Page 8 of Tangled With You

Ollie opened his mouth to tell Trevor to wait—that he wasthe ass, not the other way around. But Trevor was already gone, and Ollie wasleft to peel the pizza off his pants while mentally kicking himself firmly inthe ass for being such a, well, ass.

All too soon, Trevor was back with the paper towels, whichhe held out for Ollie to take while he remained standing, awkwardly shiftingfrom foot to foot as Ollie started to mop up the cheese, tomato sauce, andpineapple bits.

“Right. Yeah, so, I should probably go,” Trevor said.

“No, stay,” Ollie said, the words tumbling out. “It’s stillearly, and if you go, I’m stuck with not only pizza but cookies. I mean, how canyou go without having at least one cookie with the whiskey?”

Trevor hesitated, his face a study of indecision. “It’s anice offer, but I think we both know I should get out of here. Maybe tomorrowwe can talk. But—oh, hell. I really am sorry. I didn’t mean to freak you out,and I wasn’t—”

“Dammit, Trev, do you think I’m an idiot?” The words tumbledout without Ollie thinking about them, and he wasn’t sure he could stop themeven if he tried. “I didn’t freak because I thought you were making a move. Ifreaked because I wanted you to.”

Chapter Three

“Oh.” The word hung in the air as Trevor tried to decidewhat to make of that very bold—very unexpected—statement. “I’m not sure what todo with that,” he admitted. Any other guy and he’d have him naked by now, buthe’d never fallen for a straight guy before. Or mostly straight. Or a guy whothought of himself as straight.

“Do we have to do anything with it?”

“No,” Trevor said, hoping he didn’t sound disappointed. Formonths, he’d wanted exactly this—for Ollie to admit that there was anattraction between them. For him to acknowledge—to both himself and Trevor—thathe wanted to do something about that.

“Right,” Ollie continued. “It’s just, you know, my mind isspinning.” He waved his hand in the general vicinity of his head. “I mean, I’mnot gay, so why would we?”

Because you’re curious. Because you’re attracted to me.Because you want this as much as I do.

He didn’t say any of that. Instead, he just shrugged,flashed a cocky grin, and said, “I thought you were the guy who’d try anythingonce.”

To his relief, the statement didn’t freak Ollie out. On thecontrary, he chuckled, his entire body seeming to release the tension that hadbeen coming off him in waves. “So now you’re a pineapple?” Ollie teased.

“Jerk,” Trevor said, dropping back down onto the settee,then reaching for his glass and downing the rest of his whiskey in one swallow.

“Seriously,” Ollie said, lifting his own glass and swirlingthe now-dwindling ice cube, “I—honestly, I don’t know. But the bottom line isthat you’re a good friend. I don’t want to screw that up. Did I?”

“Not even close. And for the record, I don’t want to screwthat up either.”

“So we rewind?”

“Full stop rewind. Absolutely.”

“All right. Good.” He motioned to his pants. “I think I’mgoing to change into something less cheesy. I’ve got the TV set up in the otherroom. You up for watching a movie?”

Trevor leaned back, walking the tightrope of how much hecould tease his friend under the current circumstances. “The other room? Didn’tyou tell me yesterday the only other finished rooms are the kitchen and yourbedroom?”

“Yeah. It’s in the bedroom. Streamers all ready to go.”

“Come on, man. Are you trying to torture me?”

Ollie shot him a sideways grin that just about meltedTrevor. “Damn right I am.”

And just like that, the tension eased. “You can be such aprick McKee. I swear, I don’t know why I keep you around.”

Ollie shrugged, then shoved his hands in his pockets, hiseyes not quite meeting Trevor’s. “Maybe you like the way my ass looks injeans.”

Trevor forced himself not to laugh. “Well, yeah, there’sthat.”

Ollie looked up, they shared a grin, and the last of theinvisible band around Trevor’s chest dissolved. It felt good to be back tonormal.

“You mentioned something about a whiskey pairing withcookies,” Trevor reminded him.

“Trust me. That’s not something I’d forget. You take thebottle back. I’ll go get some more ice and the cookies.”