I'd never stopped myself from touching him, not since I'd gained the right. I'd never given much thought to who might notice, but tonight was different. I wanted everyone tonotice.
He smiled over at me, preening a bit, but my gaze was on the woman tucked into the far corner of the bar with an open book at her elbow. It had been weeks since that exceedingly awkward exchange with Annette in the bookstore. We'd seen her around town, of course, but our paths hadn't crossed. Untilnow.
Cole followed my stare, humming in acknowledgement. "She seems busy," he said. "We should leave her alone. If she wants to chat, she'll stopby."
Nodding, I walked with him to an open booth. We sat facing each other, his hand over mine, and debatedbeers.
"I want to try the shandy," he said, his brows furrowed in thought as he studied themenu.
"Please don't," I replied. "It's not right to mix beer with lemonade. It's a crime againstreason."
"But I don't like hoppy beers," he argued. "The ones you drink, they're like liquidpinecone."
Absently, he ran his thumb over his bottom lip. I wanted to jump across the table and do the same, if for no other reason than I hadn't felt that lip in the past halfhour.
"Then try a Belgian wheat. If you're nice, JJ will throw a slice of orange in there for you," I said. "It will taste the same if you close youreyes."
Cole glanced at me, his lips quirking up into a smirk. "Are we still talking aboutbeer?"
I barked out a laugh. "Mostly," I replied. "The same could be said forballs."
"That is false." He pointed at the menu, a silent command to focus on my ale of choice rather than hismouth.
"All right," I said after the waitress took our drink orders. A Juliet Imperial Stout for me, a Night Swim'ah for him. "Let's date night the shit out ofthis."
"Do you come here often?" Cole asked, fighting a grin. He couldn't manage a straight face. He winked and God help me, it unleashed a rush of butterflies in my belly. I was in it deep with this man. "Forget that. Tell me about yourself, Bartlett. Tell me things you've never told me before. All the things we skipped. The basics. What d'you do forfun?"
I held out my hands and then let them fall. "Reading. I like books, but you already knowthat."
"But I don't know why you like it," he said. "Startthere."
"I blew off school when I was a kid but now I wish I'd paid more attention," I said. "If I knew then what I know now, I wouldn't have pissed away mytime."
"We're never given things when we want them," Cole said. "It's the universe's way of fucking withus."
"Something like that," I said,laughing.
Cole reached for his beer, asking, "When was the last time you took a vacation? I can't imagine lobstermen observe traditional holidays. The lobsters don't give a fuck whether it's Christmas or Columbus Day,right?"
"It can be challenging, yeah. But I got away a couple of months ago," I replied. "I sail down to Provincetown—that's in Massachusetts, on the far end of Cape Cod—every year for Pride. The past few years, I've rented a house with a bunch of guys. It's always a good time in P-Town. Parades, events, shows. It's a trip I nevermiss."
"Why? What makes it important?" Coleasked.
"It's like coming home, but instead of parents and siblings, it's people who welcome and accept you in the most thorough way. And you've slept with most of them at one point or another." I ran my knuckles over my jaw as I watched him take in this information. The hard set of his jaw and thin line of his lips told me he wasn't a fan of my past exploits. "Have you ever been toPride?"
He blew out a breath, his expression turning pensive. "No, I haven't." He reached for his glass but didn't drink. "I've never known how I'd fit in. If I'd fitin."
"Trust me, you and your slim-fit polo shirts will fit right in," I replied, laughing. "Maybe…you could come with me next June. We could gotogether."
"Yeah. Maybe," he said, bobbing his head slowly. "These friends of yours—the ones you've slept with—would we stay with them? Is that what we'd do? A bunch of us in a house? Musical beds,perhaps?"
I crossed my arms over my chest. "Is that your way of asking whether I'd shareyou?"
Cole lifted a shoulder while he drew lines in the condensation on his glass. "I'm just trying to understand how it goes," hereplied.
"No, it wouldn't be like that," I said, dead serious. "If we bunked with my buddies, I'd bite your neck and piss a circle around you to make my intentions clear. Hell, I'd do that regardless of where we stayed. Your fine ass wouldn't leave mysight."
His cheeks flushed red, and I liked that. He bit his lip to hold back a smile, but it didn't work. I took his hand in mine just to feel an ounce of thatelectricity.
