♀♂
Lorrie
It was almost dinnertime when Ethan and Beau arrived, Ethan first and then Beau a few minutes later. Lorrie had somehow managed to feed Sawyer when he stopped by earlier than expected, and now he was on his way. So, needless to say, her plan wasn’t working quite like she thought, however, it would have to do.
“Mom,” Ethan greeted, kissing her on the cheek as he moved through the kitchen to the refrigerator.
“Hi, honey,” she answered, using a ladle to dish up stew into three bowls.
The sound of the glass jars rattling in the refrigerator door as Ethan shut it had her turning to look at him. That’s when she realized Beau had just joined them inside the house, and her son was staring across the room as though he were in shock.
“What are you doing here?” Ethan asked directly, glancing back and forth between her and Beau.
Lorrie simply turned back to the stove and continued to dish up the food. “You boys sit. Dinner is ready.”
“Dinner?” Beau asked, sounding confused.
Ok, so maybe she had omitted that part when she asked him to stop by because she needed help with something.
“Dinner. Now sit,” she repeated as she carried one of the bowls over to the table and returned to retrieve the other.
“Where’s Dad?” Ethan asked as he stood beside one of the chairs at the table, obviously watching to see what she would do next.
“He wanted to eat in the living room, so I’m taking his food to him. Now sit down, you don’t want your food to get cold.”
With that, Lorrie pretended to be busy as she made Curtis a bowl of stew, along with retrieving a sleeve of crackers from the pantry and adding a glass of tea. Today’s meal was simple, and having used the crock pot, she was able to get all of the pies finished for the Christmas feast they would have tomorrow.
So now the only thing left to do was to sit back and pretend that she hadn’t just tipped the first domino, hoping for the events of the future to tumble right into place.
♂♂
Ethan
He should have known.
He should have known, and he should have turned right around and left as soon as Beau walked in the door.
What his mother was up to, Ethan had no clue, but it didn’t surprise him one bit that this little setup had been her doing. And it wasn’t like he was going to call her on it. In order to do that, he would have to openly admit to something he wasn’t ready to announce to the world. Hell, he wasn’t sure he’d ever be ready to announce it.
“Hey,” Beau said quietly as he moved toward the kitchen table where Ethan was still standing like an idiot.
Pulling back the chair, the wooden legs making a loud squealing noise against the hardwood floor, Ethan dropped into his seat, not acknowledging Beau. He couldn’t. If he did, he was probably going to open up a can of worms that he’d never be able to contain.
Considering how fucking sexy he found the sound of the guy’s voice, or the intriguing way that damn t-shirt pulled tight across a sculpted chest, he didn’t stand a chance if he let his mouth get the better of him. Nope, he’d be better off sitting in the chair and focusing on something else – anything else – so that the persistent fucking hard on behind the fly of his jeans would take the hint… he wasn’t interested.
Right. Keep telling yourself that.
“You all right?” Beau asked as he lowered himself into the chair beside him, the same place his mother had just placed another bowl of stew. The woman thought she was sneaky, but Ethan had caught onto his mother’s little interferences years ago.
Except she had surprised him today.
Seeing Beau at his parents’ house without Zane around was strange. Not uncomfortable, just different. Although, there was some discomfort, but that was primarily due to Ethan’s uncontrollable physical attraction to the guy. The one he had to keep to himself because… Well, just because.
“One of these days, you’re gonna have to talk to me again,” Beau said quietly, his words clear and firm, causing Ethan to jerk his head up and meet his gaze.
“What was that?”
Why had Beau’s words sounded like a threat? And more importantly, why the fuck did Ethan like the guy all that much more now that he found he had somewhat of a dominating side?
Beau kept him pinned with hooded eyes, a somewhat bored expression on his face as he did. Ethan’s heart pounded in his ears, the heavy thump in his chest probably being heard by his parents in the other room.
“You heard me,” Beau said once again. “You’re just lucky I’m a patient man.”
Ethan opened his mouth to say something. Closed it.