Page 9

Marco let out a laugh. “My mom always told me the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.”

“And his pants, it seems,” Dean said.

“Eh, truth be told, I’ve found that’s not the hardest part of a man to get into.”

Dean snorted. “Well, something’s hard.”

“And what fun when it is.”

Troy’s voice quipped from behind Dean. “Oy, which one of your boyfriends are you chatting with now?”

“Boyfriends?” Marco asked, sounding amused.

Dean rolled his eyes, glad he’d warned Marco about some of the people in his life ahead of time. It was hard enough for Dean to put himself out there and date someone else. The last thing he needed was for someone’s big mouth, say Troy’s, to come along and ruin the whole thing with some stupid comment.

Dean turned to Troy. “Don’t you have a job to do?”

“Yeah, but I figured I’d warn you that your other boyfriend is heading this way. Just spotted tall, dark and grumpy out the window.”

“I’m guessing he means Sloane,” Marco guessed.

“The one and only. He’s got an appointment today,” Dean explained, logging out of the computer and pushing up from the desk.

“Dare I ask when I get to meet him?” Marco asked.

Dean winced. “I would really prefer you and I deal with...you and me before I bring anyone else into the mix.”

“One of these days, you’re going to have to tell me the story behind you two,” Marco said.

Dean blinked. “There’s no...story. We’re friends. He’s my best friend.”

“And all friends have stories. Hey, don’t worry about it. I was trying to give you a hard time, okay? Text me when you have a free minute later, alright? Maybe we can compare schedules and try for date five. Might be my lucky number,” Marco offered.

“Yeah, I can do that. Maybe you can introduce me to something I haven’t had yet.”

“That’ll be a feat. I’m pretty sure you’ve had everything possible.”

Dean chuckled, letting the man get off the phone so he could face the rest of the day. He knew Marco was aiming toward something more serious between them. Something that wasn’t just casual dating. The thing was, Dean wasn’t sure how he felt about that and kept putting off thinking about it too hard.

He knew there was no point in hanging onto the delusions about him and Sloane, so he’d forced himself to start dating again for the first time since he’d left for boot camp. On the other hand, some part of him wasn’t willing to let go just yet. In truth, he hadn’t expected to find someone like Marco when he’d put himself back on the market, and it was complicating things in Dean’s already cramped head.

A familiar growl echoed down the hall. “Get the hell out of the way, Troy.”

Troy sighed. “Sloane, c’mon, just...let me do this real quick.”

“You can sign me in without asking me the same stupid questions you ask me every time. The ones I answer the same way every time. Just put in the same answers.”

“That’s not how this works.”

“Sure it is, or did you forget how to write?”

Troy sighed. “Dean?”

Dean chuckled, stepping out of his cubicle and into the main hallway. Troy stood under the shadow of Sloane’s hulking form. Troy was looking sufficiently annoyed while still managing to look unnerved. Dean was used to people being put off by Sloane, who was as scary acting as he was scary looking. When Dean had first spotted Sloane in his group at basic training, he’d thought the guy was the meanest son of a bitch Dean had ever seen and pitied the man who ended up partnered with him.

Only for it to be him.

Dean smirked. “Problems?”