Page 28 of Tastes of Him

The real world came with complications.

When I heard the front bell ring, I quickly pushed thoughts of Rod and what it all meant from my mind. The steady flow of customers helped keep me preoccupied, as did the ache in my feet.

“I forgot how much it sucked to stand for hours at a time.”

Cameran nodded before looking at the clock. “I’m going to take my lunch if that’s okay? Julie wants me to meet her at the Thai place across the street.”

I waved my hand, shooing her away. “Yes, go. Give your fiancée my love.”

Her face lit up, and I couldn’t help but feel so incredibly happy for her. Those two were going to give me a toothache with all their fucking sweetness, but I would gladly deal with the resulting stomachache just to watch them blossom together.

The familiar motions of cleaning and restocking gave me something to do besides thinking, and I would have happily done that for the rest of the day if not for my name being called.

“Sean.”

I whirled around in shock. Rod was across the counter, looking just as good as I remembered. His beard was trimmed close, and his hair looked crisp and so fucking clean. Instantly I felt my mouth go dry because I knew then that this feeling wasn’t going to go away. I had thought seeing one another back home would lessen my desire for him, but seeing him now had me playing the fool. I wanted him more than ever.

“Rod. What are you doing here?”

“Hey there.”

My blood froze when I saw Kevin step out from behind him. How I hadn’t noticed him skulking around before, I wasn’t sure. “Oh, hi.” Rod’s eyebrows rose at my tone, but Kevin either didn’t notice or pretended not to.

“We were in the neighborhood, and Rod wanted to show me his sister’s café,” Kevin said, leaning against Rod and smiling up at him. Rod shifted away slightly, but not far enough in my opinion. I clenched my fists to keep from jerking his ass across the counter and away from Kevin and his apparently still-incessant need to be all up on Rod.

“Oh?” I replied, pitching my voice to a tone of disinterest. “Well, welcome to our café. I’m the co-owner.”

Kevin cooed over the décor, but all I could hear was ‘fake’ every time he opened his mouth. Even so, my heart dropped when Rod smiled at him, and it was then I knew I had to get them out before I did something drastic…like pour hot coffee over them both and hope they ended up at Grady Hospital so I could walk my petty ass down there and do it again.

“Well, that’s great, but I really should get back to work,” I replied, cutting off Kevin’s rambling words. “Did you guys want anything to go?”

Rod stepped forward and leaned against the counter. “Mom’s throwing her welcome back party tonight, and I wanted to make sure you were going to be there.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You could have just texted me.”What the hell? Why am I acting like an ass?My gaze drifted over to Kevin, and my mood sank further. He was why I was acting like this. I vaguely remembered him saying he would be moving to Atlanta too, but I hadn’t thought that meant I would have to deal with him being all up in Rod’s face like a damn groupie.Didn’t he have other friends?

Rod’s smile dipped down, and immediately, I wanted to say something to salvage things. “I’ll be there, though.” It was the truth. There was no way in hell I wouldn’t make an appearance, especially now.

His smile seemed to recover, and I felt the vice around my heart loosen slightly. “I know she wanted to make sure Cam had time to—”

“She said seven, right, Roddie?”

I’m going to strangle this bitch.My nails dug into my palms, and if not for the pain, I might have actually leapt across the counter. The way Kevin jumped in, talking about Rod’s mom like he wasfamilyright in front of me was almost my undoing. Cameran coming in then was the only thing that saved him; otherwise, I would have gone to jail.

“Roddie!” she exclaimed, wrapping him in a hug and giving me time to take a deep breath. “What are you doing here? You never told me you were going to stop by.”

Rod glanced over at me before speaking. “I was just coming by to make sure Sean was coming tonight.”

“And I wanted to come by and see your business,” Kevin added, placing a hand on Rod’s arm. Cameran’s eyes widened slightly, and she looked down at his hand before looking up at Rod.

“Oh, that’s nice of you.” She walked around the counter and stepped up beside me. I was sure she could probably feel me vibrating with the need to do harm, but I settled when she leaned against me. “Sean and I started this place right after college. It was really his idea more than mine.”

“Lies,” I replied, looking down at her. I could read the concern in her eyes and gave her what I hoped was a reassuring smile. “This place has you written all over it. I just gave you the right push.”

Cameran shook her head. “I would never have started it without you.”

“Wow. It’s almost like you two should be dating.”

Every muscle in my face locked up as I fought against my grimace, not at the thought of dating Cameran but at having to hear this fool’s voice again. I gave Rod a look and was surprised to see a flicker of irritation mar his features before his expression cleared.

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