Page 5 of Tangled With You

“In that case, I’ll take a look at it later. Might have someideas. And in the meantime, we can paint or we can eat the pizza while it’shot. Sausage and pineapple pizza plus whiskey? Does it get better than that?”

Ollie made a show of crouching in front of the box, liftingthe lid, and making a face. “I’m thinking it does.”

“Not a fan of pineapple pizza?”

“Hey, I’m not one to turn down a free pizza. And I’ll tryanything once.”

The moment the words were out of his mouth, he wished hecould call them back. But Trevor didn’t jump on the opening, and for that,Ollie was grateful. “Let’s blow off painting,” he finally said. “I’m done withwork for the day. But I can get behind pizza on the balcony.”

Trevor grinned. “Folks, we have a winner.”

Chapter Two

While Ollie carted the whiskey, glasses, and paper towelsoutside, Trevor grabbed the pizza, then followed Ollie onto the balcony. Therewas only a small outdoor bench—metal with a cushioned seat and back—and he putthe pizza down in the middle, then looked around.

“Got a folding chair or something we can use as a table?”

“Yes. Good idea. Hold on.” Ollie put the glasses and otherthings on the bench, too, then disappeared into the house.

As soon as Trevor was alone, he exhaled, his entire bodyrelaxing. He was being a selfish ass, and he knew he shouldn’t have come by,especially not without calling first.

He had a solid friendship going with Ollie, and he didn’twant to ruin it because he was acting like a schoolboy who didn’t know how tohandle a crush.

But he did have a crush. And if he didn’t dial it back, hewas going to ruin a friendship he truly valued.

Ollie was straight. Or if he wasn’t, he wanted to be. He’dhad a lifelong crush on Nikki Stark, which everyone knew. Trevor was prettysure he’d slept with Jamie at some point. And he knew that Ollie had beenengaged to a woman named Courtney.

Straight. The guy was straight.

Even if there was a thread of queer in Ollie’s blood, he’dspent a lifetime either ignoring or suppressing it. The man was a good friend.That was all.

Trevor needed to get that through his thick head. And thesooner he did, the better.

Too bad his libido kept ignoring that very sound advice.Ollie had rung all his bells since the first time he’d met theattorney-turned-FBI-agent when their paths crossed back when poor Anne had beenkidnapped. But their friendship had truly solidified not long ago at a partythey’d both attended in honor of Jamie’s first starring role in Intercontinental.

By then, he’d been crushing hard, and it had only gottenmore intense when Ollie had pulled him in to help on an FBI money launderingsting at the Mercury Club, a gay strip bar in LA. Trevor had wormed his way inas an actual stripper, and Ollie had posed as a customer. The operation hadlasted a couple of weeks, and Trevor’d had plenty oftime to watch Ollie in the audience. To see what he thought was a spark of interestin his friend’s eyes.

Maybe he’d been imagining it, but he didn’t think so. Andthat spark had lit a fire under his own desires, raising the heat from slowburn to full-on boil.

But real or not, Trevor knew damn well that Ollie wasfighting it.

Honestly, crushing on a straight guy was a pain in the ass.

He could tell himself that forever, but it didn’t stop thetightening in his chest or the sparks of awareness that shot through him whenOllie returned carrying the folding chair. He was wearing paint-splatteredjeans and a similarly stained white tee that did nothing to hide the fact thatthe guy was in great shape. He’d heard Jamie tease him for being skinny, butTrevor didn’t see it. Maybe before Trevor knew him, but if so, the guy hadfilled out. Ollie had always looked pretty damn delicious to him, with solidpecs, strong arms, and a tight ass that he really wanted to grab.

And so much for that whole dialing it back thing.

Mostly, he liked Ollie’s face. The way he smiled. Theexpressiveness of his eyes. Those long lashes.

Fuck. Seriously, just fuck.

“Here?” Ollie said, indicating the folding chair, and ittook two solid seconds for Trevor to shift gears and figure out what he wastalking about.

“As a table. Right. Perfect.”

Ollie nodded, apparently unaware that he was stirring Trevorup from nothing more than merely existing, then he opened the chair andcentered it in front of the bench.

A few minutes later they were settled, drinks in thebuilt-in cupholders, and the pizza on the chair in front of them. Their legswere stretched out, their feet propped up on the low concrete barrier intowhich the posts for the railing were set. Now they were kicked back, eating andtalking and laughing.