Microsoft Word - Corey-Toni_Griffin.doc (7 page)

"Actually, I would say you're more likely to be allergic or sensitive to the pollen in the flowers," Corey announced. "Come on in."

Ethan followed Corey inside but stayed back as his mate took the flowers into the kitchen. He could hear a tap running and not long after, Corey came round the corner, sans flowers and rubbing a small towel across his damp face.

"Ahh, sorry again. I had no idea I would react like that."

"Don't worry about it. I'll make a mental note for the future, though—no flowers." Ethan just about stopped breathing as he stared at his mate. Surely he didn't just hear

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what he thought he did. Could Corey really be thinking about there being a future between them? God, he hoped so.

Corey didn't seem to realise what he'd said or the fact that Ethan was staring at him like he'd grown a second head.

"So where are we going for dinner?" he asked casually.

"Do you like Chinese? I've made reservations at Pagoda."

"Love the place," Corey stated, as he slipped on a leather jacket, picked up his keys and phone, and stuffed them both in his pockets.

"I'm glad." Ethan stepped in close. Having sneezed in his mate's face, he hadn't been able to greet him properly.

He kissed Corey lightly on the cheek before he pulled back.

"You look very sexy."

Ethan watched with rapt attention as Corey's jaw muscles corded.

He wanted to give the bigger man an out, so he asked, "You ready to go?"

"Lead the way." Corey motioned with his hand for Ethan to go ahead of him. He waited as Corey locked the house. Ethan unlocked his car, but didn't open Corey's door for him. He thought that might have been taking it a little

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too far with the courting rituals.

The drive to the restaurant was made in silence.

Ethan wanted to reach across and touch his mate so badly but refrained, as he just wasn't sure how the action might be taken. Having Corey so close to him and in a confined space wreaked havoc on his body. Ethan's dick was hard enough to pound nails and his skin itched to be touched.

Finally, after what seemed forever but was probably only a little more than five minutes, Ethan pulled up outside the restaurant. They exited the vehicle and made their way inside. Ethan couldn't help himself. He reached out and placed his hand on Corey's lower back as they walked.

Ethan spoke briefly with the hostess and they were shown to a table in the centre of the room.

He looked around and noticed the place was half full already, even though it was still early. The table was draped with a red and black tablecloth and set with a small bowl and plate, along with chopsticks, at each place On one side of the table, candles flickered, giving the small area a nice, intimate touch.

"Thank you," Ethan said, as the waiter handed him a menu then passed another along to Corey.

"Can I start you off with something to drink?"

Ethan looked up at Corey. "Would you like some

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wine? Or are you a beer man?"

"Definitely beer. Never did much like wine."

"I don't mind it every now and then, but I much prefer beer as well." Ethan turned to the waiter, who still stood poised to take their order. "I'll have a Pure Blonde.

Thanks."

The waiter nodded then looked to Corey.

"Make that two."

"Your drinks won't be long." The young Chinese man turned and headed towards the bar.

"So…"

"So," Corey repeated back to him, with a slight crook of his lip.

"How do we want to do this? Are you happy to order several dishes and share them or are you one of those fussy people that like to just order for yourself and have that be it?" Ethan loved eating Chinese, Thai, or Indian—

anything that he was able to pick and choose from many different dishes. He loved the different flavours and combinations that could be made. Ethan had always felt that sharing a meal like that with someone was an intimate way to eat.

"I'm more than happy to order for the table and share, although"—Corey paused and looked at the small square table they had been shown too—"we may need a

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bigger table." He quirked his lips in a half smile and Ethan chuckled.

"We might just have to ask them to stagger the dishes, so they don't all come out at once." Being werewolves, they had a much larger appetite than regular humans.

"So, anything in particular look good to you," Corey asked, as he studied the menu, not looking up.

"Oh, yeah," Ethan said, never once taking his eyes off the man opposite him. When he didn't say anything more, Corey glanced up and noticed his appraisal.

"I was talking about on the menu, idiot."

Ethan may have been deterred by that comment if he hadn't heard the slight inflection in his mate's voice and noticed the very subtle colouring of Corey's cheeks.

"Hey, your fault for not being more specific. I stick by my answer." Ethan gazed down at his menu, not wanting to cause Corey to feel too uncomfortable.

Around them the chatter of other diners went on: the soft clinking of utensils and chopsticks on ceramic dishes, and the soft footfalls of the waiters moving back and forth serving their customers.

"Anything you don't eat or are allergic to? Apart from flowers, as we discovered earlier," Corey asked, as he continued to study the menu.

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"Nope, I pretty much eat anything, apart from liver, kidneys and all that crap. Just can't seem to bring myself to like all that stuff, except when I'm… you know." Ethan knew Corey would understand what he was talking about.

He couldn't exactly talk about being in his wolf form in the middle of a fairly busy restaurant.

Corey nodded in understanding. "I'm the pretty much the same. I eat liver, but only in pate. If you served me up a plate of just liver then I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole."

"So, how hungry are we?" Ethan asked, as he mentally picked out half a dozen dishes that all looked good to him.

"Starving,"

"Fantastic. You want something from each section?

Maybe two from a couple?"

They settled down to do some serious negotiation with the menu, the back and forth volley of dishes had the both of them grinning like idiots by the time they had settled on what to order. They'd decided on two beef, a chicken, a pork, a fish, and a prawn dish, along with a noodle and a fried rice one.

Ethan closed the menu, placed it on the table in front of him, and settled back in his chair to admire his mate. A noise behind him, followed by a grunt and then the

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loud clinking of glasses had Ethan about to turn to investigate what was going on when something smashed into the back of his head and cold liquid ran down the entire length of his back.

Ethan gasped and jumped straight up, his chair falling to the ground behind him with the sudden move. He could both hear and feel glass crunching under the sole of his shoe.

"What the fuck?" he exclaimed.

Corey stood and raced around the table to his side.

"Hold still," he commanded, as he grabbed hold of Ethan's arm to stop him from moving. Ethan wanted to turn and see what was going on behind him. The entire restaurant had gone quiet. All that could be heard was the rapid fire Chinese between what he assumed was a boss going postal on an employee.

"You got a wine glass to the back of your head. I need to make sure the glass didn't cut you, and get any small pieces out of your hair."

"Thank you." Ethan held back the shiver he felt at having Corey's hands all over him. This so was not the time. "I don't think it did any damage. I feel fine, just a slight tender area where the glass impacted."

"That's good, but I'd still feel better if you let me check it out thoroughly." Corey's fingers slowly made their

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way through the now wine-soaked strands of his hair.

Ethan felt a slight tugging every now and again when Corey removed pieces of glass.

They didn't have to wait long until an older Chinese lady came up to them and apologised profusely for the clumsiness of her grandson. Apparently the young boy had only been on the job for a week. Ethan felt sorry for the kid and didn't want him to get into any more trouble than he already was in.

"Of course, you meal on house," she told them in her broken English.

Knowing how much they were going to order,

Ethan really didn't think that was fair. "How about just a free dessert or something. I'm fine really—no damage done."

"You sure?" The lady looked a little confused as to why Ethan wasn't taking her up on her offer of a free meal.

"Yeah, it's fine. If you could point me in the direction of a bathroom, I can try and clean up a little."

"You very nice man. This way." She gestured for him to follow her.

Ethan look over his shoulder at Corey, who still stood behind him.

"All good?" he asked.

"I think I got it all out."

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"Thanks. I'll be back in a tick. Order for us?"

"Will do. Take your time." Corey smiled reassuringly at him and Ethan hurried after the old woman.

She left him at the entrance to the bathroom then hurried away. Ethan pushed the door open and walked into the small room. He was thankful to see a hand-dryer mounted to the wall.

Ethan peeled off his saturated shirt. The

overwhelming aroma of wine was causing his nose to twitch. He placed the shirt on the small ledge then ripped out a half dozen pieces of paper towel and wet them. It wasn't the easiest or best cleaning job Ethan had ever undertaken, but it was as good as he was going to get.

Other customers flowed in and out of the bathroom, every one of them giving him a sympathetic glance or nod.

Ethan just continued to clean up. He stuck his head as far under the tap as he could to rinse his hair then he rinsed his shirt. Unfortunately, the wine had been red and mixed with the light blue shirt he was wearing; he now had a rather large, odd-shaped purple patch down the back of the garment.

It took Ethan a good ten minutes or so to wash, rinse, and dry everything to his satisfaction. He could still smell wine, but the fragrance was nowhere near as overpowering as it was when he had entered.

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His hair was still slightly damp, but with no product and no brushes, there really wasn't much else he could do.

Ethan made his way back to the table and noticed everything looked to have been cleaned up. He could still see the wet patches in the carpet from where the waiter had dropped the drinks though. Ethan took his seat once more at the table and Corey grinned at him.

"All better?"

"I still smell of wine, but I'm better than I was. At least my shirt is no longer sticking to my back." Ethan noticed a small selection of entrees on the table—prawn toast, spring rolls, and wontons. He looked up and raised an eyebrow at Corey.

"Compliments of the management," Corey said, as he reached in and picked up an appetiser.

"Well, I'm not about to send them back." Ethan followed suit and bit down on a hot, crispy piece of prawn toast. He followed this with a long drink from his beer, which had been delivered at some point while he'd been in the bathroom.

They chattered as they ate the entrees, slowly starting to get to know one another.

"Do you have any family close by?" Ethan asked, wanting to know everything there was to know about his mate.

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"My parents split when I was four and my baby brother was just six months old. Dad just up and walked out of the house one morning. Said he no longer loved my mum and that he never really wanted to be a father. I haven't seen him since that day. He didn't know I was hiding around the corner, listening in as he spoke to Mum."

"I'm sorry," Ethan said feeling bad that his mate had to endure that at such a young age.

"It is what it is. My mum is awesome. My brother, Daniel, and I grew up knowing we were loved deeply every day of our lives. She was lucky enough to meet someone about ten years ago. They've been happily married for the last eight years. They live in Sydney, but I try and make it down there twice a year to see them and we Skype once every couple of weeks or so."

"I'm glad you're close. What about Daniel?"

"He's an engineer down in Cairns. He has an apartment that he stays in during the week but come Friday, he drives back down here to his home. His friends keep telling him that he should just move, but Daniel loves this place, the forest, and his pack. He might eventually make the move, but at the moment, he's happy commuting between the two, and I still get to see my brother on most weekends." Ethan watched as the joy his mate felt towards his family was clearly shown on his face.

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"So, what about you?" Corey asked him, as he signalled a passing waiter and requested a couple more drinks.

"My parents were killed in a car accident when I was five." Ethan paused for a moment, the memories of that truck barrelling through a red light and coming straight toward them still as fresh in his mind today as they had been all those years ago. "We were sideswiped by an idiot who ran a red. I was told the only reason I survived was because my booster seat had been on the opposite side of the car than was hit."

"Jesus. Did you have any brothers or sisters?" Ethan could see the sympathy in Corey's eyes.

"Mum was six months pregnant at the time. Both she and Dad had been only children and their parents were either too old, in homes, or had already passed."