Page 49 of Hell's Gator

“And sex, cough, cough,” Cristie said under her breath.

“Oh, I think the sex will be fucking mind-blowing, whether we’re arguing or laughing. Doesn’t matter.”

“Do you even know how to be tender and loving?”

“Right back at you, cher,” Lucien said.

“I don’t know if I want to be nice to you.”

“You do. It’s why you’re so mad,” Lucien said, smirking at her as he reached out and took another of her onion rings.

“Goddamn it, Lucien! Eat your own food!” she said as she reached out and snagged half of his onion rings, plopping them on her plate.

Lucien laughed, that rich, deep velvety laugh, and even Addie sat there with her mouth hanging open as she watched him.

Two of the waitresses walked out of the back and stood there undressing him with their eyes.

“Sorry ladies, I’m afraid my heart, and my ass, are fully claimed,” he said, still chuckling.

“I have not claimed a damn thing,” Hellen snapped.

“I can tell them I was wrong if they want to meet me in the back,” Lucien teased.

“You do and I’ll kill every single one of you,” Hellen threatened, the eyes of her beast staring out at him angrily.

He grinned at her and kissed her lips quickly before she had time to pull back. “Don’t worry, my cher. All I want is you. All I see is you. And all my damn onion rings you stole.” He raised a hand to reach for the onion rings, and Hellen grinned, snatching them out of his reach before he had a chance to take them.

He squinted at her, his full lips a little more pouty than usual. Finally he nodded. “Okay. You can have them. But later when we get home, I get to have whatever I want.”

The surprise on her face was so sudden it was almost comical, then she quickly put all his onion rings back on his plate. “Everything is not okay, yet,” she mumbled as she picked up one of her own onion rings and started munching on it.

“Maybe not. But it’s better. And for now, that’s enough. We’ll work on the rest.”

“You’ll work on the rest.”

“And you’ll respond, otherwise why am I even bothering?”

“To see just how much you mean it. I mean, once you get your fill you might be on your way, you know?”

“Touche’, cher. I did say that. Then I got to know you. And I got to know your people — a little bit anyway. And I honestly can’t see me leaving, no matter what. The more I’m around you, the more I need to be around you. Seems I’ll never get my fill.”

“We shall see,” Hellen said.

“That wasn’t a challenge,” he said, shaking his head.

“Could have been,” she said, as she concentrated on eating.

“Yeah. But it wasn’t,” he said.

“Fine.”

“We’ll figure it all out,” he said, sipping his chocolate shake.

“If you stop freaking laughing all the damn time,” she grumbled.

He didn’t do it on purpose, he really didn’t, but the laughter bubbled up out of him again, and all the females went all warm and fuzzy.

Hellen turned to glare at him.

---