with it when I was fucking all of them, so I shouldn't have a problem with it now, but it seemed tacky for them to be obvious about it when Frost had asked me to dinner. I didn’t let my annoyance reach past my thoughts, though. No way did I want him to pick up on it.
“You’re irritated.” Those icy-blue eyes looked me over without giving anything away. No emotions, just logic.
My face showed surprise before I could school it, and then I sat back and rolled my eyes at him. “Damn birds and your eyesight. Don’t read anything into it other than me thinking it was rude for the two of you to flaunt your comfort with each other when you’d asked me to have dinner with you.”
“It probably was, but I haven’t taken someone to dinner like this since... damn. Since long before the battle. It didn’t occur to me it might be rude. I apologize.”
Wow. I said the only thing I could. “Apology accepted. Thank you.”
“The brisket is exceptional here, but then, pretty much everything is. Do you know what you want?”
“Yes. I’m going to have one of every animal they serve — some pig, some cow, some chicken, and some buffalo.” I’d grabbed fast food for lunch, but not enough.
He chuckled. “That sounds like an excellent idea. Pork barbecue, spicy barbecue chicken, a buffalo burger, and I’ll round it out with beef brisket.”
“Sounds good, but I’ll have the chicken tenders. I thought birds don’t usually eat other birds?”
“Some don’t. Snowy owls eat other birds in the wild, so it’s no biggy for me.”
“Snowy owls have different plumage in the summer, right? Can you choose which to have when you change?”
He shook his head. “Same feathers year-round. Males are solid white, females have some brown mixed in. I have to be super careful when I fly, so humans don’t see me. I imagine you don’t have many opportunities to let the lynx out.”
Between the boisterous environment, the pool tables in the back, and the live band, there was no danger of humans overhearing our conversation.
“My backyard is around three acres, and it has a high, solid fence all the way around. I frequently come home, throw a bunch of raw meat in the backyard, shift, and don’t come back to human until morning.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “Nice.”
“It is. I have a pool, but the cat doesn’t appreciate it as much as the human.”
He chuckled, and then smiled at the waitress when she approached. He ordered for both of us, which was fine since I’d told him what I wanted. He ordered himself a beer and looked to me to see what I wanted. “I’ll have water with lemon, please.”
He gave me a languid look, and spoke to the waitress while he stared at me. “Bring her four shots of whiskey while you’re at it. Gentleman Jack if you have it, if not, whatever’s top shelf that isn’t Irish.”
I couldn’t help my eyebrows lifting. It seemed he’d paid attention to what I liked, after all.
“Let’s start with one shot, if it isn’t Gentleman Jack,” I told her. I didn’t want to be stuck with four shots of something I didn’t care for.
She nodded, stuck her pencil back into her hair, and left.
“Have you fucked the entire female staff?” I asked with a smile. She’d tried to be familiar with him as well, but he’d rebuffed her and kept his eyes on me. It seemed he was trying.
He shrugged. “I’m sure they have someone new I haven’t had a chance at yet. Did I do better this time?”
“You did. I’m…” I sighed. “Surprised, actually. What gives?”
He opened his mouth to speak, closed it, and looked at me a few seconds. Finally, he said, “Part of me wants to play it cool and see what happens, but the owl isn’t up for that. He wants me to be all blunt and honest.”
“I’m good with blunt and honest.”
“I didn’t know I was going to miss you. I saw you give me a chance to step in and say something before you walked out, but I didn’t have a clue what you wanted from me, and I’m not sure what I could’ve said to salvage the situation at that point, anyway. Looking back, I wish I’d tried, but it all happened too fast and I missed my chance, and then I wasn’t sure there would ever be another chance.” His gaze met mine full-on. Crystal blue eyes, clear as a cold winter