“I just wasn’t expecting you to admit you’d kiss me so openly.” He admitted, glancing at me.
“Why not?” Part of me knew why, but I wanted to hear it from him.
He blew out a slow breath, leaning back on his hands on the bench seat.
“It hasn’t been that long since things changed between us and you’ve never messed around with a guy before me. I guess… Maybe I’m still waiting for you to realize you aren’t that into guys after all.”
His voice was gruff and his face was pinched into an expression like he was unsettled by his own thoughts.
Emotions warred within me—everything from overjoyed he would be willing to share those feelings with me to hurt that he couldn’t trust I knew my own on the matter.
I studied Colton for a moment, letting my eyes roam overhis features while I collected myself. The smattering of freckles over his nose and cheeks, the definition of his jaw, his pink lips with a slightly plumper lower one. My stomach clenched. My attraction to this man was not budging, if anything it was only growing as the days went on. The more I got to know Colton, the more I liked him. It was easy to be around him and the more time we spent together, the greedier I got for his attention.
“I don’t want you to think I’m embarrassed about my attraction to you, or that I’m planning on hiding who I am now that I’ve realized it.” I said, leaning forward slightly.
Colton had swung his gaze off to the side, fingers spinning one of his many rings, but now those bright green eyes were trained on my own. Having them on me felt good in a way I couldn’t describe, but I knew that I wanted to keep them there.
“You aren’t worried about what coming out will do to you?” Colton asked, his brows pulling together in concern.
“Well, sure.” I admitted, stirring my straw through my iced tea. “But, I don’t look at coming out as an option. If I lost an arm or a leg tomorrow, I wouldn’t be able to hide that from anyone. My being into men may not be that obvious, but denying that part of myself now would be just as painful.”
I could see the gears turning in Colton’s head as he sat there processing that. My hand twitched, wanting to reach across the space between us and hold his. I wanted reassurance myself, but it was more important he knew I wasn’t playing around. Though, given his reaction earlier, I wasn’t sure how he felt about those kinds of public displays of affection. The most public we’d been with sharing our affection had been under the water while Chris had been far away.
“I mean, you won’t lose your job.” Colton said after a moment, leaning forward to match me. “My dad wouldn’t fire you over something like that. But, the other people in town? Your family? What about them?”
I shrugged. “I’ll cross that bridge when I get there. As it is, the only person in my family that truly needs to know anything is my sister.”
Telling Lucy was important, but I wanted things to be more solid between Colton and I before I said anything. I knew her too well, and she’d always insisted on details of any of the girls I dated. But, I made a conscious effort to only bring them up if I was certain she’d actually meet them. Telling her that I was dating my roommate, though, would have her losing her mind, and I wasn’t ready to face the inquisition surely to result just yet.
Before Colton could say anything more, a waitress came by with our food. It was almost comical how high everything was piled onto the plate that was put between us. The coleslaw looked liable to landslide onto the table with how precarious the mound was, the beans were in a soup bowl all on their own, and don’t even get me started on how much space the potato salad took up.
It hit me when the waitress stepped away, letting us know our cobbler would be out a little bit later, that we tended to have these emotionally charged conversations about sexuality in public. I laughed to myself some, causing Colton to look up from slicing off a piece of the fatty brisket with a raised eyebrow.
“Nothing, I just realized that we have a habit of talking about our sexuality in restaurants.” I shook my head, my smile not faltering.
“There’s anonymity in public, or something.” Colton smiled back.
“I would argue there isn’t any anonymity in Toast of the Town.” I countered, digging into the food myself.
“No, but that wasmysexuality. Everyone there already knew about me, aside from the tourists, and I’m probably never going to see them again to worry about their opinion.”
I nodded my head in acknowledgement, my mouth toofull of the tender meat that was bursting with a smoky, savory flavor profile. The brisket melted when it hit the tongue and paired well with all the sides provided. As we usually did, Colton and I fell into a comfortable silence as we devoured everything.
When our dessert came by, I felt like my stomach would burst from the amount I’d consumed, but I couldn’t pass up warm cobbler with vanilla ice cream.
Colton was clearly in the same boat because he went from rubbing his abdomen to sitting up straight as the sweet treat was placed before us in exchange for the number placard.
The menu had indicated that the restaurant used a cake batter to make the topping for the cobbler which was very evident in the aroma wafting off the steaming dish before us. My mouth watered despite feeling sickeningly full.
I was still trying to decide if I had any space for the black and purple mixture when a spoon was lifted before me, a combination of the topping, blackberries, and a small dollop of ice cream resting in it.
Colton’s expression was tentative as he offered me the spoon. I held his gaze as I leaned forward, slowly wrapping my lips around the utensil. Hot tartness exploded onto my tongue, followed by the cool sweetness of the vanilla and cake topping. My eyes rolled back a little as I swallowed.
“God, that’s good.” I practically moaned.
Colton’s eyes went molten as he flipped the spoon to put it in his own mouth, sucking at the leftover melted cream. Blood rushed to my cock at the sight, my own stare growing heated.
“Should we get a to-go container?” I asked, my voice gravely and full of promise.
