“That was... something else,” Mathlin finally said, looking like he had swallowed something wrong.
“I’mnotcourting anyone with that,” Titan muttered, mildly horrified that he had sat through the entire poem. All of it had gone into his ears. Into hisbrain.“In fact, let’s just pretend the last five minutes did not happen.”
“Yeah!” Mathlin said quickly.
Titan glanced at him. Mathlin hurriedly looked away, pretending to whistle.
“You can’t hide her from me forever, Math,” Titan said quietly.
Mathlin stiffened. “Hide what? I’m not hiding anything.”
“She has a fire affinity, doesn’t she?” Titan said. “I won’t tell anyone. Ham’s going to get some fireproofing supplies after dinner, so you don’t have to worry about Jannie setting anything on fire.”
“But... I never said what she is.”
Titan raised an eyebrow. “What about the mystery smoke?”
All at once, Mathlin sagged. “Y-you don’t mind?”
“I would love to know what she is. But I won’t force you to tell me, and I won’t force her to reveal her nature. I just want to be prepared in case we need damage control.”
Especially because Titan couldn’t afford to lose much right now.
“It’s just the fire, really,” Mathlin mumbled. “But mostly it’s puffs of smoke.”
Titan studied the tiny child in Mathlin’s arms, wondering how the hell he would care for her when he was so out of his element around her. But it shouldn’t even matter, because hewasn’t her dad.
Mathlin placed Jannie back in her high chair. She banged her fists on the tray table and kicked her legs, giggling when Titan made faces at her.
Titan swallowed. Then his skin prickled and he turned, only to find Mathlin watching them.
Mathlin blushed, whipping back to face the stove. He was so adorable.
As the night wore on, Titan warmed up to Jannie. Each of her smiles put more fuzzy feelings in his heart; he couldn’t help the ache in his chest that whispered for him to claim an omega, to make a family. He swallowed it all back down.
Dinner was pan-fried potatoes and seared steak. Mathlin set Titan’s plate on a stack of books so he wouldn’t have to lower his head all the way to the table to eat.
“I could feed you,” Mathlin whispered.
“I don’t need you to feed me food,” Titan said. “But if you’d like to feed me other things, such as yourself, that’s fine.”
Mathlin choked. Hamilton had to thump him on the back; Titan sorely wished he could have been the one to help.
“That was smooth,” Hamilton said admiringly. “But I still maintain that a pickup line would have worked better.”
Titan rolled his eyes, fighting off the warmth in his cheeks. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you choke,” he said to Mathlin. “On something that isn’t my—”
He cut himself off, embarrassed at the words falling out of his mouth. Was this what Mathlin felt like all the time?
Mathlin coughed harder, his ears red. “Am I imagining things? Or did you want me to choke on your, uh, meat stick?”
Titan made himself meet Mathlin’s gaze. “Yes.”
Mathlin turned bright red. His throat was long and pale, covered with twin lovebites but missing a bonding mark.
Titan’s teeth ached.
“You’re going to bed early tonight,” Titan made himself say. “If you’re serious about helping out at the bakery, you’ll have to be up early to start baking.”
