Her eyes rounded.“You reallyweretesting him!”
He nodded.“I wanted to see what kind of guy Marc was.”
“What kind of pizza was it?”
Ryan laughed.“Why does the topping matter?”He turned around, eyes sparkling to look back at her, and Trip caught the warmth in that look.
Sure, it was sex and heat, passion and want, but it was also love.
Ryan had told him and Marc that he’d admitted his feelings for El.He’d also stated that he knew it was far too soon, but that he didn’t regret letting her know…
At that moment, Trip was bathed, inadvertently, in the love his Triad brother felt for El, and it had him sighing inwardly at the sight.
Another man, another species, might have been jealous.If anything, it made Trip warm and cozy inside as nothing else could.
He wasn’t exactly a ‘warm and cozy’ kind of guy, but where El was concerned, the rule book had flown out of the window.
He shot Marc a look loaded with his happiness at that moment, and one that was also filled with his amusement at the memories their conversation was stirring.“It was pepperoni.”
“Wow, you didn’t even go ricotta and arugula?Nothing fancy.Just real basic stuff,” El remarked, apparently amused by the notion.
Marc chuckled.“Nope.He didn’t go for fancy pizza, he went for working man’s style.
“Anyway, the waiter was outraged, as was the chef, but Trip was insistent.At the time, I didn’t speak Italian…”
“Yeah, so I was takling Giovanni, the waiter, who really seem pissed off at my request.They were used to me coming in, and I spent a fortune there.They didn’t mind.But I wanted to embarrass Marc.”
She nudged him in the side.“That was mean.”
“Hell, I was fighting for my future here!I needed to know how the guy was.”
“What did he do?”she asked, amusement curling her lips.
“Nothing.Just sighed, died a little in embarrassment and totally pulled a turtle move with his shoulders—ducked out of the spotlight.But otherwise, nada.”
El’s eyes sparkled with amusement.“Good for you, Marc.”
“Oh hell, don’t credit me too highly.I was embarrassed as shit, but what could I do?”
“You do realize that to see the man’s mettle, you made him think you were a jerk?”
Trip grinned.“Ain’t he lucky he found me?”
She burst out laughing at that, and in response to her happy amusement, the men in the car joined in with her infectious giggles.
As they simmered down, Shawn murmured, “We’ll stay at the bakery for one hour.No more.No less.”
She pouted, but Trip saw the glint in her eye.“Okay.Thank you, Shawn.”
He heaved out a breath.“You’re still a pain in my ass.”
“Of course,” she said cheerfully, and that, Trip thought amusedly, was that.
It wasgood to be back at Persia’s bakery.
The little store was cute as hell and comfortable to boot.She often came here for coffee and cake, as well as to chat with her best friend in between Persia’s busier moments out back.
Everything was painted an off-white, but the walls were brushed in a way that added texture and removed any criticalness from the café.
