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My mouth waters all over again, preparing itself for that sweet moment when the hot melty cheese hits my tongue.
I take one last look around the room that will be my new home for... well, who knows how long, and follow Drake into the kitchen. He already has two big boxes of pizza open on the table, one that’s loaded up with meat and veggies and then one with...
“Is that sausage and pineapple?” I ask. Surely, this man did not ruin a perfectly good pizza by adding fruit to the top.
“And onion. Everyone thinks ham and pineapple belong together, but I’m here to tell you that Italian sausage is where it’s at.” He grabs a slice and shoves it straight into his mouth, leaving it dangling there while he hands me a plate.
I roll my eyes but thank him, taking one slice of the supreme pizza and even reaching out to try one of the Italian/Hawaiian blend, saying a silent prayer that I won’t regret my decision.
While Drake grabs a plate of his own, I eye the pizza in front of me, finally deciding to give his choice a shot first.
“Oh my gosh!” I say after swallowing a bite of the unique concoction. The sweet pineapple pairs perfectly with the spicy sausage. If heaven was a flavor, it would be this.
“It’s like my taste buds are all on fire at once,” I say.
“Is that a good thing?” He’s grinning over at me, devouring his own pizza across the table.
“Um, yeah!”
He laughs at my response, then lets out a sharp whistle. Within moments, Kevin’s large body fills the room. Drake reaches into one of the pizza boxes and pulls out a couple of slices before walking them over to a dog bowl on the ground.
Kevin practically gallops to the bowl, inhales the pizza, and walks right back out of the room in the amount of time it takes me to finish just a bite.
“Back to Olivia,” I finally say, finishing off my first piece of pizza and diving into my second.
He quirks one eyebrow high on his forehead and hums softly.
“Do you guys still talk?” I ask him. She’s told me they don’t, but maybe if I pretend to know nothing, he’ll share more than what I’ve been able to pull out of her over the past few months.
“We’ve texted each other a few times, but it died off. We’re living in separate worlds. There just wasn’t much to say.”
“You both seemed really into each other.”
He cocks his head to the side and stares at me for a second before leaning forward on the table. “Olivia’s hard to pin down. You look at her, expecting her to be a certain person, but what you end up getting is entirely different.”
I nod along, knowing exactly what he means. Sometimes, Olivia can be standoffish. She’s beautiful and outgoing, sure, but the second you cross a line into something she either doesn’t want to talk about or something she doesn’t want to do, she shuts down.
Having known her for so many years, I know how to avoid those situations and bring her back out of her shell when she starts to retreat. I also know how big her heart really is, even if she is hesitant to show it to strangers.
“We spent that entire first night talking,” he says. “I don’t even remember what all about. But it was just comfortable. It felt good.” He leans back in his chair and stares off into the room. “Some people just feel like home, you know? That’s how Chase and Emily have always felt, and for some reason, that’s how Olivia felt too.”
His cheeks are tinged a light pink, and he shifts in his seat, maybe realizing the significance of what he just said. I’m surprised by his words. I sure as hell wasn’t expecting such a genuine and honest response.
“But then we had to go back to reality.” Slowly, his eyes shift to mine, and he shrugs his shoulders, dismissing the whole thing. “Don’t you dare tell anyone about this conversation. I have a reputation to uphold,” he says.
And just like that, he’s snapped out of his serious mood and right back into the fun-loving guy he shows the world.
“Oh no, Drake has feelings,” I joke, and he chuckles.
“It’s just that I’m with Rachel. I probably shouldn’t be talking about another woman so intimately. Damn, I feel like a dick now.”
I want to choose my next words carefully, but I’m tired so my brain tells me to screw decorum and just tell him like it is. “I get that, but a man shouldn’t light up when he’s talking about a near stranger and then look sad when he talks about his girlfriend.”
“Fuck, I know,” he says, rubbing his hand over his face. “It’s just so hard! Rachel wants me to fit into this perfect mold, and she wants our relationship to follow her perfect timeline. She’s pissed I haven’t proposed yet. And once that argument is settled, it’s why can’t I at least move in with her? Why can’t I get a different career? Why can’t I leave Gamble Springs? Once we’ve hit all those talking points, we’re fine for a while, and then it just circles back around.”
“Okay, so why can’t you do any of those things?” I ask. “I’m not saying you should. I’m just asking why you don’t want to.”
“Well, I haven’t necessarily said no about moving. But Gamble Springs is home. My mom is here—Willow, Chase. And when Emily...” He clears his throat and lowers his voice. “When Emily is no longer here, they’re going to need me. I’m going to need them.”
