Bas laughed. Marissa and Paige smiled.
“I’ll find you a pair of sweats and a tee. Ladies?”
“I’m going to change too,” Paige said. She was wearing the sparkly blue dress again. “Don’t want to get anything on this.”
“I’ll send Adam and Ru a text just in case they come back before we do,” Marissa told them.
Dane found his room, stripped to his boxers, and crossed the hall to the bathroom. There was probably flour in his hair. He stuck his head under the sink and ran the water on lukewarm a minute to wash some of the white out of it. Bas appeared in the doorway a moment later wearing running shorts and a long-sleeved T-shirt. Dane couldn’t help but stare at Bas’s bare legs. They were fuzzy and a warm tan color, despite the long winter. How would they feel?
“Do you want pants or shorts?”
He blinked through a slew of thoughts, most of them self-deprecating. “You’ll hold my hand?”
“Of course.”
Dane smiled. “Pants. Maybe next time we can try shorts?”
“Anything you want.” Bas looked up and away for a minute, something making him grin.
“What?” Dane demanded, standing up and rubbing the water out of his hair with a towel.
“Just imagining you in a kilt. It’s a Scottish style skirt for men.”
“A skirt?” Dane waited for the fear to rise as the thought brought memories of his dad. Bas grabbed his hand and pulled him into a hug. The fear never came, not when he was with Bas. “Maybe.”
“That’s your new favorite word, isn’t it?”
“Maybe.”
They smiled at each other. Bas kissed him on the cheek, then left the bathroom to find Dane clothes. The mirror was covered, but Dane had no desire to look in it. He headed to his room where Bas had lain out a set of clothes. He shrugged into them, happy for the short sleeves and breathable running pants. He couldn’t wait to get outside!
Downstairs everyone was ready to go. Dane had to pause for a minute because Paige actually looked like a boy for the first time since he’d known her. Her hair was pulled up in a ponytail, shirt fitted, running shorts hitting high on the thigh, and sneakers. Her profile was very much male. Dane swallowed back several words as he saw Bas shaking his head. Instead he clapped his hands and did a little dance, making up a song.
“Outside, outside, a beautiful day. Outside, outside, winter go away!”
Everyone laughed. Paige put her hand on his shoulder.
“You really can sing, Red.”
Dane felt himself blushing. “Not like Ru.”
“And not everyone can be the glitter queen Bas is. Why compete? Just be.” She let him go and followed Marissa out the door. Bas grabbed Dane’s hand and locked the door behind them after they stepped out into the bright afternoon day.
“I like that you’re a glitter queen,” Dane told him as they walked, finding the trail fairly quickly.
“I like that you’re red, sunshine. You can be my Prince Charming any day.”
“I can make you pizza. Charming, not so much.”
“You do make damn good pizza.”
Dane nodded. The girls walked together a dozen or so feet ahead of them. “Dimitri just bought the little deli next door.”
“Really? I know it hadn’t been doing well. Honestly, that place was never very clean. I hope D guts it. But I didn’t know he was thinking of expanding.”
“It’s going to be just a pastry shop. Much smaller kitchen. Still a lot made in the main kitchen. But it will have displays of cakes, cookies, rows of bread, and gelato. He’s only got that one small counter for desserts right now, and demand is growing.”
Bas squeezed his hand. “You really like working there? We hadn’t meant for it to become an actual job, just something for you to enjoy.”
