LOL: Laugh Out Loud (After Oscar, #2)(19)
I cut him off before things got any more awkward. “Absolutely not.” I stepped over to him and put my hands on his shoulders, ducking down a little to meet his eyes. They were so fucking blue. “You do not have to work for your keep. You do not owe me anything. I recognize that this is a shitty situation for you, and I don’t want to make it worse with things being awkward between us, okay? So let’s just… can we maybe pretend that we’re two friends taking a break from the city for a few days? How about that?”
He studied me a moment, and then his mouth twisted into a smirk. “That’s not very believable when it’s widely known you don’t have any gay friends. How could you, after starring in a movie called Back Passage?”
I let my head fall back with a groan. “Don’t remind me. I will never live that down.”
“As well you shouldn’t,” he mock scolded.
“Hey!” I protested. My eyes met his and I saw gratitude shimmering in the depths of that impossible blue. Reluctantly, I let my hands drop from his shoulders when what I really wanted to do was squeeze them tight and drag him toward me.
Instead I moved back to the fridge. “Tell you what, why don’t you get a pot of water going on the stove, and I’ll get started on the sauce. Do you like wine? I think that might help tremendously. We’ve both had a very long day.” I glanced over at him. “You more than anyone.”
“I love wine. Thank you. But…” He bit at his lip for a moment as he considered his words. “One more thing before we pretend I’m not homeless and penniless.” He reached into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out a mobile phone, holding it toward me.
I glanced at it dubiously before plucking it from his palm. “Is this some kind of antique flip phone?” I teased, dangling the cheap pay-as-you-go device between my thumb and index finger. My intention had been to lighten the mood a bit, but Scotty’s face remained serious.
“Shut up.” He cleared his throat and shuffled his feet. He was adorable when nervous. “Besides Nugget and my coat, it’s my only worldly possession. I want you to hang on to it for me.”
I stared at him. “Why?”
He held his arms out to his side and spun around. “I just want to make sure you know I don’t have a phone or a camera or anything else that can—”
“Stop,” I blurted, finally understanding. “Just… stop. I don’t…” I’d intended to say I didn’t think he’d sell me out, but that was stupid. I didn’t want to think he’d sell me out. But experience and my own history proved that was a foolish assumption to make, especially with someone I didn’t know very well and hadn’t vetted.
“Please, Roman,” Scotty said quietly. “I can’t bear the thought of you stressing about when I’m going to betray you. And I wouldn’t blame you at all for worrying about it anyway, but giving you that phone is the only way I know to prove to you—”
“Okay,” I said quickly. Whatever it took to make him stop because he was clearly uncomfortable, and I’d do anything to put us back on equal footing “Fine. I’ll… I’ll hang on to it. All right? And… when you need it to make a call, just tell me and I’ll give it right back.” It seemed like a ridiculous arrangement, but if it made him feel better, I’d play along.
He nodded and smiled. “Thank you. I’ll, ah, need to check it tomorrow in case I get any job leads, but tonight we can be off the grid. Now, did you say something about wine?”
After I picked a bottle from Oscar’s extensive collection and opened it, I poured us each a glass and returned to chopping vegetables for the pasta sauce. Scotty set a big pot of water on to boil and turned to me with a sneaky grin. He grabbed his wine and hoisted himself up so he was sitting on the counter next to the cutting board. Close enough that I caught the faint scent of hay drifting from his clothes. I found I was beginning to like that smell. Especially because it was pure Scotty.
He took a swallow of his wine and then crossed one slim leg over the other. “You were saying something earlier about a disastrous date with the enigmatic Oscar? Dish. If I’m staying in his house, I feel like I should at least know a thing or two about the man.”
I looked up, catching Scotty’s eye. “Only if you promise to share a disastrous date in return.”
He leaned forward and placed a palm against the side of my face, giving my cheek a pat. “Oh honey, you are just too adorable if you think any date with me could ever be considered a disaster.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “No man is that lucky.”
Scotty waved a hand down his body. “Lucky enough to have all this?”
My grin widened. “What I meant was lucky enough to avoid disaster in the dating world. But you’re right, any man who gets all that,” I said, my eyes following the path his hands had indicated, “would be lucky indeed.”
When he didn’t immediately respond, I wondered if I’d gone too far. The expression on his face was fleeting, just a moment of surprise and a quick furrow between his eyebrows like maybe I’d caught him off guard. He took a swallow of wine and then smiled. “I believe you were about to tell me about Oscar?”
I took the hint and returned to the earlier topic. Oscar himself had told this story a hundred times, so it wasn’t like I was sharing state secrets or anything. “It started when I tried a matchmaking app for the first time. I mean, anonymously, of course.”