Page 11 of Part & Parcel

“Name, sir?” the hostess asked.

Kelly cleared his throat, fingers grazing his tie as he stepped forward. “Nick O’Flaherty,” he said, and he was shocked by the butterflies in his stomach. He might have been taking this date thing a little too seriously, but that was the whole point.

His heart had broken right in two when Nick had asked him to sit with him, when he’d admitted that he was nervous for Kelly to be touching him. When he’d said “Doctor’s orders” with the same distaste he said “New York Yankees.” How had Kelly let Nick’s recovery loom that large between them? It wasn’t worth analyzing now, and there were a dozen ways to go about course-correcting. But this one seemed like the most fun.

He’d never seen Nick’s full-court press. Nick hadn’t needed it to convince Kelly to sleep with him, or to commit to him. Kelly was looking forward to it.

The hostess led him through a maze of tiny, intimate tables toward the center of the main floor, where Nick was sitting straight and tall, watching him with a smile. Nick stood when they approached the table, buttoning his suit jacket. Kelly gave the hostess a nod, then stepped toward Nick with a grin.

“Wow,” he said, giving Nick a full-body once-over. Despite the weeks of recovery and issues, Nick had been rehabbing with the work ethic of a Marine, and it showed. He took Kelly’s elbow, holding on to him gently as he leaned in and pressed a chaste kiss to Kelly’s cheek. Kelly’s eyes fluttered closed. Holy God, Nick smelled good tonight.

“You look great,” Nick told him, his lips tantalizingly close to the shell of Kelly’s ear. His fingers glided over the lapel of Kelly’s jacket, coming up to adjust the knot of Kelly’s tie. His eyes never left Kelly’s, and his lips quirked into a smirk. “Tie looks amazing with your eyes.”

“Thanks,” Kelly breathed, staring until Nick stepped back and gestured to the vacant seat.

As soon as they’d both settled in, a waiter approached the table, and their first official date was in full swing. Kelly managed to take it seriously right up until the dessert menu was laid at his elbow.

He shook his head and grunted. “Okay, seriously. Let’s get the check and head back to my room.”

Nick quirked an eyebrow and shifted his shoulders, laying one hand on the table. “And skip dessert?”

“Nicko,” Kelly grunted. “You earned me on my knees just with the cut of that suit, okay.”

A gentleman at the table beside them coughed loudly and gave Kelly a disapproving glance. Kelly eyed him briefly before returning his attention to his companion. Nick had covered his mouth with his palm, his elbow resting on the table.

“What?” Kelly asked him.

Nick shook his head. “If you want to go, we can. But the crème brûlée here is really good.”

Kelly narrowed his eyes. Nick snaked his hand across the tiny tabletop, and Kelly laid his in its path. Nick twined their fingers together, a serene smile gracing his handsome face.

Kelly realized he was shaking his head fondly. “And you accusemeof being able to get whatever I want with a smile.”

“You can,” Nick said softly. His thumb brushed over Kelly’s. “I’d give you anything you wanted. Smile or not.”

Kelly squeezed his hand hard. “Only thing I want is you, babe.”

Nick had been right. The crème brûlée was truly fantastic. And when the check came, they had the most realistic first-date moment of the night as they awkwardly tried to figure out who would pay. Nick finally won out and slid his credit card into the leather folder, then he took Kelly’s hand in his and leaned forward, kissing Kelly’s knuckles.

“I’m glad we did this,” he said, rubbing his lips over Kelly’s fingers again.

“Can I tell you a secret?” Kelly waited until Nick was looking into his eyes. “I was nervous. When I was getting ready, I was so nervous I thought I was going to throw up. I couldn’t even get my tie tied right.”

Nick chuckled, worrying at his lower lip with his teeth. “I wasn’t.”

“No?”

Nick shook his head. “Tonight I know what I’m supposed to do. I know my place again.”

Kelly frowned hard. “Your place? The hell does that mean?”

“No, no, let me get through. Since waking up, all these weeks recovering, it was hard to know what I was to you.”

“Dude.”

“I don’t mean it bad, just let me explain,” Nick said, voice still calm and smooth. “You’ll always be the Doc first and foremost, and that’s what you fell back on when I woke up in the hospital. And you got me through this just like every time before. But we just . . . we don’t have a playbook for this. We were already kind of winging the boyfriend thing. And I know how you feel about lies and hiding things and . . . I know how much it hurt you, me lying. Keeping things from you. God! Pretending I didn’t remember asking you to marry me. I haven’t earned forgiveness for any of that.”

“You don’t have to earn it,” Kelly blurted. “I gave it freely. You know I don’t fucking hold grudges.”

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