Page 26 of Broken Ice
“What the fuck?” Emilio swore loudly.
“Sorry, must have been that curse you were talking about.”
“You could have injured me,” Emilio protested.
“Oh, don’t be such a baby. Let’s go. I want Korean.”
“Fine,” Emilio huffed.
“And you’re buying.”
“The fuck I am.”
They continued to argue all the way to the small restaurant, quieting as they were seated at their table.
“What’s good here?” Emilio asked.
“You wanna share?” Beau suggested.
“Sure.”
“Let’s do three bowls. We can get bulgogi, duh, and the spicy chicken one, and this one with avocado and egg and stuff.”
Emilio didn’t even bother inspecting the menu, sitting back and shrugging with a, “Sounds good.”
Beau smiled, pleased at having Emilio trust him with the order. Which was silly, but Beau operated with half hisbrainpower when he was with Emilio, so he was going to allow himself the idiocy.
Beau jumped slightly as the waiter appeared at his elbow. “Beau!”
“Oh, hey, Steve,” Beau greeted with a grin.
“How’s it going? Still kicking ass and taking names?” Steve joked. Steve wasn’t a hockey fan, but his boss was. The first time Beau had eaten at the restaurant, the boss had chirped him all night about his misadventures with the Atlanta Warriors, so Steve had gotten quite the picture of Beau’s on-ice shenanigans.
“I sure the fuck am. This is Emilio, by the way,” Beau introduced.
Steve raised his eyebrows. “First date?”
It took a second for Beau to catch up. He laughed loudly—Emilio would be caught dead before dating Beau publicly. “That’s funny. No, he’s a teammate.”
“Ooh. So what you’re saying is that I still have a chance with you?” Steve asked, winking.
Beau rolled his eyes. There was always good-natured flirting between them, but it was all for fun. “You wanna come to the next game?” he teased.
Steve laughed. “You know what—I’ll actually take you up on that.”
Beau beamed. “Done.”
His expression dimmed as Emilio’s scent hit him, thick with an acidic edge.
He wrinkled his nose, turning to the Alpha. “Jeez,someone’shungry.” Beau ordered their food, tilting his head incredulously at Emilio when Steve left. “Can you seriously not be left to your own devices for half a minute?”
Emilio’s face was a mottled red. “That was just…I was thinking about something.”
“I know for a fact that’s a lie. You’ve never had a thought in your whole life.”
That got Beau the glare he’d intended, flush disappearing. “Look who’s talking.”
“What are you even talking about? I’m an intellectual.”
