Clay leaned down and gave me a quick kiss. “That is very true. It’s not the end of the world if you open your own door, but I was raised to be a gentleman, and to do everything I could to spoil my mate. And you, Duncan, are my adorable mate.” He kissed my nose and then took my hand. I was grinning as we walked across the parking lot and smiled at him again when he held the door open for me.
Immediately my nose was hit with all the wonderful scents of Cajun chicken and fries and my stomach growled again. I was hungry, which wasn’t unusual, but eating out two days in a row wasn’t normal for me. I usually had to watch my funds closely and budget tightly.
“What are you getting?”
“I get the number one, spicy. I get it large, so I get two sides. Cajun fries and mac ’n’ cheese.”
“That sounds good. I was thinking possibly that and adding another sandwich.” Clay looked at me with excitement. “Do you want to get some chicken as well? Do you like bone-in chicken?”
“I don’t mind it. This is usually a treat for me, so the sandwich meal is good.”
Clay gave me a look and I knew what it meant. We were getting extra chicken. I wasn’t going to say no because I absolutely didn’t mind. But I also didn’t want to order more food than I could actually eat. We ordered our food, Clay adding a four-piece chicken to the order, and then sat to wait for it to be ready.
“I’m glad you suggested here. I want you to be comfortable with things like this.”
“I know. And I’ll try. But it’s been a day, Clay.”
He grinned. “True. I apologize,” he said. “At times, patience escapes me, and I tend to get a bit pushy. We can slow down,take things gradual going forward, and see where we come out at in the future.
I tilted my head, wondering if that was truly what he wanted. I didn’t think so. I could talk to him through our bond, but even with his help, I’d not been able to read his thoughts yet. Maybe he wasn’t sharing them with me and that was why.
Our food was brought out and I smiled up at the lady. “Thank you.”
“Yes. This smells amazing,” Clay added. He wasn’t wrong. It did. But I’d not ever had bad food at this location. The one over near my apartment? Yeah, you just didn’t go there unless you wanted horrible food.
“Enjoy your meal,” she said and then walked off.
Immediately, I opened my mac ’n’ cheese and took a bite. I closed my eyes and just barely kept from moaning. I opened them while chewing and found Clay staring intently at me.“I didn’t moan,”I said through our bond.
“Not audibly. But you did through the bond, and it had the effect on me that you would expect. I know what your moans sound like when I’m sucking on you. And when I’m filling you.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “That’s messed up in all ways,” I said.
“Not really,” Clay responded. “I’ll quite happily do those things just as soon as we get home.”
I had to take several deep breaths. Now I wasn’t hungry for food. How was that even possible?
Clay reached across the table and took my hand and gave it a squeeze. “I apologize,” he said quietly. “I’ll behave, but I truly will do all of those things once we get home if you wish.”
I glanced around, and although the place wasn’t packed, it wasn’t empty either.“Now I’m struggling to eat my food because all of a sudden, I want sex with you. All the time.”Clay tilted his head and stared at me. He leaned closer and moved thefood to the side. I noticed he took a deep breath and I shook my head.“I’m not in heat. And I don’t feel like it’s starting. I just…want you again. And that’s really new because I’ve never really been all that interested before.”
Clay grinned. “Well, I do apologize for mentioning it. The last thing I intended was for you to have issues with eating. I did want you to know that I very much am willing. At any time. Literally.”
I smiled and shook my head. I picked up a fry and ate it. “Well, when we get home, we’ll see. You said you wanted to talk about something.”
Clay was suddenly more serious. “Yes. We’ll talk about that when we get home. It’s nothing bad, but I do wish to discuss a certain thing with you.”
I was going to do my best to not focus on that. He said it wasn’t anything negative, so I was going to trust him in that. I picked up another fry and ate it. I focused on eating my food, and once I started, my hunger returned. The other need was still there, but I had no doubt that Clay would be more than happy to take care of that once we got home. That was still odd sounding in my mind. I knew it was my home too now. And when I was younger and first found out about shifters and that I was one, I’d often dreamed about finding my mate and living in a nice place with him.
Then reality of being an omega shifter in the foster care system came crashing down and I spent more time than I cared to admit thinking I was a freak like they’d told me. I was different. And maybe if I’d been an alpha, or even a larger-species omega, I wouldn’t have been treated nearly as bad as I was.
“Hey?” I blinked several times and focused on Clay. “We can discuss those thoughts when we get to the truck. That’s not what I wanted to talk about, but I think we need to.”
I sighed. “Sorry. I just…a whole lot has happened in the last few days and I think it’s started to come crashing down. What with everything we’ve done this morning, and…” I looked to my right out the window. “It’s a lot all at once.”
Clay’s hand touched mine and gave it a squeeze. “Let’s take this to go. We’ll finish eating at home when you’re feeling a bit better. Maybe spending some time in your panda form with my gorilla would be what you need?”
I looked at Clay with wide eyes. “Do you think we can do that? I’ve not been able to shift in over a month. I’d love it. I don’t need a lot of space.”
