Page 52 of Brews & Bartenders

“I’m positive someone out there does.” I hold out his ice cream cone putting it close enough to his mouth that he can take a bite without his eyes leaving the road. “In fact, David is rather fond of soft serve.”

“Thanks,” he mutters around his bite. “Fine, I’ll quit bagging on soft serve.”

Taking another bite of my ice cream, I watch the road. My foot taps to the beat of the music coming through the speakers. It’s not on beat in the slightest, but I hope he doesn’t notice the nerves for what they are. I’m about to enter his domain. He’s been in mine, and I felt comfortable because we were in my space. Now…I don’t know what to expect.

I lift the ice cream cone to him again, but he shakes his head. “We’re almost there.”

Another block down and he pulls into a driveway. The house looks average size from the outside. Not too big or small. “Is this it?”

“Yep.” He turns off the car, gets out, and comes around to my side of the car, opening the door. “Let me take that.”

He grabs his cone out of my hand and helps me out of the car. I stand, grab my purse and move out of the way of the door before closing it behind me. I fidget with the bottom of my dress, pulling it down until it covers almost my entire thigh.

Carlos leads me to the door, and we’re there a few minutes as he finds the key he’s looking for. I take a bite of my ice cream while waiting. I don’t know what else to do. It’s one of those moments where you don’t know what to do with your hands.

Finally, he opens the door and pushes it wide before motioning me inside. “Welcome to my humble abode.”

He flicks a light switch on, and I take in the front room. The door opens straight into the living room. The kitchen is at the back, and there’s a short hallway that veers off to the right. I’m assuming that’s where the bedroom is located. Not that I’m thinking about going to the bedroom. Well, not right now anyway.

The thing that surprises me are all the pictures hanging on the walls. I walk further into the living room and my eyes find the collage of frames behind the couch. I see his mom and sisters. There’s also a man in a few of them. I can only guess that is his dad, despite how little he talks about him. “Wow, I bet your sisters feel famous with the number of photos you have of them.”

“Pictures are pretty much my only decoration. Every time I felt like I wasn’t going anywhere, looking at them gave me strength.” He closes the door and walks over to me. “Plus, this is the only way I can look at them without them insulting me about something.”

“They aren't that bad.” I take another bite of my ice cream, trying to finish it before it melts more than it has.

“That's because you don't know them,” he laughs, “last weekend was them on good behavior. They're ten times worse when nobody's watching.”

“I’m not sure how I feel about that.” I lean closer to the wall to study the pictures of him and his sisters as they've grown up. Their dad with them until about five years ago, from what I can guess. “Does that mean they will start picking on me as much as they do you when they are comfortable around me?”

He shakes his head, “Doubt it. They like you. You and David have quickly become their favorites.”

“Good to know.” I finish my ice cream and continue my perusal of his house. Other than the pictures there isn't a lot of decoration. The only thing visible are a few books on a shelf. Curiosity gets the best of me and I bend down to see what he’s been reading. “So, you like dragons?”

“More like fantasy in general, but yes, dragons for the most part. I mean, who wouldn't want a freaking dragon? They're badass. They breathe fire and destroy lands.”

“Yes, dragons are pretty cool. The ending to that show sucked, though.”

“Wait, you watch the show?” I turn to see what exactly his facial expression is and why he'd be surprised I watch it. And I'm right his eyebrows are raised and his mouth is wide open.

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“I don't know. You have witch books, and watch vampire stuff. So, I kind of assumed that was your thing.”

I cross my arms over my chest and glare at him. “I can be multifaceted. Just because I like vampires, doesn't mean I don't like dragons or dire wolves or anything like that.”

“Okay.” He's smart not to say anything else. “I take back what I said earlier. As soon as my sisters find out you're into fantasy stuff. They're going to pick on you, too.”

“They can bring it. I’m not ashamed of my fandoms.” I'm not exactly sure what to do from here, though. He also isn't offering any sort of direction. “So, what do we do now?”

“Well, I could show you the bedroom. Or, we can watch a movie.” He looks down at the ground as if the bedroom comment wasn't supposed to come out.

Gotta love when those inside thoughts become outside thoughts. “I think I like the bedroom idea.” I clasp my hands behind my back and sway back and forth on my feet. Honestly, I'm willing to do anything to get out of these damn heels.

“Are you sure?”

He lifts his head and looks at me. “Let's not pretend that's not where we're going to end up anyway.”

“Well, I mean, I kind of hoped, but I didn't want to presume.”

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