Page 30 of Icing the Play

I stepped behind him and looked into the pan. “Looks good.” I’d like to have had a home cooked meal with Cooper, but I had to square things away with JJ tonight. “Hey, I’m going to talk to JJ about, uh, about if we should continue dating.”

His gaze snapped to mine. “Yeah?” He narrowed his eyes. “So, if he wants to continue, what will you say?”

Thinking, I rolled my lips. “I don’t know. I don’t want to be a dick.” Why was this so hard? I should be straight with the guy. “You know, we’ve barely kissed or anything.”

“You what?” The edges of his lips twitched up. “I figured by now you two would have fucked.” He dropped his shoulders.

“No. It’s sort of weird, I think, because we were friends last year. I don’t think either of us wants to ruin that, you know?” I probably wasn’t making any sense. With a huff, I stepped away from him.

He snatched my arm. “Myles, I’ll be here when you get back. I want to know what happens.”

Furrowing my brows, I glanced at his hand wrapped around my biceps. Why was it so important? “Yeah, sure.”

He freed me and checked a pot with steaming broccoli resting on the stove. “If you want me to cook us both dinner, just text me on your way home.” He glanced at me. “I’m happy to do it.”

“Yeah? Looks pretty healthy too.” I leaned my ass against the counter. Who knew he was so into cooking? At some point, he would battle with Ace over the kitchen.

“It is.” He flipped the chicken and turned off the burner for the broccoli. “Where are you meeting JJ?”

“This Cornish pasty place down by campus. We went there last year with our study group.” I peeked at the clock on the stove. Shit, it was five-thirty already. “Hey, I better go.” I dug my keys out of my backpack.

“Okay.” He tipped his head for a beat and twisted to face me. “Myles, I hope things go well.” He tensed his mouth.

“Yeah, thanks.” I squeezed his hand and walked out the door. This entire conversation had been a little awkward.

After parkingin the lot at the restaurant, I strolled to an overhang with a red tile roofline. The place sat hidden in a stucco plaza that looked to be from the 1980s. I opened one of a set of glass doors and stepped inside, looking around. It was quaint, with dark woods and fancy red wallpaper lining the walls. Crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling, and one side of the room held a long bar with white leather stools and Guinness taps. Did someone design this place to resemble a UK pub, but botched it?

JJ sat in a booth with black tufted leather seating, waving at me. “Myles, over here.”

As I strolled to him, he slid from the booth. “You look good.” He planted a quick kiss on my lips. “I’m having a Guinness. I mean, you have to in a place like this, right?” He glided into his seat.

I slid in across from him. One beer wouldn’t hurt my morning skate. Might even help. “I’ll have one too.” I picked up the menu and scanned over it. Cooper’s chicken had looked pretty good at the house. Maybe I could get something similar?

“What are you getting? Trying something new?” He sipped his beer.

“Yeah, I think I’ll try the rosemary chicken pasty.” I set my menu down and tented my fingers over it. I should wait until we’d ordered to bring up the conversation we needed to have.

A waiter stopped by the table and we ordered with JJ getting a Mexican-style pork and chili pasty.

“So, how’s Coop getting along at your place?” JJ placed his forearms on the table and wove his fingers together, his gaze meeting mine.

With a nod, I said, “Good. He was cooking chicken andbroccoli when I left.” I watched the waiter set my beer down, and I picked it up and drank some. The creamy, cool bubbles glided down my throat with the hint of bitter and sweet. It was a lot heavier than I was used to, but I liked it.

“Good for him. He’s probably trying to get in even better shape than he is already.” JJ smirked. “The guy’s got abs for days.”

“He does.” With a chuckle, I nodded again. Should I ask him how he felt about me? No, I had to ease into this.

JJ’s smirk fell. “Are you seeing a lot of him now that you’re living together?”

Shrugging a shoulder, I said, “I guess so. I mean, I see him every day now. He’s literally in the room next to mine.” I sipped my beer. “It’s nice having him around. Ace is cool, but he’s got Zoma, so the two of them are in their bedroom a lot.” I rolled my eyes and tutted.

“Oh, yeah.” He ran his fingers up and down his beer glass. “So, I wanted to ask you. Did anything weird happen between you two the night he got wasted?”

My brows snapped up. “Uh, weird?” Like him kissing me? “Nope, nothing weird. I just put him to bed after I got him home.”

He pursed his lips and nodded slowly. “Okay, cool.”

“JJ, we need to talk, eh.” Was now a good time? I studied him, staring at his beer.

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