I still felt him there, too.
“Why do you look like you just got laid or possessed?” Rhys dropped into the seat across from me, eyes narrowing as he took me in. “Actually, don’t answer that. I don’t think I’m emotionally prepared for either option before coffee.”
I rolled my eyes. “I don’t look like anything.”
“You do,” he hummed, pointing his finger at me. “Your face is doing a thing.”
“Whatthing?”
He reached across the table, fingers closing around my mug and pulling it out of my hand like I’d lost the right to it. “A weird, floaty,I’ve-left-my-body-and-I’m-not-coming-backexpression.”
He lifted it to his lips, a smug little curve still sitting there as he took a long, confident swig.
It died on impact.
His face seized mid-swallow—eyes pinching and mouth warping around the sip like it had turned on him.
Rhys jerked the mug away, shoulders curling in as a strangled sound punched out of his throat. He forced it down anyway, blinking hard like he needed a second to recover from the betrayal.
“Jesus Christ, Arch,” he muttered, shoving it back toward me. “Did you order coffee or melted dessert?”
“I like it sugary,” I defended.
“This is a crime,” he said flatly. “Somewhere in Sweden, my ancestors just felt that.”
I bit down on my lip, failing miserably to hold it back as a laugh slipped out anyway.
“I need a fucking espresso.”
“We’re in a diner in small-town Connecticut, babe.” I lifted my mug to him. “Good luck with that.”
“Well, at least a coffee that isn’t actively trying to rot my teeth out.”
He snatched up the menu like it had disappointed him too, flipping it open with a frown that deepened the longer he scanned it.
“I want pancakes,” he decided, like this was a revelation.
“They’re coming.”
His head snapped up. “What?”
“I ordered for you already.” I took another sip, watching him over the rim. “Eggs, hash browns, bacon. And coffee so black it’ll clear your bad mood right up.”
Rhys stared at me. Suspiciously.
“…You ordered for me,” he repeated.
“You always get the same thing.”
“That’s not the point,” he said, setting the menu down like he didn’t trust it anymore. “Youanticipated my needs.That’s unsettling. I don’t like what that says about you right now.”
A smile tugged at my mouth again.
“Oh.” His eyes narrowed further. “Something happened.”
“Nothing happened.”
“You’re a terrible fucking liar.”
