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Rowe jumped from the cab, opened the tailgate to let the dogs free, and Noah whistled for them to follow him into the backyard. The three-hundred-plus pounds of fur and slobber paused in their brief and excited inspection of the new place to charge around the garage with Noah, their barking, and Noah’s laughter breaking the silence.
Hollis knocked on Ian’s window, his eyebrow going up, and Ian felt red creeping along his neck as he realized he’d been sitting there staring at the point in the darkness where he’d last seen Noah. He turned as Hollis opened the door.
“You okay?”
“Yeah.” Ian cleared his throat. “Just checked out for a second. Sorry we took so long to get here. We stopped for food.”
“I brought some groceries, too.” He touched Ian’s arm, almost as if he couldn’t help himself. “Again, I’m sorry he got away. Sorry you have to leave your restaurant and stay out here.”
Ian’s lips tightened. “It’s not your fault. It really isn’t. The escape route must be new. It wasn’t there when I was.” He had to look away when Hollis’s expression darkened. His stomach cramped as shame landed like a heavy tarp over his shoulders. He hated that Hollis knew about his past. Hated it.
Hollis must have picked up on some of what he was feeling. “Hey,” he whispered as he clutched Ian’s chin to turn his face back to him. “I can’t help getting upset about that. But I’m trying.”
Uncomfortable, Ian stared for a long moment. This…thing they had was just weird. They’d never even been on a date, and the connection was so intense, so strong. He thought back to the kiss in his office a few weeks before and his gaze dropped to Hollis’s mouth. He wanted that talented mouth back on him. Badly.
“You need to share where your mind just went,” Hollis murmured, stepping closer, his hand landing on Ian’s thigh.
They stared at each other so hard, Ian jumped when the dogs’ barking suddenly sounded closer as they ran from the backyard to the front yard. He shook his head, feeling the heat in his cheeks, then reached for a grocery bag to hand Hollis. “Here. Make yourself useful.” He jerked again when Hollis surprised him with a quick kiss on his lips. He blinked up at him.
“You are so damn cute,” Hollis murmured as he reached around him and hauled out another bag. “And I know exactly what you were thinking about.” He sauntered off and Ian turned and stared at the next bag, thoughts scrambled. His dick was also half-hard. When Rowe opened the door across from him and leaned inside, he bit his lip at the wide grin on his friend’s face.
“I think maybe there’s something you haven’t told me because that didn’t look like a first kiss.”
“That’s because it wasn’t.” But Ian had no intention of explaining it now, not with Hollis coming back for more grocery sacks. He watched Rowe hand two to him, then lean back into the truck.
“Come on, tell me when.” Rowe pitched his voice low.
“The night Shiver burned down.”
Rowe made a sound as if he’d been mortally wounded by Ian. “And here I thought you told me everything.” Rowe shook his head as he grabbed the last of the bags and took off.
“Why would you think that?” Ian yelled after him. He jumped out of the truck and dragged out the satchel that had been wedged near his feet. It held the dogs’ bowls. He walked into the kitchen from the garage and set the bag on the floor by the last cabinet. He had to work not to grimace when he got a good look at the kitchen.
The counter space, or lack thereof, was going to be an issue. Especially since the eat-in kitchen only held a tiny card table with four folding chairs around it. There was enough room in here to put at least a small island. The counter tops were beige Formica, the corners chipped off. Those would be replaced first if this was his place. “Whose house is this again?”
Rowe began unloading perishables into the refrigerator. “Your last bodyguard—Royce—recently inherited the place from his aunt. He plans to flip it in his spare time.”
Ian walked to the open archway and saw a rectangular living room with nothing more than a couch and television on an old, rickety-looking black stand. The ancient brown shag carpet and dark brown brick fireplace that dominated the far wall made the room appear much too dim and small. The large window on the front wall should have made the room seem brighter, but the heavy blackout curtains made it feel like a shoebox.
“First thing I’d do is knock out this wall.” He tapped the wall between the kitchen and living room. “Opening up this area would make it feel less claustrophobic. Then he could expand the kitchen a bit.”
