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ChapterSeven

Mateo

The afternoon crowd had dwindled to a few regulars, a couple in the corner checking out a map on an iPad, and a few football players from Great H. I didn’t advertise that I was once one of them. I didn’t have to. My bigmouth cousin usually did the honors.

“You know who this guy is?” Vanni paused in the middle of ringing up Sal’s special to hike his thumb in my direction. “Former award-winning QB for you guys. He took Great H to the championship three years in a row for the first time in like…forty-five years. And they won. Did you say extra cheese?”

“Uh…yes, sir.” The fresh-faced kid politely smiled the way I probably had when introduced to someone who’d been relevant while I was in fourth grade and my biggest worry had been beating my cousins’ scores at whatever video game we’d been obsessed with at the time.

I wasn’t proud to admit that I’d gone through a period of feeling ashamed that I hadn’t achieved more after college. You might say I was a work in progress in that area, and yeah, Rob’s presence had certainly ignited those old feelings of inadequacy, but I was getting better at letting go of the past.

Football wasn’t my life anymore and hadn’t been for years. That was okay. The trick was to figure out if running this pizza parlor was going to be enough for me.

But I’d save my heavier thoughts for after business hours. In the meantime, I fist-bumped the kid and wished him good luck at the game this weekend.

Vanni set the new order on the rack, raising his brows in question. “You goin’ to the game?”

“Friday night? No, I’m working, genius.” I filled drinks from the soda machine and set them on the counter.

“Oh, well…one of us could cover for you if you want to go,” he offered.

“Thanks, but?—”

“Yeah, yeah…another time,” Vanni intercepted, quickly changing the topic. “I hear we’re doing the bake-off with the bagel folks.”

“No one agreed to a bake-off.”

“Amber said you did, and—hey, what do you know? Here they come.”

I turned to the entrance just as Amber swept into the pizzeria with a bemused Rob trailing in her wake. Damn it, he was hot. Twinkly eyes, broad chest, and muscles so thick his shirt struggled to contain them.

Less than twenty-four hours ago, I’d sucked him off, and my dick had definitely put the experience into the “good memory” box. I hoped my apron hid the swell behind my zipper—if not, this was going to be embarrassing.

“Oh, good! You’re all here,” Amber called in greeting.

“Speak of the devil.” My cousin waved to the newcomers. “Yo, it’s the neighbors. How’s it going in bagel land?”

“Excellent! Listen, I need an answer today about the bake-off. I have the reporter lined up to do the interview, and I’ve created some titillating social media posts to get everyone fired up. Here. Check these out.” Amber passed an iPad across the counter.

I scrolled through her slogans and reluctantly had to admit…it wasn’t terrible.Do you bagel or pizza? Bagel me this…or pizza me that. Bagels, morning, noon, and night. Can pizza do that?

“These are good,” I said.

“Thank you! Mrs. Malveney is so excited, it isn’t even funny. This could be a gigantic fund raiser for the football program and?—”

“Both of our shops,” I finished. Christ, I’d heard Amber’s spiel so many times, I could have recited it myself. “We know, we know.”

“So…are we doing this or not?”

That was Rob, his gaze locked on me with an intensity that got my motor running.

If we were alone, I wouldn’t have thought twice about plastering myself all over him.Scary shit.The last time I’d wanted someone this badly hadn’t gone well. I’d learned my lesson, and I’d vowed not to do stupid shit with men I couldn’t trust.

Except I sort of trusted Rob. I couldn’t say why, but I supposed it had something to do with knowing he was a semi-closeted professional athlete. Like I’d been. My story was old, but I could relate to some of the angst and fear I assumed he’d experienced. Even if I was wrong about that, I couldn’t deny the physical pull between us.

Vanni and Amber stared at us expectantly.

“Jimmy and Sal are in, and I’m cool with it. What do you think, Cuz?” Vanni prodded.