Rune went through the introductions even though none were needed. He started across from us first. “You know Theron. Cassander. Alaric. Wolfe. Finn. Mina. And, of course, Poppy who you saw last night.”
I nodded my head to all of them. “Thank you for inviting me.” Not really.
Poppy snorted. “As if we had a choice.” A quick glare at Theron. “He’s anal about food and eating together.”
Mina interjected, “I’m not sure if you should put anal and food together in the same sentence, Poppy. It doesn’t quite sound right.”
Theron wasn’t paying attention to anyone at the table, but he still nodded.
I leaned forward to peer around Poppy. “Hey, Mina. I hear you’re officially with Mr. Baker now.”
Mina blinked. “Call him Finn. And, since you’re here with us, call them all by their first names. I quickly learned they don’t like it when you use the termmister. Apparently, it offends them if you’re part of the group.” She picked up a napkin from the middle of the table and wiped at a small smudge in front of her.
I snickered as she cleaned. “You’re still as proper as ever.”
Her cheeks instantly flushed, and she peeked up at me from under her eyelashes—a damn vixen goddess. Like she was revealing earth shattering news, she whispered quietly, “Not really.”
I quickly put a fist in front of my mouth and coughed over a chuckle. “So you’re having fun?”
She leaned toward me, pushing Poppy against my side. “The best time ever.”
I held up my hand to her, stating softly, “Get you some, girl.”
Mina stared at my hand a moment, then quickly high-fived me with a soft touch. Her resulting grin was magnificent. Who would have thought? The stuffy weapons leader must have a wild side to keep a smile like that on his woman.
I glanced at Finn with new eyes, gauging his mien.
It was still as cold as ever.
Rune slid his arm around the top of the booth, over my shoulders, and pulled me closer. He whispered against my ear, “Don’t get any ideas.”
I snickered and turned my attention to him. “Absolutely not. I just never would have guessed.”
The warm flesh of the tip of his nose slid over the shell of my ear, and he asked conversationally, “Are you hungry?”
“I’m starving. Hopefully, the food is better than their service.” I quickly kissed his cheek so he knew I wasn’t ignoring his flirtation, and then peered out of our booth. “Where is the waiter?”
“Waitress. It’s a girl covering this section,” Theron clarified, his eyes shifting over the workers. “But it looks like she’s still in the back.”
Mina cleared her throat and started scrubbing at the spot again. “It looked like the same girl who delivered the pizza that one time.”
Theron nodded once. “I believe it is.”
