Page 75 of Perfect Storm
Which meant Levi didn’t see Aidan until they met up late in the afternoon at the car for their drive back to the condo.
“Hey,” Aidan said, patting him on the shoulder. Levi had noticed that he was slowly becoming a little more touchy-feely. Like it took him some time to warm up to the idea of casual touches. And knowing what he knew about Aidan, that wasn’t really much of a surprise.
“Hey, bro,” Levi said, grinning. Specifically hoping that maybe dropping Aidan’s least favorite nickname might rile him up enough to guarantee more orgasms at home.
Aidan did roll his eyes. “You keep thinking that’s gonna piss me off, huh?”
“Not even,” Levi said. It was probably good Aidan hadn’t figured out yet that Levi was doing it on purpose. That teasing Aidan had its own reward system built in.
“I was thinking,” Aidan said as he slid into the driver’s seat, “we could grab some dinner on the way home.”
It was a very casual invitation. They were both still in shorts and T-shirts. Levi decided after a fraught half second that it wasn’t a date. Nothing about this screamed date, the least ofwhich was Aidan’s own entirely relaxed expression. It didn’t mean anything. Just dinner.
And maybe if Levi got him worked up enough during dinner, orgasmsafter.
“Sure, that sounds like a plan,” Levi said. “Where’re you thinking?”
“Oh, I got a place.” Aidan shot him a sideways look, which might have been normal for everyone else but was downright playful for Aidan.
“You do?” Levi would teach this guy to flirt with him if it killed him in the process.
“Dude, I’ve lived here for ten years. Yeah, I’ve got a place.”
It turned out that he did.
Levi was still trying to get his bearings in Toronto—he was lucky that up until now, he’d had no reason to take his car out of the parking space in the condo’s garage—but he was getting more familiar with the drive to and from the practice facility just outside of downtown. He noticed when, about ten minutes away from the condo, Aidan took an exit off the freeway and, after winding through some residential neighborhoods, pulled down a side street and parked.
The pizza parlor was small, and while not on the trendiest-looking street in the world, the front window was sparkling clean, framed in red-and-white checked curtains.
Moretti’s,the gold script on the door declared.
“You eat pizza?” Levi joked as Aidan led him inside the restaurant. It smelled incredible—the richness of tomato and roasted garlic, cut through with the acidic freshness of herbs.
“On special occasions,” Aidan said, the corner of his mouth tilting up.
And Levi had to suddenly wonder if thiswasa date, and somehow he’d missed all the signs. Of course Aidan wouldn’t date like anyone normal. Normally Levi liked that Aidan didn’tgo about anything in a remotely standard way, but not being sure of where exactly they stood made him nervous.
They’d said they’d have sex. They’d had sex. What was next? Obviously more sex, and Levi had assumed they’d keep hanging out as friends, like they had been, but now that the line was crossed, everything felt murky and gray.
The restaurant was cute but simple. Straightforward. Half a dozen tables, all covered in the same red-and-white check as the curtains, shakers of parmesan and red pepper flakes on the tables, a wine rack on one side, the scuffed wood making it clear it was actually used and not just here for decoration.
“Yo, Aidan’s here,” a voice from the back called out as Aidan walked them deeper in. No Italian accent—in fact, they didn’t even sound particularly Canadian, either. American, too, if Levi had to guess.
“Hey,” Aidan called back. “I’m gonna grab a table.” It was still early—barely five—and only one of the six tables was occupied, by an older couple who didn’t seem to recognize Aidan.
Aidan picked a table towards the back and sat with his own back towards the rest of the room. Not surprising.
Even at the end of his tenure in Seattle, Levi hadn’t been very easily recognized on the street. He’d understood that was a piece of luck, because he knew how often Landry—and now Riley—were stopped by fans and non-fans alike.
Levi sat down opposite. “So what’s the scoop?” he asked.
Aidan regarded him steadily, the look in his blue eyes easy and not too serious for once. “What do you mean?”
“I mean,” Levi waved around the room, “what’s the deal with this place? Not the kind of dinner spot I’d imagine Aidan Flynn eats at.”
“Exactly,” Aidan said wryly. “But no, it’s seriously the best pizza in town, and even better, the guy who runs it is chill. Myold backup used to come here all the time and got me coming here too.”
A tall dark-haired man with a gorgeous face sauntered over, white T-shirt clinging to pecs and biceps and, ignoring Aidan, gave Levi an up-and-down look. “Hey, who’s this?” he asked.
