Page 22 of Doing Life

“Longhorns. Hook ‘em.”

Of course. Sloan chuckled. He was a Colorado man. He couldn’t bring himself to root for UNM. “Figures. Thanks for bringing him, man.” He grinned, waiting for Dan to head before he closed the door. “Come on and sit. Thanks for the goodies.”

“Sure. Just point me and shoot me.” Lance seemed a little unsure about what he was supposed to do now.

“No problem.” He’d read about this online. “Do you want to take my elbow, and I’ll take you over? It’s real simple. There’s a recliner and a couch. The recliner’s about four or five steps to your left, and then the couch is in an L-shape right in front of that.”

“I’ll take the couch, thanks.” Lance reached out with his free hand and took his arm.

The touch was electric, literally sending static shocks up his arm, and his entire body shivered, goose flesh jumping over his skin.

“Come on then, let’s do this.” Sloan walked Lance over to the sofa and helped him sit.

The couch was brown leather and super normal—nothing, no amount of spilling or anything could harm it.

“Is it all right with you if I take Abby’s harness off? I mean, just let her be off work for a minute.”

“Of course! I got her a water bowl, and I checked the fence so she can go in and out the back door at will.”

Lance grinned for him, the expression natural and honest enough that he wanted to cheer. “Oh, rock on. That’s cool. Thanks.”

Lance got Abby’s harness off, and Sloan showed her the back door, the water dish before he dished up the chips and guac and salsa. “You want a Coke? A beer?”

“I’ll take a beer.”

He grabbed two Coronas, putting wedges in the mouths of the bottles. “Here you go—would you like a plate for the chips and stuff or?—”

“Do you have a stinky candle?” Lance asked, sniffing.

His cheeks heated. “Yeah. It’s some kind of boy smell.”

Lance tilted his head. “Like Axe body spray?”

“I was thinking more, you know, sweat and spray starch.”

Lance grinned at him. “Now, that’s cowboy smell. This does not smell like that.”

Okay, now he was curious. “What does it smell like?”

“Black pepper and leather.”

“Are you sure? Who would make a candle that was black pepper and leather?”

One blond eyebrow raised. “You bought it. What does the label say it smells like? It has to say, right?”

How the hell did Sloan know? He had never bought a stinky candle in his entire life. He’d bought this from the grocery store because some lady told him it was good and would be nice if he was having a date. “I’ll go look.”

Sure enough, right there on the label under the nameGentlemen’s Enchantment, it saidscents of leather and black pepper. Okay, that was creepy. “You’re totally right. Leather and black pepper.”

“Excellent, let’s blow it out before we eat, because that is not a food smell.”

“Hey, black pepper is a food smell!” He was having a ball. They were having a conversation about nothing in his house—or his rental house wasn’t his real house, but they were having a conversation together, and laughing.

Stinky candle for the win.

“Not with leather and undertones of musk.”

Sloan chuckled. “Gotcha. Okay. I’ll blow it out.” He puffed out some air on the candle and went out, leaving that weird burning smell coming from it for a moment.

---