Brad placed a kiss on his forehead before grabbing an empty chair at a nearby table and sliding it between me and Harley. He sat down and held out his hand to me. “Brad.”
I shook his hand. “Zayden.”
“Did you want to order food, Brad?” Kwan asked in a quiet voice, with a smile so sweet I thought I’d get a toothache just looking at him. He was honestly one of the most adorable men I’d ever seen in my life. One of Nicky’s hobbies was dissecting the love lives of his friends, so I’d heard all about Kwan, and I didn’t know how he hadn’t found an owner who treated him like he hung the moon already. Anyone would be lucky to have a puppy like him.
Brad winked at him. “I’m fine. I’ll eat some of Harley cat’s. He never finishes his food.”
Harley pouted at him but grabbed his napkin-wrapped utensils and unrolled them. He cut the burger in half with the knife, which was a struggle, but when he was done, he held it out to Brad with a pinched look. “You should be feedingme.”
“I will.” Brad’s mouth curved wickedly. “I’ll feed you some cream tonight, kitten.”
Harley’s pupils grew dark and his shoulders relaxed. I hadn’t realized how tense he’d been until now, when Brad had him as soft as putty in his hands. Brad stroked Harley’s cheek and smiled, taking the burger from him to chomp a bite.
“Damn, that’s good. Why haven’t we come here before?”
“It’s new.” Nicky snapped his fingers. “We need focus. We have an issue here. Zayden needs our complete attention.”
“For what?” Brad’s gaze slid to me, and I flushed hotter.
“Well….” Nicky flashed me a guilty look. “I can’t really say.”
“You can just tell him.” I rubbed my hands over my face and returned my stare back to Brad. “Hi, my name is Zayden, and I like wearing a fake pregnant belly and getting fucked while in it. I have a breeding kink. I’m also in love with my best friend and he caught me wearing the belly the other night while I was fucking myself with my dildo. I’m screwed.”
His expression turned gentle as he curled his arm around Harley’s shoulders. “Well, hi there, Zayden. I’m Brad, and I used to like fucking human dogs. Now I fuck one very spoiled human kitty who I love very much.” He kissed Harley’s cheek, and I swore I almost heard a purr coming from him.
“You’re lucky to have found each other,” I murmured. They were so beautiful together, like two pieces of a puzzle that fit perfectly.
“Tell me about this best friend,” Brad said.
“Straightbest friend,” Nicky interrupted, tapping the table. “You know how I feel about that term, Brad.”
He laughed and nodded. “Yes, I do. ‘Sexuality is fluid.’ ”
“Exactly.” Nicky fell back into his seat and crossed his arms. Brushing his dreads off his shoulder, he gave me a naughty look that had me squirming in my seat. “We’re going to teach you how to seduce him.”
I shook my head, nerves already eating me up and making me want to curl into a ball. “I can’t. I don’t want to lose his friendship. He’s important to me. Plus, you have that date for me. Can’t I just go on the date?”
“Why?” He tilted his head, and his playfulness vanished, leaving behind a seriousness I wasn’t used to seeing. “Wayne is a good person. I don’t want you to go on a date with him if you have no solid plans to be with someone other than Dare.”
I smiled because Nicky was a great guy. He cared for people, even if he teased. How he acted showed how much he loved the men around him. “I don’t want to hurt him, I swear. Dare is straight, no matter how much I don’t want him to be. We don’t have a chance in hell.”
“He let you kiss him,” Kwan said in his small voice, giving me puppy-dog eyes. He grabbed his burger and took a big bite of it, juices from the barbecue sauce dripping down his chin and onto the paper it came nestled in. He laughed and grabbed his napkin, wiping the mess off his face.
“I know,” I murmured, touching my lips. I could still feel his mouth pressed against mine, gentle but strong at the same time, the scrape of his stubbled chin and jaw scratching over my soft skin. It was perfect. “But he didn’t kiss me back. He’s not interested in men.”
Nicky gave me a long, hard look before he sighed, grabbed his fork, and then waved it at me. “Fine, let’s talk about Wayne. He’s a sexy silver fox. Can you handle that?”
For at least an hour, I listened to the four of them talk. I liked Nicky’s friends. They were a joyous bunch who made me laugh the entire time. Brad was something else. He kept trying to get me to join the kickball team, no matter how many times I told him sports weren’t my thing. By the time our lunch together ended, he’d added his and Harley’s phone numbers into my cell, and he demanded I come check out a game, if only once. I didn’t exactly hate how it sounded. He promised me it wasn’t a serious league, but by the way his brows furrowed whenever Nicky talked about an opposing team, I suspected Brad really,reallywanted to win.
But our time wound down, and Nicky kept pursing his lips and shaking his head at me as he drove me home.
“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” he called as I escaped the car and closed the door behind me to avoid his amused, yet somehow disappointed, glare.
I took a deep breath as I reached the front door and pushed it open. “Dare?”
Silence answered. I stepped inside and closed the door behind me. Sucking in a few deep breaths, I checked the kitchen and didn’t find Dare, so I took the stairs quietly. We needed to talk about this. There was no way we could let this go without a discussion. I wanted to explain to him my desire for my baby belly, and I couldn’t let things get weird. He meant too much to me.
“Fern?” It wasn’t often I called him by his real first name, but I felt like it was warranted this time because we were about to delve into some deep emotional stuff. The kind of feelings I hadn’t imagined talking to him about.
