Page 16 of Cold

He frowned. "Oh. Okay." Romare stared at the packs. "I just don't know," he muttered to himself. "What do I like? I don't know what I like."

My heart squeezed. He'd been a captive for so long he didn't even know what he liked anymore? Red hot anger shot through me. I snatched the packs of underwear from him and went with the briefs. As appealing as the thought of panties was, if I saw Romare in that I'd tumble right off the edge of the cliff I was standing on.

Romare looked up at me and his eyes brightened. "Thank you," he said.

I grunted and he ran off down the hall to slip a pair on. I hadn't missed the tears that lined his eyes as if he was ready to start crying at any minute. Better to help him. If I didn't, I'd be dealing with tears and I don't have time for that.

Tom pushed an arm around mine. He gazed up at me, and when I growled back at him, the smile only grew.

"You like him."

I sneered. "You've lost your damn mind."

He chuckled. "No, no, no. You like him, I can see it as clear as day. The way you pine after him is so adorable," he purred.

I shook Tom off. "There's no pining, and if you keep bothering me, I'll drop you down a well."

"Kinky!" He laughed before he walked over to a suitcase and unzipped it. "You can lie to yourself all you want, but I know for a fact I'm right. I get a sense about these things."

"No, you're too damn nosey is what you are," I snapped.

He chuckled. "Cranky, cranky. You should really see about getting your dick sucked. I've heard it helps with the grumpies."

I wanted to strangle Tom. Every damn time I thought about him, I wanted to kill him, but I never did. The truth was that Tom was one of my oldest friends. He wasn't afraid of me, didn't give a damn what I had to say, and never judged my decisions. Tom was one of the good ones.

Even if he was a pervert and a pain in my ass.

"You should snap up that gorgeous little thing while you can," Tom said as he began to lay out outfits. "I mean the size difference between you two alone is like something out of a hot porno."

I groaned so hard the vibrations rattled through my chest. "You're testing my last bit of patience."

"Already?" Tom asked. "Oh just you wait. There's a lot more of that to come."

He winked at me and I pinched the bridge of my nose. Why is everyone around me insane? If it wasn't my nephews, it was Nic telling me to get laid. And they were all completely out of line. I didn't need sex. What I needed was peace.

"I'm ready."

Romare walked down the hallway with an arm wrapped around his stomach. Without my shirt on, I could see just how slender he was. And pale. Every inch of his skin was creamy white and his hair stood out, that brown-ish red prominent against his flesh. I could count every single freckle on his face, but they didn't stop there. They decorated his shoulders as well, and when he walked past me, I noticed a spattering of them across the top of his back.

Damn.

"Pick your jaw up, Vito." Tom grinned.

I snapped my mouth shut and glared at Tom. He chuckled and held up the first outfit to Romare.

"Let's see how you look in this. And don't worry, it gets more risque from here."

I groaned. This is going to be a long day.

* * *

Romare picked at his food. But it wasn't like the first time I'd yelled at him about it. This time he stared off, his mind somewhere else as he shoved fries into his mouth one by one. I put down my mug.

"I thought you would be happy after getting new clothes."

He gazed down at the red shorts and white t-shirt and nodded. "I like them. Thank you."

When he went right back to picking at his food, I stared at him. He was being robotic, every word carefully chosen.

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