Page 24 of Silver
“Okay, I’m ready,” Charlie said as he came rushing out of his bedroom. I’d opted to wait in the living area at Charlie’ssuggestion. My adorable mate was carrying a rather large bag, and I had to wonder how he’d managed to pack it so quickly.
“You look cute,” I said as I reached for the bag. Charlie stopped walking in my direction, so I closed the distance between us. He just stared at me while I reached for the bag and took it from him. I raised an eyebrow in question when he just stood there. “What?”
Charlie looked down at himself. He was wearing a pair of jeans and a green sweater. The combination looked good on him, and I found him adorable.
“You said I looked cute.”
Shit. Was that bad? “Am I not supposed to say that? You look sexy as well, but you’re my mate, and I’m always going to find you attractive. Is that better?”
Charlie’s eyes widened. I chuckled, gently grabbed my mate’s hand with my free one, and tugged him along with me out the door. I stopped just outside so he could lock it before I led him to my truck. It looked comical in his tiny little driveway.
After I placed the bag in the back seat, I helped Charlie up into the front and then rounded the truck. I had a breakfast date to take him on, and then we were going to go back to mine and have a long discussion. It was obvious that Charlie had been mistreated by previous boyfriends, and that wasn’t going to work for me. Of course, I was going to do everything I could to spoil my mate, and that was going to start today. We’d rushed when it came to claiming one another, and I’d not really had a chance to date him like I should have. That didn’t mean I couldn’t or wouldn’t do that now. Because I absolutely was going to. He deserved all the dates and all of the romance that came with it.
“Do you know what you’re in the mood for?” I asked, keeping the conversation safe. At least I hoped so.
“Since I don’t know where we’re going, I can’t say.”
“Think home-cooked food diner. It’s probably not as good as some grandparents’ cooking, or even some parents’ cooking, but my brothers and I frequent it often.”
Silver looked at me with raised eyebrows. “Do you and your brothers not cook?”
I nodded. “We do. All of us know how to cook, grill, and bake. But we visit this diner a lot for lunch. And sometimes breakfast if our schedules allow for it.”
Charlie nodded slowly. His sudden gasp and then leaning to the center console had me immediately on edge. “What’s wrong?”
I slowed to a stop at the intersection and looked over at my mate, concerned about him. “Is it gone? The blue SUV?”
I looked around and found a bright blue SUV in the rearview mirror. “If it was bright blue, it’s headed down the street. Someone you know?”
Charlie sat up and somehow contorted himself enough that he could see out the back of the truck while still remaining buckled in his seatbelt. “Yeah, that’s Sam’s vehicle. She said she was going to come over this morning and demand all of the deets as to how our date went. I absolutely do not want to tell her how many times you and I did the deed.”
I couldn’t help it; I chuckled. “Could your sister really force you to tell her about your sexual encounters? Is that something you’ve been forced to do in the past?”
Charlie groaned. “You don’t understand. She has this way about her, and before you realize it, you’re spilling your guts about everything.”
I was getting an understanding about Sam and her and Charlie’s relationship. Sam, it seemed, was a lot like Ma and was a busybody. Yeah, I knew exactly how to deal with her going forward. “We’ll add that to our list of things to discuss later.”
“Huh?”
I glanced over at my mate before looking back at the busy street. It was unusually busy for a Wednesday morning, and I wanted to make sure my mate and I arrived at the diner safely. “Charlie, you’re adorable, and I can’t wait to explore everything with you, but we’re going to have to work on certain things. Specifically how much your sister is involved in your life.”
Charlie narrowed his eyes. “You mean like your mom is with yours?”
I shook my head. “The difference there is that Ma tries to be in control of our lives. All but Slate don’t allow for that. Slate only does because he’s the youngest and still hasn’t figured out how to put her in her place.”
“Yet you went on the date last night. A date you didn’t want to go on, that your ma set you up on.”
I nodded. “True. But only because I didn’t want to leave you without a date on Valentine’s Day. It’s bad enough to be stood up, but it’s probably by far worse when it’s on Valentine’s Day.” I shook my head. “Other than last night, I cannot remember the last time that I did something that Ma insisted on.” I would happily help out around the house when I was visiting, but I did not spill secrets, did not disclose information that she had no business knowing.
Charlie sighed. “I wish I could be like that. Sam doesn’t mean anything maliciously, but she’s overbearing. I know, on some level, she just wants to see me happily mated. On another, she’s just a nosy busybody.”
I snorted, trying to keep my laughter in. I had a feeling that Ma and Sam would get along well. That meant there was no way they could ever meet. I knew that wasn’t going to be possible, but I wasn’t going to go out of my way to make sure they spent a lot of time together. I pulled into the diner’s parking lot and groaned.
“What?” Charlie asked. “They don’t look too busy.”
“No, but that’s Clay’s truck there,” I said, pointing to the silver truck.
“Are you sure? Maybe it’s someone else’s that looks like his?” Charlie sounded hopeful, but we both knew what was going to happen if he and I went inside that diner.
