“For appetizers, we have sweet dinner rolls with herb butter and lobster ravioli,” Roarke said, his tone hitting that perfect snooty blend ofyou are the gum beneath my shoeandpray order quickly before I’m tempted to flame you.
I bit my lip to hold my laugh in.
“Will that be acceptable to you both?”
Riggs was absolutely speechless, so I came to his rescue.
“Yes, thank you,” I said demurely, smoothing my linen napkin over my lap and sneaking looks at my mate’s gaping jaw beneath my eyelashes.
Roarke nodded and bustled back to the kitchen.
A moment later, Taco came out to bring our appetizers, again dressed in a tux and tails. If anything, Taco’s snooty voice was even funnier. I should have known he’d be excellent at getting into character.
“Your rolls and ravioli, sir and madam. Enjoy.”
When he’d gone back to the kitchen as well, Riggs turned slowly to look at me.
“Good for the Clan, huh?”
I shrugged, smiling. “Who doesn’t love razzing their boss every now and then? As for Roarke, I really couldn’t stop him. Once he found out what I was doing, he wanted in.” I peered at my mate. “Have you antagonized him lately?”
He laughed as he cut into a ravioli. “Believe it or not, I’ve actually gone out of my way not to antagonize one of the strongest shifters in the world. I’m very aware that he could crush me.”
“Well, then, he must just have a great sense of humor.”
He chuckled. “At my expense, yes, it appears that way.”
Looking up from buttering one of his rolls, he added, “Thank you, Piper. This is great. I can relax now that you’ve gotten back at me.”
He looked relieved, and I really couldn’t have that.
“Can you?”
His head came up. “What do you mean?”
“I mean,canyou relax now? I don’t think you should.”
We stared at each other across the table for several long, charged moments before I finally cracked and smiled.
He laughed in relief. “You had me there for a minute. You have an insanely good poker face.”
I took a bite of my buttery roll. “Thank you. Maybe we can play poker at our next game night.”
He chuckled, shaking his head. “You’ll clean house, of course.”
“We’re mates, right?”
His head came up. “Yes.”
I took a sip of my mocktail. Tangy, with strong notes of lemon-lime, exactly what I loved. “So, what’s yours is mine?”
His eyebrow lifted. “And vice versa, mate. I feel that’s important to remind you.”
I shrugged. “I’m just preparing you for when we play. I think it’s polite to give a little advance warning.”
He chuckled and took another bite.
All through the meal, a different Clan member played the part of our waiter. In total, we had about ten of them.
