirt, burying his face in the crook of the man’s neck as he struggled to draw air into his burning lungs.

“Breathe, carino ,” he murmured. “Just breathe with me.”

Noel focused on the steady thump of Tomas’s heartbeat against his cheek. The scent of leather and smoke and something wild grounded him when panic threatened to sweep him away completely.

“That’s it, carino ,” Tomas crooned, lips brushing Noel’s temple. “Just like that. You’re doing beautifully.”

Secure in the circle of Tomas’s embrace, Noel felt some of the tension bleed from his quivering muscles. He clung to the guy, relishing the sense of safety that came from having this powerful, protective presence surrounding him.

A single tear slid free. Then another. Noel whimpered, clinging harder to Tomas. He couldn’t let himself break. Not now. Not here. Not when he’d held everything inside just so he could survive. The abuse, being on the run for half a year, enduring cold, hunger, then nearly killed in that farmhouse…

Not once had Noel cried, and he wouldn’t let it happened while he stood in a diner parking lot.

“I promise to hold you together, little flower,” Tomas murmured.