Page 42 of Cosmo

Instead, however, he got his backbone straightened out and said, “Yeah, hey. It’s the bartender,” he said, almost giving away his real name. “Cosmo.”

“I knew before you said it. I don’t give my number out often. How are you?”

The guy was so pretty, so…hot. Cosmo was out of practice dating. “I’m…I’m okay. I mean, I’m good. How are you?”

“Enough small talk?”

Liam’s laughter came out in a huff of relief. “Thanks. I’m not…I haven’t been in the dating scene for a while. I guess I lost my touch.”

“Not at all. You hooked me pretty fast. A bright spot of sincerity, I guess, is what you put out there. So, are you free tonight?”

So fast, everything was happening so fast…

“I, uh, I’d actually love to, except I just got a cat. I don’t want to leave him alone on his first night here. I know that sounds like an excuse.”

“A good excuse. I love cats. Dogs too. I have a dog. God, I sound so lame.”

Liam was falling for the guy, and he barely knew him. No, he didn’t know him at all. He definitely needed to get laid. It had to be his dick pushing him. “Tomorrow for lunch? We can, you know, start off with lunch.”

“Lunch is actually perfect. Where did you think?”

He drew an immediate blank, but then the one place he knew they had both been to was the coffee shop. “That coffee place where we saw each other the second time? At least we both know the way.”

“I love it. I’ll see you there, say, noon?”

“See you at noon.”

Daiq was rubbing on his leg again and he picked the cat up, kissing his forehead. “I got a date. What do you think of that?”

He just purred louder, but Liam assumed he was fine with it.

He went out and found a pet store a couple miles away, taking a rideshare to get there. Once he had the pretty red collar in his pocket, he stopped to get some drinks and snacks for himself, and then, when he got back to the pub, Murphy was waiting for him next to his room with bags in his hand. “You went shopping.”

Liam laughed. “Good guess. You did too?”

“No, this stuff was from my sister, who has a serious shopping addiction. She’ll shop for anyone, anytime, for any reason, and she finally got to shop for a cat.”

Liam’s heart warmed so quickly, he thought his chest had caught fire. “For Daiq?”

“Yeah. No one’s ever brought a pet home, so everyone is excited, and we know he’s new to you, and getting adjusted, but once he is, my kids will be pestering you to play with her. Him.”

“Him, and I’d like that. He’s very affectionate. He loves Abs already.”

“That’s not hard.”

Liam suspected Murphy had offered to bring the bags so he could talk to Liam alone. As far as Liam was concerned, that was fine. He wasn’t backing down from his demands. “Come on in and meet him.”

Murphy nodded and tried not to show the relief he obviously felt at the invitation.

Daiq went right up to Murphy and rubbed along his shin as Murphy laughed. “Well, hello to you too.”

“He’s very friendly. Some stupid kids were trying to hurt him. I’d like to find them and beat the fuck out of them.”

“I’m glad you didn’t. You’d be back in jail.”

Liam nodded slowly. “So, are you worried about me?”

Murphy pulled the desk chair to him and spun it around, sitting with his back in front of him so he could lay his arms across it. “Yeah. I won’t lie. I’m worried you will turn on us, sure, but don’t think you’re special for receiving my worry. I fretted over every single guy here, and that includes the man I eventually fell for. It’s smart to worry over cons turning on each other because it happens all the time.”

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