Page 37 of Manny Included

“So it was your turn to get supper—what’s coming?”

“Mexican food.I thought it sounded delicious.I got extra guacamole.”He loved guacamole.

“Mmm.And it goes so nicely with a beer.Sounds great.”Bay settled on the couch, lanky body stretching out.

“Yeah, I got tacos, chips, and I even got churros.I’m not sure churros go with beer.”God, he was being so stupid.He needed to just stop looking at Bay’s body.

“Yeah, but fried dough, there is no wrong there.”

Of course looking at Bay’s blue blue eyes and that warm smile wasn’t helping anything either.

“Yeah, I got chocolate-filled and plain, and they also had strawberry-filled.”Not looking at Bay.Not not not.

“Is there a dipping sauce?I love a good caramel to dip them into,” Bay admitted, stretching where he sat, and rolling his head on his shoulders.

“I got three different kinds—chocolate, caramel, and berry.Is that cool?”

“More than.What are we going to watch tonight?”

They’d seen the last of the Jurassic Park movies, so now they had to pick something else.

“What’s your position on theLord of the Ringsmovies?”He liked them, and they were so pretty.

“I told you I haven’t seen any movies in years and I meant it.There were a bunch of them and they were long?”Bay looked apologetic.“If you want to watch them, we totally can.I am in your hands.”

“Are you into fantasy?Because these are totally like sword and sorcery, elves and dwarves and hobbits kind of fantasy.”

He didn’t want Bay to be disappointed, but he did love to watch those movies.And he liked even more that he had already seen them.So there wasn’t some big reason to pay attention.He could just kind of pay attention to the movies and kind of pay attention to Bay.

“Okay.If I hate it or anything, we don’t have to watch the others, right?”

“Absolutely.You don’t even have to watch all the first one.”He wasn’t mean.

Bay chuckled.“I thought you liked this movie?You’re not exactly selling it that way.”

His cheeks went hot.“I love this movie, but that doesn’t mean it’s for everybody, right?I love a nice sword and sorcery type story.”

“Sounds like fun.I bet I like it,” Bay offered.

“I hope so.I like it a lot.”And I like you a lot, but I don’t want to say anything.

“Then I imagine I’ll like it.”

The doorbell rang, surprising both of them.

“Oh.Food.I’ll get it.”He ran off and grabbed the bags, bringing them to the low table.

“Oh, it smells good, Pete.Nicely done.And I’m hungrier than I realized because suddenly I can hardly wait to eat.”

“Dig in.Would you like a plate?It might be easiest…”

“Sure.I’m all about the easy.”Bay closed his mouth and blinked.“That sounded better in my head than when it came out of my mouth.”

“I promise not to take offense.”That was nice, right?It felt nice.

So, he just wanted to sort of kiss Bay, and he hadn’t had a kiss in a very long time—not since he was a freshman in college and discovered that he was in love with Tony.

Which was when he’d found out that Tony was the straightest man on earth, and then Tony was married and Pete was his nanny and that was that.