Evie flushes bright red. “Oh! Sorry! I just… I don’t know. I’m used to long chats with Roly over pizza dough. He’s not exactly one for leaving out details.” She shrugs apologetically in my direction and then repeats the same gesture in Heath’s direction as well.
I put my arm around Evie and glare up at Heath. “Yeah, well, I was taught that leaving out details is tantamount tolying, so I always like to make sure that I’m extra clear. Because I’m not alying asshole.”
Nick rolls his eyes and shakes his head at me. “Oye, primo. For once can we not talk about your sex life in the middle of a business meeting?”
“I for one would love to move off the topic of Roly’s sex life,” Heath says as he plasters a neutral expression to his face.
Fuck. Nowmyjaw feels bunched up. “Fine.Sorry. What are we deciding?”
Scout, who has a mildly amused look on her face, pipes up. “As y’all know, now that we’re opening another pizza shop, Jean-Pierre and I are considering taking on Heath as an investment partner. We’ve been taking our time to work through the details because he’d essentially go from being our employee to being our colleague.”
They start talking about the numbers and the logistics of Heath’s new position, and I tune them out. I know that I should pay better attention, but… I really am pissed off that he lied to me. It’s not just that. If I’m willing to be honest with myself, I’m a little hurt, too.
I mean, what bear wouldn’t want to take this magnificent ass to Pound Town?
Yeah, well… that’s a question with teeth.
Like the flip of a switch, I remember a smell… the dank, dusty odor of a barely lit room in Iraq. The three days I spent in that room are a blur, but my memory of Asadi, the big bear of a man who changed forever the trajectory of my life, is in high definition. I’d made a promise to him, and my catastrophic attempts at making amends with Heath have me feeling like I’m failing him all over again.
It reminds me that I haven’t been to my vet’s group in months.
Of course, now that I know Heathisn’ta bottom… there’s another kind of therapy I’d rather try first.
Chapter Eleven
Heath
I’d like to say that I was surprised to see Roly hanging out on my front porch when I got home, but we know that’s not the truth, now don’t we? He hadn’t paid much attention to the meeting, then left early. And now I know why.
“Twice in one day, Roly. Our numbers aren’t exactly trending in the right direction.”
He ignores my snark and goes right for the gut. “Why would you lie to me about being a bottom?”
I whip around and see the various families with their kids playing out in the yards and turn back to him, my annoyance level already spiking into the red zone. “Would you shut up?This is a family neighborhood,” I bite out. “I am not talking about sex with you out in my front yard.”
Roly puts a hand on his hip, his inviting mouth too smirky for my taste. “Well, then you better let me in, ’cause I’m gonna keep on talking.”
“Fine,” I say as I gesture for him to go inside and stop being a damned menace. The noisy scramble and scrape of nails on tile fill the entryway, and the dogs greet him like a returning hero, ignoring me entirely. Seriously? Even Sasha, who I’ve officially adopted (don’t give me grief about it; I’m a weak man), has her paws on Roly’s shoulders and is licking his cheek like he’s made of ice cream.
Traitors, every last one of them. “No treats for any of you tonight.”
They abandon him and surround me at the mention of treats, and dammit, Icanbe bribed with affection. By the time I’ve grabbed the treats from the kitchen, Roly is walking around like he owns the place. “Looks like the cleaning crew did a good job with the carpet. What about the lawn mower?”
“Technician got it running again. Charged extra for dealing with the dog piss.”
“The bills were all super reasonable, and I was happy to pay them. What about the towels?” he asks lightly, and I know what’s coming.
“I had to wash them three times, but yes, they’re fine.”
His mouth twitches. “Well, at two hundred dollars each, they should be able to stand a few extra runs through the spin cycle.”
My cheeks flame. Dammit. It shouldn’t matter, but it was one of my few splurges, and I didn’t want anyone shitting on my choices. Roly especially.
“Just had to go snooping around the internet, didn’t you?”
He tosses his head back and laughs. “First of all, you freaked out hard-core about the towels, and second, having used them to protect my precious knees, I can say that they were, by far, the softest thing I’ve ever knelt on while giving a blow job. Worth every penny.”
He bumps me with his shoulder, flirting, and I have to calm myself with box breathing. It’s not that helpful, and I can’t tell if I’m embarrassed or angry or turned on, and I can’t tell if it’s at the towels or the mention of the blow job. How about all of the above? Yeah, let’s go with all of the above.
