Page 10 of Relief Pitcher

I told him about how we lived in Dom’s place. Most of us, anyway, since Austin had moved out earlier this year to live with his boyfriend, Caleb. It was awesome having Seth move into his room so I could keep an eye on him again. I’d struggled with having my brother away for years while he traveled the world working on cruise ships. We were earning enough now that I could probably move out, but I enjoyed living with the guys.

The countdown had begun for Ethan to move in with Parker. I dreaded the changes happening, all of us starting to split off, but I wouldn’t miss the sappy puppy-love faces he and Parker made at each other.

Cooper asked thoughtful questions about work. I enjoyed talking to him about the brewery and the guys. I talked about the business every day when trying to sell to wholesale customers or storytelling on the brewery’s social media channels, but I couldn’t remember the last time I casually talked about my life with someone outside of work. Or, hell, outside of town. The downside of running a prominent business in the small town I grew up in was that everyone knew my life or thought they did. That made my trips to bigger cities critical for my sex life.

I sure as hell never spent time getting to know the guys I fucked beyond whatever natural conversation happened leading up to the fucking. It was never anything deep.

“Our little group is growing. Two of the four of us have paired off, and my brother moved home and has been working with us.”

Cooper frowned. “Do you not like the people your friends are with?”

I tilted my head. “They’re great. Why?”

“Because you scowled when you said it.”

I laughed. “That’s just my body’s natural response to relationships. I’m happy for them, glad they found love, yada-yada.”

“Not your thing?”

I held Cooper’s stare and gave him a meaningful look. “I’m more of a one-and-done guy.” I didn’t know if he was single or liked dudes, but in case he was game, I wouldn’t be shy about putting an offer on the table.

Cooper glanced away and then back at me before licking his lips. I caught him giving me a quick once-over, so I decided to do a test. I stretched back on the couch and let my legs fall open, then draped one arm over the back of the couch and placed my other hand high on my thigh, fingers splayed and thumb pointing to my dick.

Cooper’s attention followed where my thumb pointed. He licked his lips again, held my stare for a moment, then looked away.

Game on.

CHAPTER6

COOPER

“I’m a sucker for the high school crush ones. You know, where the nerdy kid from school comes back as a hottie. Bow chicka bow wow.” Tyler popped another piece of taffy in his mouth.

“Mm. Solid choice. I prefer the classics though. Someone from the big city heads to a small town for some corporate takeover, but instead of buying out the small business, they find love.”

Tyler shook his head but didn’t take his eyes off the Hallmark movie playing. “I don’t get that. If someone has a successful life and career in the big city, why would they make a big change and go small town?”

I stared at him. It took him a few moments to notice.

“What?”

I kept staring. He’d told me enough about his start with the brewery over the hours we’d known each other that I caught the irony there.

“Oh. You mean me.”

I laughed. “Except for the finding love thing, you’ve got some Hallmark movie tropes in your life.”

Before turning back to the movie, I shot a quick glance at his lap.Again. Ever since he’d basically air traffic controlled my attention to it, I couldn’t stop.

When I fast-forwarded through a commercial break, I heard Tyler’s stomach growl in the silence.

“Hungry?” I was such an asshole. I should’ve offered food ages ago.

“Fucking starving. Turns out cheesy popcorn isn’t filling.” He licked the orange powder from his fingertips. Each flick of his tongue triggered another dirty thought.

His honesty was refreshing. It reminded me of Danita. Of all the unexpected things about being a widower, one of the oddest was people’s reluctance to be candid with me. Something as simple as asking how someone was doing. It was like people couldn’t let themselves gripe about minor inconveniences because how could that compare to losing a spouse? I wanted to know about someone accidentally spilling their coffee and triggering a series of unfortunate events. Being the husband of someone who died shouldn’t prevent me from knowing the mundane parts of people’s lives.

“I can cook us something. Any allergies?”

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