“That’s sweet,” Quain said, sliding onto a barstool tucked underneath the kitchenisland.
Some days, Peter had more negative thoughts than positive ones. Shaking his head, he forced the past back into the far recesses of his mind where it belonged. Nothing good ever came out of reliving the worst parts of hischildhood.
“So can I order something now?” He waved the phone at his adorable mate. It took all his resolve to resist wrapping himself around Quain to keep him from all harm, mental orphysical.
“Yeah, can you get me some pasta with red sauce,please.”
“Sure.” Peter pressed the code to reach the kitchen and then placed his order before hangingup.
“Do you ever cook?” Quainasked.
“Not if I can avoid it. I mean, why bother when I can have someone do it for me and I can concentrate on more important things like running my business rather than poisoningmyself?”
Quain laughed. “Good point. Maybe we can try cooking together. You can make sure I don’t faint or burn everything, and I can be on poisoncontrol.”
“Sounds like a date.” Peter tapped his fingers on the counter as he contemplated his next question. His mate’s life sounded both luxurious and smothering at the same time. “Now that the bracelet is off, are you going to visit yourparents?”
“Yeah, sometime soon, so they can see for themselves that I survived. They’re a bit overbearing at times, but at least I know they love me, even if at times it feels like toomuch.”
Peter made a silent vow not to suffocate his mate with overprotectiveness. Quain was a grown man. He could decide what he needed Peter to do forhim.
“I’m glad you called them.” The thought of being on the other side of the equation and worrying about Quain had himfrowning.
“I did. I promise. I told them about the bracelet and that I was going to go find mymate.”
“And they just let you go?” Peter’s opinion of those watching out for Quain began tosink.
“No! They asked me to come home, but I didn’t want to endanger them. I didn’t know if the wizards could track me, and I needed to find you. You were the only thing keeping me from fallingapart.”
“And you weren’t worried about them coming after you at thegarage?”
Quain shook his head. “I was certain you could take the bracelet off. If they came after us, I was certain you could handleit.”
“I appreciate your opinion of my fighting prowess. Especially since you’ve never seen mefight.”
Quain’s wide-eyed expression almost had Peter laughing, but he kept a straight face. “It’s not that I’m not happy you came to see me, but I think it had more to do with the mating bond than any confidence in my fightingskills.”
“Whatever. I don’t care about the reasoning right now. I got you, didn’tI?”
“Yes, you did. Have you called your parents since you’ve been free of thebracelet?”
Quain flashed a sheepish expression as he pulled Peter’s phone out of his pocket. “I’ll just take care of thatnow.”
“There’s a small balcony out there if you want some privacy.” Peter pointed to the double doors on the farwall.
Quain nodded and headed for the exit. “I’ll give you your phone back after the call. I’ll need to go get my own replacementsoon.”
Peter nodded. “We’ll pick you up onetomorrow.”
“Thanks. They smashed mine to stop my family from trackingme.”
“Smart.”
“Maybe. I did escape, after all.” Quain’s quick smiles and easy hugs warmed him to hissoul.
“Great. The only downside is I lost all the numbers I had on myphone.”
“You don’t upload it to a computer regularly?” Peter plugged his phone into his desktop a few times aweek.
