Now, he carefully laid his hand over Titan’s clothed abs, rubbing them.
“What are you doing?” Titan asked.
“I’m feeling up the individual buns of your abs.”
Titan laughed, his mouth curving into a rakish grin.
“Why are you laughing? This is what mates do,” Mathlin protested. “Mates check that you have the right number of abs.”
“What happens if I have too many?”
“I’ll eat them,” Mathlin said. Then the words sank in, and he groaned. “Not again! I didn’t mean that in the flesh-eating way.”
Titan nudged their sides together, his shoulders shaking. “And would you make muffins on me?”
“Of course! You’re a baker. You need all the baking puns. I would call you the bread man but that sounds like ‘bred man’, and you’re not the one with a bun in your oven.”
“Not just one bun in my oven, no,” Titan said with a completely straight face. “On a regular day, I’m the person with the most buns in my oven, out of anyone in town.”
Mathlin gaped. Then he snorted so loudly that several people looked over.
Some of those people were part of Titan’s pack.
For the past few days, the pack had hugged Mathlin and snickered every time he showed up at their dinner table. Now, they smiled and waved, some of them smirking knowingly. Mathlin groaned.
Four wolves broke away from the pack—Crush, Gavric, Ottis, and one of their alpha brothers, Vigil. Vigil was Titan and Crush’s littermate; he was out of town more often than not. Right now, Vigil was the most well-dressed out of all of them.
Crush and Gavric had their phones up like they were hoping to record something.
“Did we miss it already?” Gavric asked worriedly.
“No, we’re waiting for the right time,” Mathlin said.
“Awesome.” Gav did a fist pump.
Crush elbowed Gavric. “That isn’t going to help you attract more omegas.”
Gavric rolled his eyes. “Do you see any omegas around here looking for a mate? ‘Sides, they’re gonna go for Vigil rather than lil ol’ me. Vig’s dressed to impress. I’m just here for the live updates.” He gestured at his own T-shirt and jeans.
“If Everdin tries to hit on me again, please hold her off so I can escape,” Vigil said flatly.
“We’ll protect you, oh great alpha,” Crush drawled. His omega Killian came up to them, tucking himself against Crush’s side. Crush’s smile softened; he pulled Killian closer and slipped his fingertips under Killian’s shirt, stroking his baby bump.
They had such an easy intimacy, familiar and trusting. Gavric and Vigil watched them, something like hunger in their eyes.
When Mathlin turned, he found Titan watchinghiminstead.
He startled. “Um!”
“I don’t think we’re acting boyfriendly enough,” Titan said in an undertone.
Mathlin blinked. Then he realized that Titan was handing him the perfect excuse. His heart leaped. “No, we’re really not. We need to make sure everyone knows we’re dating. Here, I know how to make it better.”
He turned and pressed himself fully against Titan’s broad chest, rubbing his face between those lush pecs. “Mmmm! Your boobsare so big, it’s like they should be making milk but somehow they’re not.”
Titan snorted. “Yeah?”
“Mm-hmm,” Mathlin said, reaching up to squish those muscles against his own face. “You could squeeze these together like in those soft-porn magazines, maybe you can put a thin baguette between them, really sell that baker image.”
