They got lost in staring at each other, and it wasn’t until Warrick cleared his throat they realized that Race and Con were gone.
“You want me to take you guys home, or you got this, bro?”
“If you want to stay here and make sure things are going okay and just have a beer, I can get Nolan home.” Ryder’s expression said he wanted to take Nolan by himself, and Nolan was down with that.
Completely.
Ryder all but picked him up, carrying him with one arm around his waist out toward the parking lot. Nolan got it. He understood the urgency because right now he needed Ryder so badly he could barely stand it.
He needed to touch, to connect, to prove that he was still there with Ryder, and that he was safe, but also that Ry wanted him after seeing what Herschel did, what the asshole said about him.
“I could never think less of you because of him,” Ryder told him. “This bullshit is all on him. It’s not on you.”
“That doesn’t mean I don’t wonder why he chose me, what it is about me that caused him to be so awful.” He clung to Ryder’s ribs, wanting to be warm and safe with his mate. He was shaking with reaction now that it was over.
“He chose you because you’re amazing and magical, and he knew it and wanted to hurt a beautiful thing. It’s in his nature to want to destroy that, baby. But you didn’t do anything wrong.”
“It may also have been because of my brothers, but I can’t blame them for it. They both got out, and I’m glad.” Long complicated history there, and Ryder would learn it because they were family now, but some of it wasn’t his story to tell.
“I’m sure that will all work itself out, baby. It doesn’t matter to me right now. What matters is you, and I love you.”
They climbed onto Ryder’s bike, and he put on the helmet Ryder handed him before leaning against his mate and putting his cheek between Ryder’s shoulder blades. “Take me home, bear.”
“Anything, love, anything you need.”
And as they zoomed off into the night, he could believe that statement because Ryder’s voice rang with truth.
Chapter
Eleven
Ryder loved bear claws.
He loved real bear claws too, but the pastry was his favorite. They had some of those, they had really good coffee, and he had cooked up some bacon in the oven to go with it.
The fact that Nolan was there with him, mostly naked, except for a pair of little tiny pajama shorts was… not the bonus. It was the main event. The bear claws were the bonus.
He sipped his coffee, smiling across the counter at his mate, who had settled into his life like he had always been there.
“So, what do you want to do today, love?”
“I think that we should snuggle on the couch for a little while and then see if everyone wants to come over for supper. We can have steaks.”
“Not salmon?” he teased.
Nolan’s eyes went wide. “I don’t know that we have enough salmon left. We might have to go fishing.” Nolan waggled his eyebrows at him.
“We can always do that too, but steaks will probably be easier for tonight, and then we could go fishing in the morning.”
Nolan nodded very seriously. “I think that’s a wise move. That way, today we can sort of just spend the day cuddling.”
“I love cuddling with you.” He adored it in fact. Snuggling, kissing, making out, making love. All the above were his favorite things. Even better than bear claws or cinnamon rolls.
Nolan’s delighted grin told him exactly how his mate felt about all those things as well.
Nolan’s phone buzzed, and he grabbed it, his eyebrows drawing down a little bit as he studied the text message.
“What is it, baby?”
