Page 13 of Meet You Half Way
Jamie
“Imight have to love you and leave you in a sec, buddy,” Bill said as he knocked back the pint of beer I’d just bought him. “Got myself a hot date tonight.”
“Do you? More’s your luck then,” I chuffed, sipping on my own beer. “Is it still called a hot date when it’s with your wife of five years though?”
“Mate, when you have a toddler and a three month old at home, any time you get alone is a hot date and my woman still has me hooked something fierce,” he grinned, downing the last of the beer in his glass.
“Well, I hope you have better luck with your love life than I do,” I grinned back, forcing that smile onto my face.
“Still no sign of your hot Italiano then?” Bill asked.
“That would be a no,” I returned.
“Ah well. Guess it wasn’t meant to be then, hey?” Bill tried to sympathise, patting me on the shoulder with a heavy hand. It was all right for him, knowing he had a warm bed to sink into tonight.
“Guess not.”
It had been two weeks since my night with Mateo. Two weeks of thinking about him and wondering why I couldn’t put thatnight out of my head. I mean sure, I was not the standard hookup kind of guy. Usually I liked to get to know a guy first before I moved things into the bedroom. But I had never been more hypnotised by any man the way Mateo had hypnotised me. And I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him since.
“Right, well, don’t sit here drinking alone for too long, yeah?” Bill returned, hovering at my shoulder.
“I’ll be fine. Go meet your beautiful wife while I finish off my beer in peace,” I laughed. Bill gave my shoulder one final pat before he grinned and left. I let out a sigh, eyes wandering over this little pub Bill and I had met in for a drink after our shift.
I was back in Esperance, had kind of felt myself drawn to this town for reasons I cared not to consider too deeply. But I liked this sweet Irish pub anyway, regardless of the town’s other attractions. Paddy’s had been something of an institution in Esperance for many years and was one of the rare places that had not sold out to the tourist market the way many other establishments had done along our part of the South Coast. It had a great list of Irish whiskeys, cheerful beers on tap and old fashioned décor. Kind of unfashionable and unpretentious at the same time and something about this place had always felt like home.
I was just about to call it a night and head home to my apartment two towns over in Sorrento when I felt a fresh breeze of air followed by that intoxicating scent I had inhaled before. Warm, spicy, vanilla-cocoa.
I glanced up at the entrance, eyes widening when Mateo entered the room, his two friends at his side who were sharing a laugh together. I couldn’t quite remember his friends’ names but my eyes stuck on Mateo, memories filling in all the gaps in my mind that had somehow chosen to diminish his perfections. Because he was clearly not of this world and minds were really adept at filling in gaps and making him slightly more ordinary.
He was not ordinary. Not in any sense of the word.
He was in a black leather jacket, not the biker kind, but the sort you’d expect to see on a runway model which was not a bad description of his entire outfit. He wore light blue jeans and a plum coloured top that was loose around his neck, showing off that olive skin tone. That gold chain still hung around his neck. The one I had last seen as he lay underneath me while I ploughed his sweet body.
My mouth was as dry as the inland Australian desert before he finally looked up and our eyes connected. Mateo’s steps faltered and I relished the idea that I had been the cause of that. His friends must have noticed me at the same time but I only had eyes for Mateo. The roommate, Rob, I think, led the way, kind of beelining towards me and forcing Mateo to follow. I would try to remember to give Rob some kind of gift basket for that if I could get my mind into gear.
“Jamie! Our favourite paramedic,” Rob gushed, moving right up beside me at the bar. Despite Mateo’s runway wardrobe, his other two friends were much more casually dressed, both in board shorts and surf tees like most of the guys wore around these parts.
“Nice to see you again,” I said. “Rob, right?”
“Good memory. It’s been a few weeks since I last saw you sneaking out of our house in the wee hours,” Rob grinned. Mateo’s face paled and he visibly baulked at Rob’s statement, leaving me to wonder what his reaction was about. Did he regret our night together?
“Always fun doing the walk of shame,” I grimaced.
“It’s great you’re here actually,” Rob continued smoothly, “because we have a serious pool tournament to continue and could do with a fourth player. If you’re game.”
My eyes flicked to Mateo, nothing in his body language encouraging me to agree. I hesitated. I didn’t want to forceanything with a guy who had no interest in seeing me again. That wasn’t me. If someone told me no that was always good enough for me.
I was about to politely decline when Mateo looked up at me, those inky eyes almost pleading with me to stay. What was that about? I seriously could not read this guy. So hot one minute and cold as ice the next.
“I don’t know,” I hedged, deciding to force Mateo’s hand. “What do you think, Mateo?”
“Of course Mateo wants you to play,” Rob cut in, arm trailing over my shoulders. “He is very shy though and sometimes needs a bit of a push.”
“Seriously, Rob,” Mateo muttered under his breath while the third friend hid a laugh. Mateo shot him a look and he immediately straightened up.
“I’ll stay if Mateo wants me to,” I returned. Mateo’s eyes lifted to me again and I almost liquified on the spot. Nope, I had to get my head into gear and start thinking straight around him or else I was going to fall into his trap again very quickly.
“Yeah, sure,” he agreed with a quick nod. “That would be great.”
