Page 16 of Broken Halos
“Good to know.” Ollie took a big gulp of milk. “I appreciate your honesty and candor. Too many people are afraid to be themselves in my presence.” He didn’t give me a pointed look that suggested I was one of them, even though it was true. I wanted to think we were starting fresh.
“Let’s eat this beast of a calzone so I can take my friend back to his car since it’s getting late and he has many souls to save.”
Ollie shot me a wry smile then we tucked into our calzone, both of us moaning with the first bite of savory sauce, melted cheese, sausage, and peppers. Ollie licked sauce and cheese from the corner of his lips then went back in for another bite.
“Amazing, isn’t it?” I asked.
Ollie looked up just as I licked my lips. He paused mid-chew as lust danced in his eyes and turned his cheeks red. He blinked a few times then continued his chewing. “It’s the best I’ve ever had.”
I had so many comebacks but kept them to myself and resumed eating. The calzone was so big we couldn’t eat it all. Mamma boxed it up so Ollie could take it home with him along with the breadsticks we didn’t touch. He tried to pay for our dinner, but she wouldn’t hear of it. Instead, she hugged him tight and told him to stop in and see her anytime.
“I live upstairs if you happen to show up when I’m not around. I’d love to get to know you better.” I wanted to tell her she was barking up the wrong tree but saw the stubborn set to her jaw when I leaned in to kiss her cheek goodbye. She would have to learn for herself Ollie wasn’t meant to be mine in the way she wanted.
After scaring him to death with my driving skills earlier, I took it much slower to prove I did know how to keep all four tires on the ground. There were many cars still in the parking lot when we returned to the bowling alley, so the opening night of the bowling league must’ve run later than I imagined. I pulled to a stop behind Ollie’s sensible dark sedan and pasted a friendly smile on my face. I hoped it masked how badly I wanted to lean forward and kiss his lips once more. Were they as soft as I remembered? Would his breath hitch sexily in his throat?
“Thanks, Archie. I had a fun time.”
“Don’t be a stranger, Ollie. I’ve missed seeing you around.”
He smiled crookedly when he heard the sincerity in my voice. “I’ve missed you too, Arch.”
Ollie got out of the car and closed the door, but instead of driving off, I put my car in park and followed him. He spun around when he heard my car door shut. “Did you forget—”
“Yeah, I did.” I pulled him into my arms and hugged him tightly. “Friends hug when they say goodbye.” Friends didn’t get an erection, but maybe he wouldn’t notice mine straining against my jeans. I knew it wasn’t the case when I felt him harden in response. I held him tight enough to feel a delicious shiver work its way through him, and my body reacted in kind. “Ollie,” I whispered, unable to keep the want and need from my voice. He tried to pull back, but I kept a strong grip. I couldn’t let him look into my eyes until I could mask all the things he made me feel other than friendship. “Don’t move yet.”
“I’m not going anywhere, Arch.”
I ran my nose along the side of his neck, hoping my brain would remember the way he smelled. His scent was both familiar and foreign to me, a mixture of sexy and clean. It was like he’d tried to cover up his earthy sexiness with soap too pure to get the job done. Ollie’s hands fisted into my shirt as he traced his nose along my neck, sending jolts of lust and making my flesh pebble in his wake. We weren’t off to a great start at keeping things in the friend zone.
“Friends sniff each other’s necks,” Ollie said, reading my mind. “Be glad we’re not pretending to be dogs. I’d be sniffing something else.”
I couldn’t keep from groaning. Smelling wasn’t the activity I imagined when I thought of Ollie’s face pressed between my ass cheeks. I could almost feel the wet press of his tongue teasing my puckered hole.
I pulled back then and looked into his eyes. “Is that what we’re doing, Ollie? Are we pretending to be friends?”
“I think we’re grappling with feelings much stronger than either of us are willing to accept right now and trying to find a way to be in each other’s lives that doesn’t feel threatening. I want to be a safe place for you to land, Archie, not make your life more complicated. If this is too much for you—” I cut his words off with a chaste kiss on his lush mouth.
“Friends kiss sometimes,” I whispered while fighting the urge to do things that would forever obliterate the friend zone for us.
“What other things do friends do together?” Ollie asked breathily.
I opened my mouth to respond we could do all the things together, but a blaring horn saved me, and before I could turn around, it was honking again.Honk. Honk. Honk.I whipped my head around and couldn’t believe my eyes. “It can’t be.” It was the same boxy, silver car with rusted-out wheel fenders.
“Even if you don’t believe in God, you must believe in Karma,” Ollie said as we both stared at the same son of a bitch that sat through a green light so he could get a blow job. “I guess he doesn’t like being blocked any more than we did.”
“Get in your car, Golden Boy. I’ll take care of this.”
“And leave you to take him on by yourself?”
About that time, the passenger window rolled down, and the driver leaned over as far as he could. “Move your stupid ass.”Honk. Honk. Honk.
“What happened to your girlfriend?” I asked, guessing about the gender. “Did she go home to gargle the nasty taste of you out of her mouth?” Ollie snorted beside me. The driver’s eyes widened. “That’s right, asshole. I was one of the cars stuck behind you at the intersection. I have a message for you, little boy. Real men can multitask. We fornicatewhiledriving. Now you stay right where you are and shut the fuck up while I say goodnight to my fella.”My fella? Oh fuck.
The driver returned to his seat and rolled up his window. I returned all my focus to Ollie and saw that his lips trembled with laughter. “You think his grandma knows what he gets up to in her Oldsmobile?” he asked.
“Probably not.”
“You going to show him how real men act?” Ollie challenged.