Page 36 of Bales and Brawn

I take care with what shirt I put on. Most of the ones I own are plaid, for working on the farm. But I have a few plain ones, so I choose a green one. I pull on some clean jeans and my best boots, and that’s about as smart as I get. But then Devin didn’t seem to mind when I had four days of stubble, I hadn’t showered in as many days, and had a bang to the head, so I hope it’s enough. My palms are sweaty as I drive to the lot outside the Foggy Inn, where the buses stop.

As I see the bus drive up the road, I get out of my truck and lean against it. It stops just opposite, and I watch as he comes down the steps and sees me. I smile and his eyes brighten slightly, enough to make my heart jump. He walks over to me.

“Hey,” I say.

“Hey yourself.”

“I’m sorry for acting like a jerk. Can you forgive me? I wanna buy you dinner if you’ll let me.”

The corners of his mouth turn up and he nods. He walks round to the other side of the truck and climbs in.

“You spoke to Nova, then?”

“Yeah. He told me you were great, I was lucky, and not to mess it up.” I fasten my safety belt.

“I like your brother a lot.” Devin gives me his trademark grin, white teeth against his black beard, and my heart soars.

“Is the Blue Star diner okay? It’s not super fancy but the food is good.”

“Do I look like I frequent the finest French restaurants?” he says. “I don’t even have on a clean T-shirt and there you are, all smart and handsome looking.”

“You look handsome to me, whatever you’re wearing,” I reply.

“What about if I wasn’t wearing anything?” He smirks and my cock twitches. It surprises me so much I swerve and nearly crash the car.

“That was unfair,” I mutter, and Devin laughs.

“Relax, we’ll go at your pace. But I’m glad I can affect you that much.”

“Okay, but not while I’m driving, please.” Having narrowly missed an accident, I park outside the diner and try to bring my heart rate under control. Its pace is only partially due to the near miss.

“Sure, boss,” he says and winks at me.

We have to wait a few minutes for our booth, and I curse myself for not booking in advance. I had no idea it would be so busy on a Friday night, but it’s pretty obvious when I think about it. I’m such a noob at this.

“Sorry, we have to wait a few minutes,” I say to Devin, but he just smiles. Then I see a face I know.

“Hey, Soren,” I say and the guy drags his eyes from someone else who looks vaguely familiar.

“Zane! Hey, how’s it going? I’m sorry I haven’t been in. I uh . . .” He points at the guy he’s with. “Do you know Sam Moseley?”

I recognize the name but it takes me a few seconds. “Oh, wait, you run the pet store over in Hartsville?”

“That’s me.” The guy smiles.

“I run the feed store. I stock standard pet food, but if anyone needs anything specialized that I can’t get, I send them over to you.”

“Oh.” Sam smiles. “Thank you for that.”

“I always want to take care of my customers, even if it means sending them to someone else. Oh, I haven’t introduced Devin. He’s British and he works for me.” I flash Devin a grin, and I see Andrew give me a signal.

“Hey, our booth is available. We’ll see you around. It’s nice seeing you both again.”

“Cheers,” Devin says, and I lead him toward our table.

“They looked like they’re together,” Devin says as we settle into the booth. I look over at them, at the way Soren is gazing at Sam.

“I guess so.” I shrug and Devin smirks. He then wedges his knee against mine under the table and my heart starts beating faster again.