“It is. It’s all right that we fall in love. From experience around others, it’ll happen quicker than either of us expects too.”
Duncan dropped his gaze and nodded. “I’m not sure I know what love is.”
“It’s different for everyone,” I told him. “But most agree that it’s a sense of complete happiness and desire to be with a person. That you want to do all the things with them, you miss not being around them, and the need to see them happy can be overwhelming at times.”
“Oh.”
“Oh?”
Duncan grinned up at me. “Yeah. Just…that’s good to know.”
I wanted to question it more but left it for the time being. “How about we go have that lunch and then we can spend some time in the hot tub? And if you don’t want to get in the hot tub, that’s fine. I can show you the gym so you know where it is if you’d like to use it.”
“You have a gym?”
I chuckled. “Yes. It’s in the basement, which I didn’t get to when giving you a tour of the house. You were so overwhelmed by everything, I just decided that the main areas and the upstairs bedrooms were enough. It wasn’t intentional.”
“I know that,” Duncan said as we entered the house. I slid the door shut behind us and went to the kitchen with him beside me. We got our drinks out, and while Duncan took them to the table, I set his food out on a plate and placed it in the microwave. It wasn’t overly cold, but it was cold enough that it wasn’t going to be the best, so I set it for ninety seconds and hit the Start button.
While that was heating, I did the same with mine, and when Duncan’s was ready, I swapped them.
“Did you need anything other than this?” I asked as I set it down in front of him.
Duncan looked up at me. “Umm…a spoon for the mac ’n’ cheese?”
Dang, I’d forgotten that. I nodded and went to grab him one quickly. I had that back to him before my food was ready, and when the microwave beeped again, I grabbed my plate and then joined him.
Once I was sitting, Duncan started eating. I grinned, as I picked up my sandwich. “I want to talk to you, but I think it’s best if I wait until after we eat.”
Duncan’s head shot up. “Why?”
“Because I seem to overwhelm you when I do and then you end up not eating. That’s absolutely not what I want.”
Duncan made a face but nodded. “I don’t mean to. I’m not normally a ball of stress but it’s been a lot the last few days.”
“I get that,” I said. “I wasn’t exactly expecting to meet my mate and claim him so soon either.”
Duncan sighed. “Yeah, but you’re ready for a mate,” he said before he pointed at me with a chicken leg. “My ability to pay my rent or not was dependent on if I made good tips at a shitty job that let me go the first time I called in.” Duncan glared. “The first time, Clay. I’d worked so many extra shifts there and the very first time I called off, they said they no longer needed me, and I could come pick up my last check. What the hell?”
“I’m sorry, sweetie. Do you want me to go down there and growl at him? I will. My brothers and I can go be assholes in the bar for a night or two.”
Duncan stared at me for a long moment and then the scowl from his face was gone and he seemed to deflate. “That’s sweet that you’d do that for me.” He paused a moment. “No though. It’s not worth it.” He took a bite of his chicken and then pointed it at me again as he talked. “Stephen is the bar manager, andalthough he’s nice enough, I get that they need someone reliable. I just found my mate and everyone knows that means major changes are going to be happening for me in the very near future.”
I reached for Duncan’s chicken leg and snatched what was left of it out of his hand. He looked at me as if I’d committed some serious crime.
“Really? You snatched my chicken leg.”
I chuckled. “You kept pointing and waving it at me. I thought you were offering it.” I could tell Duncan was struggling with what to do next. I saw his eyes dart down and he snatched my chicken thigh. “Hey.”
Duncan gave me a satisfied look. “You took mine; I’ll take yours.”
I chuckled, and Duncan started laughing. It truly was going to be easy to fall hard for him. I had already started, even if he didn’t know it. Was it love? Most likely not completely. At least not yet. I wasn’t far from it though.
Duncan took a bite of my chicken thigh, and I laughed. I still had the breast, and I picked it up and started eating before he could snatch it. Not that I wouldn’t give up my entire meal if he wanted it. I absolutely would. I thought about all of the plans I wanted for the two of us and couldn’t help but wonder if Duncan would be on board with them.
“You want kids, right?” I asked out of the blue. Duncan stopped chewing and stared at me. “We didn’t talk about kids the other night. We were busy watching TV and then you were tired. I understand. It was a busy day with a whole lot going on.”
Duncan chewed once, then again and swallowed. He dropped the chicken thigh. “Uh…yeah. You were talking about kids. When you mentioned getting something different for me to drive.”
