Page 76 of Resisting You

“First of all, that was all you,” Frey answered breathlessly. “And second, I always knew that would be a great idea if the boss was good enough. And hot enough.” He grinned, teeth sharp. “I was proven right.”

Renato flushed through his whole body with pleasure. It was nice to feel sexy again—to feel wanted and maybe even a little young, no matter how hard his joints protested. He kissed Frey one more time, a little softer, then let him go to sit.

As he got settled, another profound realization hit him: he was comfortable. There was no awkwardness there, no feeling like he didn’t belong. There was no uncertainty that Frey didn’t want him.

“You’re making that face again,” Frey pointed out as he tore into his wrapper.

Renato looked down, then unwrapped his sandwich and stared. It was Italian meats and some cheese with lettuce and peppers, and a sort of sauce with a pinkish hue. It was nothing like he would have eaten in Italy, but it smelled good in spite of his roiling stomach.

“Sweetheart,” Frey said.

Renato’s eyes shot up. Had Frey ever used that word with him before? It felt…oddly intimate. He licked his lips. “Thank you for having me over tonight.”

Frey’s cheeks went faintly pink. “Seemed silly to waste a night with the house to myself.” Frey cleared his throat. “And I really wanted to spend time with you. Um. Yeah.”

With a tiny laugh, Renato reached for his hand and pulled Frey’s knuckles to his lips. He laid a soft, lingering kiss to Frey’s warm skin. “I wanted to see you. You’re the only thing that made this day bearable.”

Frey’s mouth opened, then closed, and then he squeezed Renato’s fingers before letting go and picking up his food. They ate in silence after that, and Renato was grateful he had a reprieve from Frey’s questions because he had answers. He just didn’t want to give them yet.

In reality, he was terrified that Frey was going to find him weak for leaving. After all, what kind of man could handle being a surgeon but couldn’t deal with working alongside the man he was falling for? He didn’t want to believe that Frey would judge him for it, but everything between them was so new and so fragile.

They had the most hateful, angry start, and he didn’t want that for their ending.

“Not hungry?” Frey asked as he began to wrap up his second half of the sandwich.

Renato looked down and realized he’d only had a few bites. “My appetite for food has been a little shit today.”

Frey leaned his elbow on the table. “Hungry for something else?”

“A shower,” Renato said without missing a beat.

Frey blinked in surprise. “Oh. Uh…I have one of those.”

“Good.” Renato stood, then held his hand out for Frey. “Show me how it works.”

Frey slipped fingers against his, and as much as Renato wanted to kiss him, he didn’t want to get distracted. Frey was just as clearly uncertain about what was allowed and what wasn’t—and maybe even what Renato wanted from him. He had every intention of making sure that Frey didn’t feel that way before the night was out.

He wanted to make his intentions clear. He wanted Frey. From now until Frey got tired of looking at his face. And that might be forever, or it might be a few months. It might even be just a few more days. But whatever he was allowed to have, Renato wanted to make him feel treasured.

He wanted to make up for the miserable bastard he’d been for so long.

“So. This is hot,” Frey said once they were in the bathroom. He leaned past the sliding glass door. “And cold. You know how a shower works, though yours probably has fancy buttons.”

Renato snorted and laid his hand along Frey’s waist. “It has a knob. Like I said, I’m not an alien. I don’t fly around on the Enterprise.”

“Oh my God, you’re a Star Trek nerd?” Frey asked, his whole face lit up with delight.

Renato’s ears burned. “When I was younger, my uncle had come back to Milan from working in the States. He brought some episodes on a VHS, and I devoured them. I said it was a love story, and no one believed me.”

Frey groaned and bustled Renato against the wall, then began tugging on his shirt, throwing it off to the side. “That is so ridiculously hot. Jesus.”

“That I like aliens?”

“That you’re a secret nerd,” Frey whispered, then buried his face in Renato’s neck, biting down against his tendon. “That you’re all these…these things,” he went on, voice muffled, “that you hide. You’re so much, and I never bothered to see past the angry man.”

Renato shook his head, pushing his fingers into Frey’s hair, and he urged him back so he could look into his eyes. “I was unkind.”

“So was I,” Frey said.

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