“That’s a secret we’ll take to our grave, along with everything that happened that night. Right, darlin’?” Shaw said.
“Stop calling her darlin’,” Kellan ordered.
They all stilled, then stared at Kellan. He blinked, looking surprised for a moment before he wiped it off his face.
“Why do you care if I call her darlin’?” Shaw asked.
Kellan crossed his arms over his chest but didn’t reply.
Right. So he was acting weird today.
“I’ve known her longer than you have,” Shaw said.
Jeez, they weren’t going to turn this into some weird competition, were they?
“I’m fine with Shaw calling me darlin’,” she told Kellan with a quelling look. “And what we got up to that night is our business.”
There. That should put an end to that conversation.
Their food was delivered and she nearly groaned as she stared down at her scrambled eggs and potato hash.
Her stomach gurgled.
She started eating before she realized that neither Kellan and Eli had started.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“What you got up to that night is definitely our business,” Eli told her.
She really didn’t see how.
“When was the last time you ate?” Kellan asked.
Sheesh.
“Guys, let the poor girl eat, will you,” Shaw said. “And you don’t have to be quite so intense.”
“I think that’s their SOP,” she replied.
“Their Standard Operating Procedure?” Shaw asked. “Yeah, you could be right.”
“We’re not intense,” Kellan grumbled. “Eat your breakfast before Eli decides to feed it to you.”
She blew out a breath and Shaw let out an amused sound. She was glad he was finding this funny. Because she wasn’t.
A pang of worry filled her as she stared at Shaw. She hadn’t liked the way their server had stared at him. With such . . . such hunger and nosiness.
Whatever happened to him had obviously been difficult and draining because he looked so much smaller than he had before. He seemed deflated.
Haunted.
But whatever was wrong with him was his to share. And no one had the right to just come out and ask him like that.
Still. She probably could have come up with a better story than she had.
“You’re bossy,” she claimed. “And I’m eating because I’m hungry, not because you told me to.”
Eli leaned into her and his scent was so intoxicating that it made her head spin. “As long as you’re eating we don’t care why you’re doing it.”
