“Iget it,” Declan said. “I guess I’m glad I brought my own.”
Marcussmiled at that. “He seems okay. You’re a lucky man.”
“Hehas no idea how lucky,” Ash said around a mouthful of doughnut.
Declandidknow how lucky he was. He was so damnedhappywith Ashstanding next to him. They were finally getting the chance to change eachother’s lives, a chance Declan had wished for a hundred times.
Heknew Ash wanted that, too. They’d had a dozen after-midnight conversationsabout how much Ash wanted to take Declan away from everything and just let himbreathe after he’d had a particularly stressful week at work.
Ashhad always been there for him. He couldn’t have done this with anyone else, andhe wouldn’t have wanted to, either.
“Ihave some idea,” Declan said.
“Well,I gotta get going,” Marcus backed away from the coffee machine, giving it onelast stroke. “Goodbye, sweetheart.”
Declanchuckled. “Come by and see her anytime.”
“Oh,trust me, I will,” Marcus called back as he left, the bell above the doorchiming as it swung closed.
Declanturned back to Ash, who’d finished demolishing his first doughnut and wasstarting in on his second one.
“Heseems nice,” Ash said around a mouthful of chocolate-glazed doughnut. “I’m gladyou’re making friends, too.”
“Yeah,well…” Declan shrugged. “I want this to work. And if that means going on adouble date with a guy I just met and his boyfriend who I haven’t even seenyet… that’s okay.”
“I’mnot sorry for volunteering you into it,” Ash said. “But obviously, I can’t makeyou go.”
“No,I want to,” Declan said. “I wanna embrace the small town life, and I guess thatinvolves stuff like this. Besides, Marcus just set up my cover for me. I’m binow.”
Ashraised an eyebrow.
“Youknow what I mean. In case one of us meets someone,” Declan said, looking away.
Thatwas a scary thought all of a sudden. Helikedwhat he had with Ash rightnow, even if it was all a lie. He didn’t want Ash to meet someone. Not rightnow, anyway.
He’dbeen thinking about the possibility since he’d met Charlie yesterday. What ifCharlie had been single?
“Iknow what you mean,” Ash said. “And I guess that makes sense. I guess it’s theonlything that’d make sense, really.”
Declanhummed, reaching for the milk jug. He could worry about whether or not he wasgoing to lose Ash if they ever met asinglegay man in this town.
Inthe meantime, he owed Ash a cup of coffee.
ChapterTwelve
Ashjumped as he rang Charlie and Scott’s doorbell and a dog barked on the otherside. His grip on the bottle of wine he was holding tightened to the pointwhere he was half-afraid of breaking the neck off.
Heknew Charlie had a dog.
He’djust, for some reason, imagined asmalldog. He hadn’t even thought toask.
Declanlaid a hand on the small of his back, taking a breath as though he was about tosay something. Before he could, the door opened and Charlie lunged forward,wrapping his arms around Ash eagerly.
“Hello!”he enthused, pushing back from Ash and going to hug Declan. “Your timingcouldn’t have been better.”
Ashlooked down at the Golden Retriever standing by his leg, floppy pink tonguehanging out, huge puppy eyes staring up at him.
Heknew he was supposed to have anaww, cutereaction to dogs, but hecouldn’t help that they made him nervous.
