Page 25 of Handcuffs & Honey

After serving the orders and clearing tables, Julian made his way back to the kitchen, his mind still reeling from the feeling of Dominic’s arms around him. He tried to push those thoughts to the back of his mind and focus on his work, but it was proving to be difficult. He found himself making silly mistakes and getting distracted by the slightest things.

As he was grabbing an order of spaghetti from the pass-through, he felt a pair of strong arms wrap around his waist from behind. He knew instantly that it was Dominic, and he leaned back into the embrace, enjoying the warmth of his mate’s body.

“I couldn’t stay away from you any longer,” Dominic whispered into Julian’s ear, sending shivers down his spine.

Julian turned around to face him, unable to contain his desire any longer. Without a word, he pulled Dominic into a fierce kiss, their lips crashing together passionately.

They were interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat. It was Roman, looking stern as ever. “I see I’m going to have to hose you two down,” he said. “That’s it. Julian, you get your two weeks off for your honeymoon period before the two of you turn my diner into a porn show.”

Julian frowned. “What’s a honeymoon period?”

“I’ll explain it to you.” Dominic grabbed Julian’s hand but looked at Roman. “Are you sure? If you’re short on help, we can wait.”

“I’m not in the mood to keep a prybar on hand,” Roman said. “Keeping you two apart will be impossible. Go, now.”

“Who knew pussycats were so grumpy,” Julian muttered.

Roman frowned. “You know what I am?”

“Duh.” Julian jerked his finger at Dominic. “He’s a bear. He told me you were a snow leopard.” Then Julian decided to ask, “Is Elijah a shifter?”

Roman shook his head. “He’s human, so don’t go spilling our secrets.” He glared at Julian. “And don’t ever call me a pussycat again.”

Well damn. It would have been nice to have someone other than Dominic to talk to about all this insanity. Too bad Elijah was only human and Julian couldn’t tell him about the shifter world. “No more cat jokes. Now let me clock out and I can get out of your hair.”

Dominic waited as Julian went to Roman’s office and clocked out. Once outside, Dominic pulled Julian in for a tight hug. “I’m so glad you’re mine,” he said and kissed his forehead.

“Aw, you’re so sweet. I’m glad you’re mine,” Julian whispered, burying his face in the crook of Dominic’s neck. Then he kissed his way up to his mate’s lips, uncaring if anyone saw them. He was no longer on the clock, so if anyone objected to Julian and Dominic getting frisky, too bad.

“Let’s get out of here,” Julian said against his mate’s lips.

Just as they pulled back from their kissing, Julian froze as he saw the car behind Dominic. Julian was staring right into Ezekiel’s cold, flat eyes as the guy drove past him.

“Julian?” Dominic looked at Julian, and then at the street, but Ezekiel was already two car lengths away from them.

He couldn’t move or speak, ignoring the concern in Dominic’s voice. Julian’s heart was racing like crazy as he watched the sedan turn a corner. Ezekiel had found him. He was in town. If he was looking for Rob, why hadn’t he stopped to ask Julian if he’d seen him? Did he already know that Rob was dead? How?

“Julian.” Dominic gripped his upper arms. “What’s wrong?”

“Ezekiel,” Julian whispered. “He just drove past us.”

Dominic looked to where Julian was staring and then turned his attention back to him. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.” If Ezekiel didn’t know his son was dead, he would eventually find out. The cops surely filed a report on the incident—minus the wolf thing because they wouldn’t want any humans seeing that bit of information—and all Ezekiel had to do was demand a copy of the report.

Things were about to get really ugly.

* * * *

Dominic wasn’t sure if he should follow Ezekiel or get Julian to safety first. Since Dominic didn’t know Ezekiel, he had no idea what the guy was up to. Then again, the guy was a wolf shifter, protective of his son, and Julian had said he had a bad attitude.

“I need you to go back to work.”

“Why?” Julian asked. “I think I’m safer with you.”

“Any other time I would agree, but since we have no idea what Ezekiel is up to, I’m going to follow him. I’m not doing that with you in the truck.”

Julian’s safety was Dominic’s only priority right now. If things went south, Dominic would feel much better if his mate was in the diner, not in harm’s way.

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