“Hey,” he says, then slides his grip down to take my hand. Caesar sets his silver gaze on me and rubs the back of my fingers with his thumb. “Sorry. Damn it, I’m an ass. I didn’t mean anything by that.”
I hesitate. I’m right on the edge of spilling my guts and dumping my emotions all over Caesar’s messy coffee table. I want to tell him things I haven’t even told myself yet, worries about my mom and my hometown and my future that are still taking shape. And when he rubs my hand, it makes it even harder to hold myself together, but I fight to suck it all back in.
“You’re fine,” I say, then offer a sad smile. “I’m just…”
“Losing family is hard.”
“Is your mom around?”
“Gone, like my old man,” Caesar nods. “I don’t really talk to the rest of them.”
“Sorry,” I manage.
Caesar and I look at each other in silence for a minute. Somehow, this strange man with the heavy silver brow seems to understand me, and I think I’m understanding him, too.
A loud knock at the door interrupts us, breaking the moment. Caesar steps into his cargo shorts and tosses a blanket from the back of the couch to me, then answers the door shirtless, Grace panting dutifully behind him. The smell of pizza fills the room as he turns back to me, a satisfied smile on his face.
“You’re feeding me. Now I’m going to think this is a date.”
Caesar throws the pizza on the coffee table. “Just getting plates,” he grumbles. When he appears again a minute later, a couple of beers in one hand and the plates in the other, he frowns at me.
“What?” I ask.
Caesar walks over. He hands off a can of beer, then turns his stare to my arm and the bold lines of the half-finished ink. “Next week, coming up,” he says, then plops down on the couch. “You free? We can finish that up in my studio here at home.”
“Oh! Yeah.” My mind races. There’s nothing on my schedule, just this. But the second we finish the tattoo, the excuses to prolong my stay in the city all evaporate.
I wonder if that’s why Caesar is rushing it now, to get things over with. Now that he’s scratched his itch and hooked up with a younger guy, he’ll move on to someone more like him or, more likely, just back to being alone.
“Yeah,” I answer. “I’m free.”
Caesar flips the pizza box open, grabs a slice with stringy cheese, and hands it to me on a plate. “Good,” he says. “End of the week. And I’ll get the pinball machines for you tomorrow. Come by tomorrow night if you want. Check them out.”
I blink, surprised. “Another date,” I say with a laugh, then lean forward and press a kiss to his cheek. “You’re asking me on another date.”
Caesar grunts. “Whatever you want to call it.”
CHAPTERFOURTEEN
CAESAR
It takesme all day to haul the pinball machines back to my garage. Scotty lends me his truck and his trailer, but I don’t accept his offer to help me with the move.
I need the drive to clear my head. I need to damn near throw my back out, hauling those rust buckets into the truck, just to know I’m doing something for Drew.
One night with the kid, and I can already feel it in my bones. I want him to be mine. He’s a good man, just now finding his footing in the world. I see the responsibility he’s carried on his shoulders for years, caring for his ma and the shop. And I see how he’s kept his spirit through all of that, bright and strong.
The urge to take care of him surges through me all day, stronger the longer I sit with it.
When I get home, I feed Grace and eat some dinner before I go to unloading the machines into the garage. There are still some beer bottles scattered around from Red’s retirement party, and even though my back is fucking killing me, I busy myself cleaning the place up while I have a chance.
As I wipe down the machines, I try to figure out how much time I have with the kid. He’ll leave town once I finish his tattoo, but my ornery brain won’t accept that. Now that I’ve had him once, heard the noises he makes while he comes and seen his tortured face, I want to put my hands all over Drew.
I’m horny like I haven’t been in years. Something dormant in me is awake, a bear coming out of hibernation, and I can only think about one thing.
“Hi, Caesar.”
I turn. It’s dusk outside, and Drew is standing at the end of my driveway. I’m not sure how all the time passed, and I kick myself that I didn’t get a chance to shower and clean up properly for him.
