Sterling stopped him. “Hey.”
Buck looked Sterling’s way. He didn’t want to hope.
Sterling shifted from foot to foot. “Would you like to have dinner with me tonight? I’ll cook.”
A smile exploded across Buck’s face. The happiness that burst to life in him was next level. “You cook now?”
Sterling gave a half shrug. “Enough to survive on my own.”
“I’d love to have dinner with you.”
A slight smile touched Sterling’s lips. “Six?”
“Works for me.” Buck wouldn’t have cared if he wanted to meet at two in the morning. He was there.
For a second, they held each other’s stare. Buck had to force his feet to move. Everything inside him screamed to stay with Sterling. He had work to do if he hoped to make their date on time. Date. Fuck. Six couldn’t get here fast enough.
Sterling wasn’t nervous exactly. He just wasn’t sure if he was ready for this. Buck had sent him nonstop love letters since Sterling left the hospital. He had started a shoebox and the thing could barely close now from all the notes. One thing was clear now. Buck loved Sterling. Sterling had zero doubt on that point. The problem was Sterling. He was broken. At least he was self-aware,
When the knock came, Sterling was in the middle of running in circles, trying to remember everything he needed to do. Why had he offered to cook? He barely knew how to boil water. Sterling rushed to the door. When he pulled it open, everything else disappeared. Buck’s dark brown hair was slightly windblown. A tight t-shirt stretched across his broad chest. Jeans cupped him just right. A hunger like no other hit like a semi. Theoverwhelming emotions were so much more than lust. Like in the barn earlier, love choked him. The love always eclipsed everything. Buck had been his obsession for so many years. No one else would do. Ever.
“Hi.” Even Sterling heard how chipper he sounded, which was weird since he was stressed to the max.
“Hi.” Buck moved his hand from behind his back. He held a casserole dish with a Tupperware lid. “Apple crisp.”
Sterling’s knees weakened. Buck’s apple crisp was his absolute favorite dessert. No one made it like he did. Sterling didn’t know what was different with his recipe, but he had never found one like it. He had tried.
Sterling took a step back. “Damn. You know that’s my favorite. Maybe I should just turn off the oven and we can eat this. My cook—” The blaring of a smoke detector cut him off. Sterling froze for half a second before he remembered the mess going on in the kitchen. “Oh, no.”
He darted for the kitchen. Heavy black smoke rose from the pot on the stove and even more smoke poured from inside. Sterling grabbed the pot and tossed it in the sink before ripping open the door. He grabbed the pan with no oven mitt without thinking. He immediately dropped the heavy pan on the oven’s open door.
“Goddamn it!” The roared words barely left his lips before Buck had him steered toward the sink and held Sterling's hand undercold running water. The move immediately lessened his pain, but not his humiliation.
“It’s okay. I’ve got you.”
Sterling’s gaze hit the floor. All he had wanted was a nice night. He couldn’t do anything right.
Buck moved Sterling’s hand from beneath the water to quickly inspect it before going right back to the steady stream.
“It’s not that bad. Thankfully, it looks like you dropped the pan quickly enough to avoid anything serious. Don’t move.”
Buck rustled around behind him. The charred pan dropped into the other side of the sink. The alarm stopped. He heard the click and beeps of the oven being turned off. In no time, Buck was back. Sterling never looked away from the spot at the bottom of the sink where he didn’t see much of anything at all. He had zoned out, trying to save himself from another mental breakdown.
Buck moved his hand from beneath the water again. This time, he turned off the faucet. He patted Sterling’s hand dry. When he popped open the first-aid kit, a sliver of life returned. Buck knew where everything was in this house. At one time, Buck had practically lived here.
Buck spoke while he swiped burn cream over the wound. “I’m cool with just eating dessert.”
Sterling couldn’t even look at him.
“Or I could order us something,” Buck added. “You’d be surprised how many people have started delivering out this way. With it just being me now, it’s so much easier to get food that way than cook for only myself.”
Sterling knew he should respond, but his throat was too tight to talk. He couldn’t even look at Buck.
Buck didn’t seem to need him. He kept going. “Speaking of which, I didn’t make the apple crisp. I gave the recipe to AJ right after he moved out. The moment he started missing home, it was the first thing he asked for. I think he’s perfected it a bit. He wants me to let him know if you prefer his. Actually, he was a bit giddy about it. I think he’s convinced he’s superior. Truthfully, he is, but I can’t concede, and we need a tiebreaker.”
At the first mention of AJ, Sterling’s chin had lifted. The more Buck said, the more it sounded like AJ knew. “AJ knows you’re here?”
Buck’s gaze moved from Sterling’s hand to hold his stare. His dark blue eyes always stared straight into Sterling’s soul. “Yes. I told him everything. The funny thing is, as I said the words, I realized how idiotic I am. All this time, I never really hid us. As I told AJ I’m in love with you, it hit me. There was no way he didn’t already know. There was no way everyone didn’t know.”
