“So? How’s your date going? Everything okay? Do you need me to send Drake to rescue you?”

Leaning a shoulder against the hallway wall, Mick Rozner smirked as he listened to his best friend’s barrage of questions. Dave Letrara was also his cousin, and until last year, he’d lived in town, and they’d spent a lot of time together. While Mick missed his buddy, who now lived out in the woods with his snow leopard shifter partner, Joseph, he was also happy Dave had found the love of his life.

Now, if only I could, too.

Mick was trying, hence the date he was on with Kenneth—not Kenny, he’d been clear. “The date’s going really well,” Mick assured, rubbing his free palm on his jeans. “He’s nice, funny, and so far, he’s been really easy to talk to.”

“Any chemistry?” Dave pressed. “Was his profile picture real?”

Chuckling, Mick confirmed, “His profile picture was real. Kenneth’s a pretty good-looking guy.” He hesitated a little before admitting to his bestie, “I’m not sure about chemistry, yet. We’ll see after the good-night kiss.”

In Mick’s opinion, the first kiss was always the most telling. If the contact didn’t cause his heart rate to tick up or his stomach to flutter, then there was little point in taking it further. Also, if a man wasn’t willing to kiss at all, then that was a hard no.

Mick loved kissing and refused to give up one of his favorite things, no matter how hot the guy.

“Okay, so you’re sure you don’t need Drake?”

Rolling his eyes, Mick used his shoulder to push off the wall. “No, I don’t need Drake,” he replied. “And I don’t think your brother would appreciate having you interrupt his Saturday night even if my date did suck. I’m perfectly capable of walking away from a bad date on my own.”

“Okay, okay,” Dave replied with a laugh of his own. “We always have each other’s backs,” he reminded Mick. “Just because I’m not in town anymore doesn’t mean that’s changed.”

“I appreciate it, Dave,” Mick responded warmly. He really did. “But I’m good.”

“Okay.”

“I better get back out there,” Mick told him. “Or Kenneth will think I ditched him or something.”

“Right. Well, if anything changes—” Dave let the sentence hang.

“You’ll be the first to know,” Mick assured. “Bye, man.”

“Bye.”

Mick hung up the phone and shoved it back into his pocket. His bestie had caught him just as he’d been leaving the men’s room, so he’d felt okay to pick it up. Strolling out of the hallway, Mick headed left, back toward the table where he’d been dining with his date.

For Mick’s birthday in October, Dave had given him a three-month subscription to a popular dating app. He’d chatted with a few people over the couple of weeks he’d been using it. This was Mick’s first time actually meeting a date, and he’d been honest with Dave that he’d been nervous. Mick appreciated his cousin’s support.

Spotting Kenneth relaxing in his seat, Mick eyed him as he approached the table. Kenneth was looking around the room, appearing confident. His black jeans and dark-green polo hugged his lean, muscular frame. Kenneth’s dark-brown hair was swept back in a business casual style, and his features were a mix of ruggedly handsome and boy-next-door.

In Mick’s mind, staring at Kenneth certainly wasn’t a hardship.

When Kenneth spotted Mick winding his way between tables toward him, he smiled widely, and Mick felt his pulse kick up a notch.

That’s a good thing, right?

“Hey, sorry that took so long.” Mick slid into his seat across from Kenneth. “Got a call from my cousin. He’d worry if I didn’t answer.”

Kenneth smirked before stating knowingly, “Ah, the call to check on your first date with a strange guy you met online.”

Scoffing, Mick nodded. “Got it in one.”

Giving him a chagrined look, Kenneth leaned forward, his elbows on the table, and told him, “I took the same call from my brother while you were gone.”

“Oh, yeah?” Mick picked up his martini. “You never mentioned a brother before. Just the one?”

Kenneth shrugged a shoulder and opened his mouth to answer.

Before he could take a drink, Mick felt a hand wrap around his wrist, stopping his glass an inch from his lips.

Mick peered up in surprise, catching and holding an icy blue-eyed gaze. The man glanced from his glass back to his face, and his square jaw tightened into a hard line. Mick would have been worried, but at the same time, the guy’s grip remained firm, but gentle, and he used his thumb to lightly rub at his pulse point. Holding the man’s gaze, Mick watched his nostrils flex as he inhaled deeply, and he couldn’t have torn his gaze away if he’d tried as the man’s eyes narrowed just a little.

“Excuse me?” Kenneth interrupted their stare-down. “We’re having dinner here.”

“You don’t want to drink that,” the man declared in a deep rumbly voice. His attention cut to Mick’s martini glass, making it clear what he was referring to.

Finding his voice, Mick murmured, “I-I don’t?”

The man shook his head. “No.” His eyes hardened as he cut his gaze to Kenneth. “Your date put something in it while you were in the men’s room.”

Curling his lips in a sneer, Kenneth glared at the man. “I certainly did not.” He scoffed. “What a thing to accuse me of.”

“Then you drink it,” the man ordered, slowly releasing Mick’s wrist.

“I don’t like martinis,” Kenneth claimed with a jut of his chin.

Lowering the glass back to the table, Mick felt his heartrate ramp up for a whole new reason. Could Kenneth really have put something in his drink? Mick took in Kenneth’s mutinous expression before glancing back up at the big, broad-shouldered blond beside him. Even in faded jeans and a slightly wrinkled button-down flannel, the stranger looked amazing.