"That's what everyone says as soon as they get their hands on Barney," Wyatt said then he stepped closer to Sam. "I see how you're looking at that dog. Don't steal him."
At Wyatt's closeness and his sudden whisper in his ear, Sam held his breath. He only started breathing again when Wyatt stepped away. Sam caught himself grinning at him kind of stupidly.
After Brian, he didn't think he would like having a man get that close especially all of a sudden like that. But somehow Wyatt didn't set off any alarms. If he could pull that off, he might be the most dangerous man alive. That's what Sam was thinking as he watched him walk into Monty's Grocery with the boys. Sam was also admiring his broad shoulders, strong back and his ass in jeans.
Once Wyatt and the boys were out of sight, Sam looked down at Barney. "There's no harm in admiring a good-looking guy," he said to the dog. Barney looked up at him briefly perhaps a bit skeptical of Sam's claim, then he went back to sniffing the pavement.
Barney was such a sweet dog. He explored, but kept glancing toward the store expectantly, a lot like Sam was doing. The two of them were just up the street when he barked happily as Wyatt and the boys emerged from the door of the grocery store.
The boys each carried two bags. When they spotted Sam and Barney, they ran over to them. Once they got close, Barney's nose went into action. He had to sniff all the bags and tried to climb inside one of them.
"There must be something really good in there," Sam said as he encouraged Barney to back off a little.
"Lunch meat probably," Wyatt said and lifted the bag Barney was so interested in so he couldn't get to it. He then turned his blue eyes on Sam. "Thanks for watching Barney. I hope he wasn't a handful."
"Oh no, he was no trouble," Sam said.
"We got a bunch of different iced teas. Grab yourself whichever kind you like as a small way of saying thank you," Wyatt told him and held out one of the bags he was carrying.
"You don't have to do that," Sam said.
"Sure we do. We like to show our appreciation, right boys?" Wyatt said but the boys weren't sure what he meant. Wyatt turned back to Sam and assured him, "They agree. With you watching that little fuzz ball, we got some shopping done. That's a big help."
"Any time," Sam said as Wyatt handed him a bottle of green iced tea.
"We got a lot of good stuff," Riley said and showed Sam what he had in the bag he was carrying.
"Did you?" Sam said but then he frowned. He turned to Wyatt. "You didn't exactly load up on healthy stuff." He saw a lot of frozen meals in there.
"We bought apple sauce," Wyatt told him.
"I like apple sauce," Riley said.
"And we already have tons of tomatoes. There's a tomato and herb garden, and I don't have a clue what to do with any of that stuff," Wyatt said like tomatoes presented some huge challenge.
"Is eating them out of the question?" Sam asked.
"I'd gladly eat them. Turning them into something edible is the problem. I have no kitchen skills," Wyatt told him.
"You can just slice the tomatoes and throw some dressing on them," Sam said but Wyatt grimaced like even something as simple as that was beyond him. "So do you always eat out?" He could easily imagine that Wyatt must have quite a busy social life and didn't need to ever cook for himself.
"Or order in. Why fumble my way around the kitchen trying to cook when everyone else can do it better than I can? But for the sake of the boys, I would like to learn," Wyatt said with a sigh.
"I can give you lessons," Sam said then bit his lip. Why was he so eager? He was kicking himself for it, but Wyatt smiled at him.
"That would be great. If you're sure," Wyatt said.
"I am," Sam said, eager again despite himself. Any time Wyatt smiled, it completely scrambled his brain.
"Then we'd love it, right boys?" he said. "Whenever you want to come over is good for us. Tonight, tomorrow nigh? But maybe you have to work."
"I have tomorrow night free. I have the evening shift off," Sam said and started to realize this might actually be happening.
"That's great," Wyatt said. He shifted the bags he was carrying and got his phone out. "I'll give you my number, and I'll buy anything you need, just text me a list."
"I could start with what's in your garden," Sam said. Having seen some of his shopping, he didn't want to leave it up to Wyatt. He then noticed that the boys were looking up at them like they were trying to figure out what was going on. "What's in the garden, boys?"
"Tomatoes," Riley said.
