Page 47 of Mouth to Mouth

“Then what’s the problem?” Ben asked.

“He agreed to dinner. And a walk on the beach. But I might have forgotten to use the word date,” Brad confessed.

“That sounds like some romantic shit to me,” Ben said.

Brad had to agree. Since he didn’t have a lot of experience, he might have used google to suggest what a first date should consist of. Dinner and a nice walk on the beach was romantic. “Okay.”

“I want to hear the whole story,” Ben demanded.

Brad checked the time on his phone. “Shit! I gotta go!”

“Brad!”

Brad hung up as his brother yelled his name. Shoving the phone into his back pocket, Brad raced up the stairs two at a time. Less than a minute later, out of breath, Brad knocked on the door.

A few moments later Luca was pulling it open and smiling at him.

“I’m not late!” He’d had one minute to get up the stairs but Brad was pretty sure that he’d made it.

Luca laughed. “Okay?”

Still sucking in air, Brad waved at Luca and the nice khaki pants and form-fitting shirt he wore. “Look good.”

“Come here.” Luca rolled his eyes and pulled Brad inside his apartment. He shoved Brad onto the couch before turning and going into the attached kitchen. Brad could see Luca pull out a bottle of water then return to him and sitting on the coffee table in front of him.

Brad accepted the bottle and twisted the lid off to take a careful sip. He needed to calm down. Brad was supposed to be making a good impression. He took another swallow as Luca stared at him with a furrowed brow.

Lowering the water, Brad took a deep breath. “It’s a date.”

Luca blinked a few times. “What is?”

Shit! Brad shook his head. He was really bad at this. “Me asking you to dinner. I was asking you on a date.”

“A date,” Luca repeated. “Are you sure that’s what you want?”

“I’m sure,” Brad said. “Really sure.”

“Then I’m glad that I accepted.”

“Even if I’m an asshole?” Brad had to ask.

Luca sighed. “I don’t think you’re an asshole.”

Brad narrowed his eyes while pressing his lips into a firm line. He wasn’t buying that.

“Okay.” Luca held his hands up. “I did. And I’ll admit that you confuse the shit out of me. I still agreed to dinner and a walk on the beach.”

“I appreciate you giving me a chance,” Brad said sincerely.

“I like you, Brad,” Luca told him. “Yes, we got off to a rocky start. Which I understand more after you told me about your ex. And it has to be obvious how attracted I am to you.”

Attracted to him. The new him. Brad wasn’t the same fat and pimple-faced loser that he saw in the mirror. Even after years of becoming what most men thought of as the perfect specimen, Brad still struggled with how he saw himself.

“I said something wrong just now,” Luca said quietly.

Brad quickly shook his head. “No, of course not. Are you ready for dinner? I brought my SUV or we could walk.”

“I wouldn’t mind walking, if that’s okay with you.”