Page 32 of Tooth and Nail

All in all, it had been a good day.

After giving the chief a report, she’d agreed and told them to take the rest of the night off. Eoghan certainly agreed they deserved the downtime. They’d done good work first with Derwin, and then with King John Townsend. He really hoped the king would be back with his subjects soon, but he wondered how complicated all of it was going to turn out to be. If they were right in their speculation and someone at the Agency had an ulterior motive for letting Tillis Bradshaw take over the Flagstaff clan, it could be a very long time and a lot more vampires dead before anything was resolved.

“I could literally eat the entire world right now,” Ari said.

Eoghan snorted, turning to look at him and noting how he’d relaxed back against the headrest with his eyes closed, long fingers laced together over his stomach. “Hungry?” Ari peeled one eyelid open and Eoghan laughed before looking back out the windshield. “Okay…um…how do you feel about Korean?”

“Perfect.”

“We’re close to Koreatown.”

“Works.”

“There’s this amazing—”

“Fine,” Ari interrupted.

“Jesus, you really are hungry,” Eoghan said, enjoying the conversation. “What happened to your sandwich from earlier?”

“Inhaled.”

Eoghan grinned.

“Take me there, driver. I’m dying.”

“Okay, okay, I get it.” Eoghan’s stomach let out a painful growl of solidarity as he changed his route, heading for West Sixth Street, downtown. “You’re gonna love this place. They have the best kimchi I’ve ever had and the barbeque is to die for.”

“Stop talking.”

Eoghan smiled. “Why?”

“Because if you don’t, I’m going to start crying.”

“Wow, you’re a real baby when you’re hungry,” Eoghan said. “How did you survive on Army rations all those years as a Ranger?” He glanced over to find his partner smiling at him, hazel eyes crinkled at the corners. “What?”

“You did your homework on me? When did you have time to do that?”

Eoghan huffed and looked back out the windshield. “You know I knew you were an Army Ranger. I mentioned it to Wordy when I was introducing you. As for checking up on you or doing my homework, I didn’t have much time at all. The chief told me you were a sniper but that’s really all I know. When were you discharged?”

“I joined up when I was nineteen, following in the family footsteps and all. My dad and brother were Army. I did two tours over there and came back home before joining the U.S. Marshals Service eight years ago,” he said. “And now, I’m here chasing bumblebees.”

Eoghan looked over at him to find his eyes closed again. The smile was back on his full lips, making him look very handsome. The pang of attraction he’d been feeling for his partner had now blossomed into full blown arousal. The very idea of seeing those beautiful lips stretching to accommodate the head of his cock was very appealing. He shivered and glanced back out the windshield.

“Honeybees,” he said.

“What?” Ari sat forward, and Eoghan looked over.

“Honeybees, not bumblebees,” he replied.

Ari chuckled. “That’s right. Bumblebees are the mean ones who tie other bees up in flypaper. Honeybees invented the personal computer and work forfuckingApple. My life is strange.”

It was Eoghan’s turn to laugh and he did, loudly. Twenty minutes later he drove up and parked in the lot across the street from Hae Jang Chon. The minute they stepped out of the car and began jogging across Sixth, the scent of barbequed meat coming from the restaurant filled his senses. He’d been here a lot over the years, several times with Kellen, his ex-lover. “Dating” if that’s what you’d call it with that man had been a disastrous year and a half. And after they’d broken up, Eoghan had learned that he’d never been faithful to him the entire time they’d been dating. He’d sworn off men. At the time he figured being cheated on made him the biggest chump on the planet.

When Ari grabbed the door handle and pulled it open to allow him to walk in first, Eoghan swallowed hard. It had been a very long time since he’d felt like anyone other than his coworkers had even given a shit about him. Even in the most superficial way. As soon as he thought about it, he felt guilty. Certainly, there were several people at the office who’d always been friendly to him, Wordy, Night, and the Tools amongthem. Chief Deputy Priest was always kind to him but when he thought about his boss, it was with complete detachment and nothing more. He trusted that she wouldn’t knowingly put his life in undue danger, but he’d never called her a friend. Since losing Glad, he hadn’t been close to anyone and that included keeping his distance from his parents who loved him very much.

He ducked under the woven cloth tapestries strung from the ceiling as he stepped through the door into the dark restaurant. It smelled absolutely divine in here, a mix of roasting meat, seafood, and pickled vegetables combined with something that had to be beeswax. The very thought of it made him smile as he greeted the hostess who held two menus in black covers. She bowed and held up two fingers to which he replied with a small nod before following her as Ari settled in behind him.

As soon as they were seated in a booth across from each other, the hostess handed them menus and removed the covering from the grill situated in the middle of the table. After taking drink orders and leaving, Eoghan sighed, opened the menu, and leaned back against the booth, settling in to look over the selections. He was pretty sure he already knew what he wanted and the way his stomach was protesting had him convinced he’d been right about the all-you-can-eat selection. When a strange sound started coming from Ari, he lowered his menu and looked over the top of it. His new partner was smiling and humming with his tongue poking out of his mouth. Eoghan was sure he’d never seen anything as adorable as that in his entire life.

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