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Limits are important to their overall physical and mental health. However, be forewarned, it will be difficult to remember. Effective emotional manipulation may be an evolutionary advantage that has not been adequately researched to date.
Chapter 20
Dane
“Do you have any idea why we’re here?” Evan looked around the pizza place like he’d landed in a foreign country. “Wright was very insistent but kept saying something confusing about people-watching? Aristotle wasn’t much help either.”
I was trying not to laugh and risk catching Wright’s attention while he waited in line with Aristotle to order the pizza for us and a salad for him. For some reason, he’d thought ordering anything other than pizza would be an afront to the owner of the fascinating establishment, but we’d fixed that.
But at the moment he was more worried about the wait than the food.
Evidently, they were crazy understaffed, so we’d needed to go up and place our order instead of having a server come to the table. Daddy didn’t like leaving us alone, but I didn’t mind because we weren’t in a rush and it gave me time to talk to Evan without curious ears listening in.
It’d taken a while to organize the night out, so I was ready to gossip with my helpful new friend.
“The people-watching.” Leaning over the table, I dropped my voice as low as I could and tried not to laugh. “Evidently there’s a budding romance between a fairly new mixed couple, and Wright says they’re fascinating. I’m nosy enough to thoroughly enjoy it, so I figured you would be too.”
That got a laugh and a nod from Evan.
“And Wright loves watching the wonderful variety of humans who come into the restaurant. He said the older guy who seems to own the place is interesting, and I think that’s code for he has to yell at drunk morons, but I’m not sure.” There were a few ways I could’ve taken the slightly convoluted story Wright had told.
Daddy did not know how to get to the point when he was telling a story no matter what he seemed to think.
Evan was trying not to laugh again because it kept making Wright and Aristotle too nosy, but he was doing a terrible job of it. “I can see him being fascinated by naughty humans. He’s so curious and keeps working at figuring out how to explain us.”
Rolling my eyes got another giggle from Evan. “Yeah, he’s working on updating some kind of research material that was originally a manual designed to explain how to deal with human subs.”
I knew there was a care and maintenance of humans book…I just hadn’t actually expected to be right about that.
Evan had to clamp his lips together, but his delight must’ve been radiating out because we got another long stare from our mates. “God, that’s…”
He took a deep breath and tried again as his eyes sparkled. “You have to figure out what it says about porn.”
I snorted. “To hell with porn. You need to read the chapter on you and Aristotle. It basically describes you as cultural icons.”
I wasn’t sure if it was cute or bizarre, but his eyes went wide. “No.”
Would I make up something that weird?
“Look at the two of them and then tell me again it doesn’t sound completely reasonable.” As we looked over at the two innocent-looking troublemakers, they turned around in unison and made us both crack up.
Evan shook his head as he got control of himself. “Okay, good point.”
I smiled and waved at Daddy, hoping to look well-behaved. His happy expression said it worked but it also attracted the attention of half the dining room area. That wasn’t a huge number of people but it was enough to make me want to squirm.
“This isn’t the place to go into detailed explanations,” because every nonhuman in the place had tuned into our conversation, “but I’m just going to say it was interesting.”
Evan’s giggles turned dirty and made several eyes light up, human and otherwise, as they seemed to realize who he was. I wasn’t sure if I should point it out or not, but as several blushing faces quickly turned away from us, his giggles got worse.
He’d noticed.
After a minute, he was breathing normally again and most of the giggles had stopped. “People are so much fun.”
“You sound like your mate.” And mine.
That almost got him started again, but he held it back. “This is so much fun. I don’t have nearly enough people to hang out with, and once we didn’t have to check on you at lunch anymore, my social life narrowed down quite a bit again.”
Groaning, I shook my head. “He worries so much, but we’re working things out.”
Over the weeks since we’d first met, we’d figured out some compromises and I’d laid down a few boundaries that made him pout, so overall, I couldn’t complain about the worrying.
