Page 43 of Brews & Bartenders

“Sorry, I didn’t really want to sit in the car anymore, and figured I’d sit on one of the porch chairs.” I can see the shadow of his head look around. “You should really put a light out here.”

Sighing, I set the bottle of wine on the table, and search the porch for the corkscrew. Bringing this out here would be useless without it. “I have one, but bugs fly around it and I don’t like being hit in the face with them when I come out.”

“That’s valid.” He agrees and bends down. “Looking for this?”

“Yep.” I grab it out of his hand and sit in the chair next to him. Pulling the wine bottle into my lap, I open it with the corkscrew and set those on the table. Without missing a beat, I drink straight from the bottle.

“That kind of day, huh?” He hands me something and it’s cold when I wrap my hand around it.

“You have no idea.” I pull the container closer to my face and a small smile slip through when I realize it’s ice cream. With all the chaos in my life, and my lack of opening up, he continues going out of his way to make things easier for me.

He grabs the bottle of wine from my hand, sets it on the table, and gives me a spoon. “You know you can talk to me, right? No matter what you have going on, you aren’t going to scare me away from anything. Even if it includes your pendejo ex.”

I giggle because even though I don’t speak Spanish, I know what that word means, and it’s appropriate on so many levels. “Are you sure? Because this might.”

“I have two teenage sisters, and nothing that has come out of their mouths has frightened me, though it probably should.”

“That only means you are a good big brother.”

“What happened?”

I fill him in on Nathan coming to the shop and acting like an entitled ass. Taking ice cream and wine breaks to give me breaks. Then I hit him with the whammy.

“He came over to me and David after practice. I assumed it was to tell him bye, but no. He asked David what he thought about you.” I look over at Carlos and his mouth is wide open, just as shocked as I was when I heard it. “If you could have seen the look on David’s face. It was like he felt betrayed because I share so many things with him, but I hadn’t shared you, yet. But the only reason I didn’t is because I didn’t know what this is. Not any official sense.”

Carlos is looking at the ground. No doubt gathering his thoughts. The crickets chirping beneath the halfmoon our symphony. The melancholy feel of it definitely fits my mood.

I don’t know whether I’m winning or losing when it comes to life lately. Things were simpler when David was the sole focus of my attention, but as much as I try to fight feeling an emotion toward Carlos, I can’t help it. There’s a void in my life, and he’s filling the gap perfectly.

“Do you want me to meet David?”

Do I? I mean obviously I need to introduce them after tonight. “When we first came up with this whole thing…no, I didn’t. What was the point in him meeting someone that wouldn’t be sticking around?”

“What about now?” Even though I can only see his outline, I know his full focus is on me.

“Now…yes, I think so. Not only because of what happened tonight. But I don’t think the word fake really applies to us anymore. Not after what happened in my living room the other night, and definitely not with how I’m starting to feel about you.”

“And how is that?” He sets his ice cream on the table, and I no longer hear the crickets. It’s as if the universe is holding its breath, waiting for my answer.

“I can’t stop thinking about you. My mom used to be the first person I talked to every day, other than David, and now, it’s you. And it’s not just about the sex, even though that was mind-blowing and I hope we do that again soon. You actually care about me.”

I set my ice cream next to his on the table and grab the wine bottle, taking another swig for liquid courage. “Like tonight. I pretty much hung up on you earlier because I couldn’t handle myself, and you showed up with ice cream and a listening ear. Who does that?”

“Normal guys who aren’t assholes?”

I go on as if I didn’t hear him. “And the other night, I didn’t feel like going out for our date, and you made the perfect spread, cleaned up the mess I made, and made everything feel perfect. You’re not some machine program inside a body made to fulfill a woman’s dream, are you?”

He chuckles, “I’ll have to double check with my mom, but no, I don’t think so.”

“Are you sure? Because there is no way a person is this caring or amazing after a few first dates. Especially with all the drama that keeps coming up in my life.”

I’m not sure when he stood up, but he’s standing in front of me. He places his hands on either said of my face to keep my attention on him. “Caroline, stop.”

He presses his lips to mine and I melt into him. His tongue slides across the seam of my lips, asking for entrance and I allow it. This is nothing like the frantic kisses we shared over the weekend. The exploration is slow, sensual, and he’s taking his time. If this is how he plans on stopping my tirades in the future, I’m completely okay with it.

I reach around him to set the bottle on the table, almost missing it, before wrapping my arms around him. He backs up until he hits the chair and sits down, pulling me on top of him. My knees slide on either side of him, and he moves his hands to my ass to keep me from sliding backward.

The wine is working its way through my body, and I might be slightly drunk, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know what I’m doing. The other night he showed me I can take what I want, and it was freeing. My hips move over him, and his grip tightens.

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