“Thanks,” Cam said, smiling back.
Before he showered and changed, he called the restaurant. He didn’t want to drop Aidan’s name—though it turned out that he didn’t need to. Turned out the person who answered the phone was a big Thunder fan, big enough that they actually knew who Cam was, which didn’t happen all that often, and he was able to fit them in last minute with a prime time and promised that the table would be one of their best.
By the time he did shower, fingers slipping a little nervously on the buttons of his shirt, Dawson showed up, looking tired but pleased.
“You finally done?” Cam asked him as Dawson stripped out of his sweaty practice jersey.
“Yeah, think so.”
“Good, ’cause we’ve got an hour for you to get ready and to get to the restaurant,” Cam said.
“Restaurant?” Dawson blinked at him, surprised. “That why you asked me what I had planned for tonight?”
Dawson had told him that he was looking forward to heating up something from their meal service—which they apparently shared, now—and a pair of lazy handjobs.
But Cam had figured they could do a little better than that. Dawsondeservedmore than that. He was always going out of his way to plan things for them to do. Dawson wouldn’t have called them dates, but theyweredates, in every single way that mattered. And someday, when Dawson wasn’t so caught up inhis own baggage, he’d see that, and until that point, Camwaswilling to be patient, just like he’d told Aidan.
“Yeah,” Cam said, smiling. “You good with that? Or are you too tired?”
Dawson grinned, his smile unexpectedly bright. “To hang out with you? Nah. Never.”
“Good,” Cam said. He’d been pretty sure, but he’d known there was always a chance he’d be calling the restaurant back and moving their reservation to next week, when things in Dawson’s life were a little less crazy.
“I’m gonna go—” Dawson waved towards the showers. “Good thing I brought decent clothes today and not just sweatpants.”
But Cam had been thinking ahead, even this morning. “Remember when I told you I liked your ass in those jeans?”
Dawson smirked. “Oh, sothat’swhat that was. You’ve got layers to you, rook.”
“I like to think so.Youlike to think so.” It was so easy to smirk right back. Dawson made it easy, everything between them feeling so right and sosimple. Which was why, more than anything, Cam knew that they would make it through this. That on the other side, it was going to be him and Dawson.
“Yeah, I do,” Dawson said. “Don’t go anywhere, okay?”
Cam knew what Dawson meant.Stick around so we can head out to dinner together.Which . . .obviously. But as Dawson disappeared into the showers, Cam thought that maybe Dawson meant something more, too. Meant, also,Stick around because I think we could be pretty fucking amazing together.
Well, he didn’t have to ask Cam twice.
Cam wasn’t going anywhere.
If Cam was putting a mental list together of everything that Aidan Flynn was good at, he was going to have to addplanning datesto the list.
Because if Aidan had taken Levi here, then he’d hit the ball right out of the park.
The food was delicious, the atmosphere soft and sweet and undeniably romantic, the wine the waitress had recommended perfect. Maybe it wasn’t entirely Cam—even if he’d been smart enough to ask for a recommendation—but he was going to take the victory lap.
Especially when Dawson’s face was soft in the candlelight, lips red from the wine, his fond gaze never leaving Cam’s face as he finished up filling out the check.
“That was . . .” Dawson sighed happily.
They’d had a whole dinner, at least two whole hours, without talking about lawyers or Ackerman. Theyhadtalked about football, but not the Thunder. Instead, they’d ended up sharing stories from their past, of all the teams they’d been on. Funny anecdotes and rough moments, and everything in between.
He and Dawson had been on a lot ofdate-like dates, but this had all those beat by a factor of ten.
It was so good, and Dawson so clearly comfortable with all of it, his hand reaching for Cam’s across the table and squeezing it and their feet nudging together, that Cam was tempted more than once to justsayit. To put it out there, between them.This was a date. Did you have a good time? Because I had a good time. We should do this again. Should also get takeout and watch stupid movies with big explosions and car chases and make out on the couch. And everything in between, too.
But before Cam could work up the nerve, Dawson leaned back in his chair and said it, like it was nothing. But Cam had learned so many of Dawson’s tells by now, and he could see the tensenessin the line of his neck, the flash of uncertainty in his hazel eyes as he said, “We should do more dates like this.”
He was so surprised he almost said, “Wasthis a date?”
