The Lion’s Light by Caitlin Ricci

Robin has been performing since he was old enough to watch his parents tear each other apart and learn the safest thing to be was charming. The flirting, the easy smile, the guy who makes everything look effortless — it’s armor he built in childhood and perfected over a lifetime. No one gets past it. Not even the grumpy lion shifter mechanic who watches him like he’s something worth figuring out.
Vaughn doesn’t do sweet. He does engines, crossword puzzles, and silence. But Robin’s act doesn’t fool him — never has. He can hear the skip in Robin’s heartbeat every time he fakes a laugh. He just doesn’t know why.
Robin has survived worse than a bad boss and a kitchen that tried to break him. But surviving isn’t the same as living, and Vaughn is the first person who’s ever made him want to stop just getting by. Being real means letting Vaughn see everything — the scars, the fear, and the dream Robin’s been too afraid to chase. It means trusting a man who could crush him and believing he won’t.
Vaughn has never been good with words. He’ll have to prove it the only way he knows how: by staying.