They stayed long after the ice cream was gone. No rush was needed. Zack drew idle patterns in a ring of melted condensation with the tip of his spoon. Colton leaned back against the bench and let himself enjoy the moment. Shade overhead. Warm day. Sweet cream still on his tongue. But most importantly, his mate beside him, talking about nothing and everything.
For a man who’d spent a lot of his life keeping one eye on the exit, this felt almost indecently good. His black panther was blissfully content for the first time in years, relaxing on its side.
Eventually they stood up and wandered without much purpose, heading farther down Main where the shops thinned into older storefronts and hanging baskets overflowed with trailing vines and brightly-colored flowers. A bookstore with crooked display stacks. A hardware store that smelled faintly of dust and fertilizer. Zack paused in front of a bakery window and stared at a lemon tart like it had personally offended him by existing after he’d just eaten ice cream.
“We should come back.” Zack glanced away, only for his eyes to stray back to the pastry.
“For tart?” Colton was down for another treat. His appetite was ferocious at times, especially after running in his panther form. Two afternoon treats was nothing to him.
Zack bit his lower lip, then drew in a deep breath. “For emotional closure.”
“You worried about your weight?” Frowning, Colton glanced over his mate’s body. As far as he was concerned, Zack was at a healthy weight, thick in all the right places.
“No.” Zack’s gaze flicked away. “Ready to keep walking?”
They strolled past a boutique with handcrafted candles and artisanal soaps displayed in the window.
“Who comes up with these pretentious names?” he scoffed. “Like some trust fund poet got high and started free-associating.”
Colton leaned closer to read one of the elegant handwritten tags. “'Moonlit Orchard,'” he read aloud.
“So overused.” Zack nudged Colton’s arm playfully and began inventing his own ridiculous alternatives. “Haunting Vineyard with too much fog,” he said in a singsong tone. “Angle Tears From Above.”
“You’re…terrible at this.”
He kept spouting off ridiculous names until Colton laughed again, and each time that happened Zack got a small, pleased look like he’d won something.
They walked slower as the afternoon stretched. Heat settled into the sidewalks. Cicadas buzzed from the trees lining the street.
Talking was easy. That was the thing that got Colton. It wasn’t strained or forced, or one of those exchanges where Colton had to keep lifting the weight of it to stop it from dropping. Zack talked, yes, but he also listened. Asked questions and stayed for the answers.
He learned Zack rented a tiny apartment over a laundromat that smelled faintly floral all the time because somebody downstairs clearly loved the scent. Learned he’d moved here a month earlier and still sometimes got turned around downtown because every brick building looked like another brick building when you were running late. Learned he liked old movies, hated cilantro with moral fervor, and claimed not to be a cat person in the tone of someone who had once been judged by a cat and never recovered.
“Cats know when you’re needy,” Zack said like he was a cat whisperer. “I don’t trust any creature that can look at you like you’re their next meal.”
Will he freak out when he learns I’m a black panther?
Colton hoped his mate was only kidding. “Maybe they just value discernment.”
Zack’s jaw dropped. “Are you a secret cat lobbyist?”
“I neither deny nor confirm such accusations.”
“Knew it.” Zack chuckled, revealing deep dimples Colton wanted to kiss. “I figured you out, buddy,” his mate declared triumphantly.
“Did you now?” They continued their leisurely stroll, eventually circling back to Second Scoop.
“It’s time for me to take off,” Zack said. “Got some errands I need to run.”
Colton wasn’t ready to part ways. He couldn’t remember a more amazing afternoon than this one. “What’re you doing tomorrow?”
Zack’s brows lifted a fraction, as if he hadn’t expected Colton to want more time with him. “Nothing. It’s my day off.”
“Spend it with me.” He laced their fingers. “Please.”
“I…” Zack bit his lower lip, his gaze lowering to their joined hands. “I’d like that very much.”
After making plans to meetup tomorrow morning, Zack walked toward the diner. As Colton watched his mate, he felt eyes on him.
