Page 9 of Kringle and the Kraken

He shrugged. “I’ve known you for a while, buddy. Miso soup is your comfort food after you have to spend time at holiday headquarters.”

A half smile tugged at my lips. “I didn’t realize I was that transparent, but you’re not wrong.”

“You want the crab rangoon too.”

“You know it.”

The phone rang, and he grabbed it. “Give me just a sec.” He hit a button on the handset and held it to his ear, holding up a finger and ducking behind the cash register.

The door opened behind me, and my hair stood on end from more than just the cold. Electricity buzzed in the air, and I knew before I turned around who had come in. A quick glance confirmed it, and I spun on my heel to face the object of my daydreams over the last twenty-four hours.

“Levi. Hey.” I held out my hand again, hoping he’d take it and either prove that the jolt I’d gotten when we first touched was a fluke or confirm there was something sparking between us.

He looked at my hand, then up at my face, then at my hand again before taking it, and once again, that spark passed from his palm to mine, making my blood hum and my heart beat too fast.

We held each other’s gazes, our hands still interlocked, and for a long moment, I totally forgot the rest of the world around us.

Until Kori cleared his throat.

“You guys want a table, or are you both taking your orders to go?”

Levi gave my hand a squeeze, then released it and said something in a language that sounded a little like Japanese.

“I’m good to grab a table, but no pressure.” Levi returned his attention to me. “I don’t want to keep you from something important if you were just grabbing dinner to go.”

I wanted to have dinner with Levi more than anything. I wanted to get to know him. Even if I had a million other things to do, I would have made time for this.

“No, I’m good. We can grab a table.”

Kori clapped his hands and picked up two menus. “Not that you two really need these. I bet you know the menu better than I do with how often you both eat here.” He led the way into the dining room that was only half full, and sat us at a table near the window, and we settled into our seats, shrugging out of our coats. “One of the servers will be over soon. Enjoy.”

Levi said something in Japanese that made Kori laugh as he walked away.

“You speak Japanese? That’s really cool.”

Levi’s brow furrowed. “What?” He glanced at Kori’s retreating back. “Oh.Oh.Yeah, Japanese. Right.”

“Where did you learn?”

“Uh, in Baleen. It’s pretty common there.” Levi fiddled with his water glass. “So you eat here a lot, huh?”

Hello subject change. But I wasn’t ready to let this drop. I wanted to learn more about Levi before he’d shown up in Lifeboat.

“Where is Baleen?”

“The northwest coast of Ireland.”

I stared him down, waiting for him to elaborate. He was wearing another squid pun T-shirt. This one had a picture of a squid in a cowboy hat and leather chaps, holding a bullwhip and six-shooters in his tentacles, with Billy the Squid written under it in a Western font. His arms were exposed, his intricate tentacle tattoos on display, and this close, I could see the design was a little raised, the linework done in shades of blue, purple, and green. I wanted to run my fingers over the lines to see how the texture of the tattoos contrasted with the rest of his skin, but I held on to the edges of my menu instead.

Levi finally caved. “It’s a very…diverse community.”

I nodded. “Cool. Why did you move?”

He sat back in his chair. “Needed a change of pace. My whole family is there now, and there were a lot of obligations and pressures. I wanted to do something new.”

A laugh tumbled from my lips. “Oh, yeah. I know all about that.”

“Is your whole family here?”

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