“No, you don’t understand. He hates everyone. Well, except me and Grover. And sometimes I think he only tolerates me because I feed him and keep his litter pan clean.”
The cat looked at him and head-butted his chin. Allan laughed.
“He seems to like me. Maybe he knows I’m an easy touch. Is he allowed outside?”
She shook her head and reached for the cat. “No. He’s not allowed in the bakery, either. But he’ll go downstairs with me sometimes when I do the laundry.”
“We’ll make sure we keep an eye out for him then so we don’t let him out.” He reached over and stroked the cat’s head again. The cat stretched his neck to keep contact with him. “What’s his name again?”
“Galileo. Or asshole, when he’s being a real pill.”
Allan’s eyes locked with hers. For a moment, the heat rising inside him took away his ability to speak. Then she shifted her gaze to the floor as another ghostly smile flitted across her features before 66 Tymber Dalton
disappearing again. “I’ll see you at six,” she softly said, stepping back inside the apartment.
“Six,” he repeated.
He turned and heard her door shut behind him. Kicking himself, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Gay. I’m supposed to be gay.
He adjusted the semi-stiff chubby in his jeans before returning to their apartment.
Libbie closed the door and leaned against it with Galileo tightly snuggled in her arms. She buried her face in the cat’s coat. For a moment, when her eyes had locked on Charles’, she felt something, like a bolt of heat streaking straight through her.
Except for the fact that he was gay, she would have sworn he felt it, too, from the way his eyebrows arched.
“Mrwao.” Galileo struggled to free himself from her grasp. She let him jump from her arms. He landed on the floor where he sat and proceeded to groom himself.
“Ungrateful ass. What was that all about, anyway?” She looked down at him. “You hate everyone. Why’s he special?” Galileo never friendlied up to anyone. Including the three guys she’d had less than stellar onetime dates with in the past couple of years.
Hell, even the vet techs drew straws to see who had to deal with him when she took him in for checkups and vaccinations.
But that was yet another point in the men’s favor. Grover and Galileo, the only two important men in her life, had apparently signed off on the cousins.
Well, Galileo had signed off on Charles. He had yet to officially meet Ken, but she had a feeling the cat might like him as well.
Being sociable hadn’t blipped her screen of daily tasks, but she suspected spending time with others outside of the bakery would be a It’s a Sweet Life 67
good thing for her. Grover was always bugging her to get out and socialize more often.
Come on, six o’clock.
Ben glared at his brother. “Thanks for asking me first.”
“Hey, I didn’t think it’d be a big deal.”
Ben leaned back and scrubbed his face with his hands. It still caught him off guard sometimes that he was now clean-shaven. “I’m sorry. Look, I’m just not in much of a socializing mood tonight.”
“Then leave. Go to a movie or something.”
He studied the stern set of Allan’s jaw. “This really means a lot to you, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah, it does. If you’d seen her, how much pain she’s obviously in, you would have agreed with me. Besides, I want to be nice to her.”
He wanted to be nice to her, too, but the kind of nice he wanted involved no clothes, a bottle of Astroglide, and a marathon lovemaking session. His dreams the night before had been consumed by her, so much so that he’d rubbed two out that morning before getting out of bed.
A record even for his healthy libido.
“Earth to Ben.”
He looked up and realized Allan had been saying something else.
“What?”
When Allan’s brow furrowed, Ben knew he’d been made. “Oh, shit. You like her, too, don’t you?”
“That’s not the issue here.”
Allan pulled out a chair and sat across from him at the table.
“Yeah, it is. You feel it, too. Don’t lie to me. You might be a great undercover cop, but I’m your twin.”
“Okay, she’s cute. Is that what you wanted to hear me admit? And yeah, it’s been a long damn time since I’ve had anything resembling a 68 Tymber Dalton
relationship. But she’s still off-limits. You got it?”
Allan slowly nodded. “Yeah, I got it. I’m just wondering how much you’ve got it.”
“What the hell are you talking about? I’m the one who said we’d tell everyone we’re gay cousins.”
“I know.”
Ben didn’t like the way the conversation was heading. “Listen, Counselor, that shit might work on someone sitting on the witness stand, but it won’t work on me. Fine, she can come over for dinner and we’ll cook for her.” He slapped his laptop closed a little harder than he’d meant and headed for his bedroom, remembering at the last moment not to slam it shut behind him so Libbie couldn’t hear it from across the hall.
He leaned against the door and wiped at his mouth with the back of his hand as he closed his eyes and tried not to recall last night’s scorchingly hot dreams.
The one person he couldn’t lie to—Allan—was the only one who understood exactly what he was going through.
He turned and snatched the door open and stalked across the apartment to where Allan still sat at the table. He jabbed a finger at him. “We can’t do that to her,” he said, forcing himself to keep his voice down.
Allan stared up at him, a look of cool, calm determination on his face. “Can’t do what, bro?”
He leaned in. “You know damn well what. Besides, we already told her we were gay cousins.”
Allan shrugged, infuriating Ben.
“We cannot drag an innocent woman into our lives right now. She deserves better than that.”
“You want her as much as I do.”
“And we can’t have her,” Ben said, poking the table with his finger for emphasis. “We. Can’t. Have. Her. Besides, we don’t even really know her.” Which was all the more reason he was freaking out It’s a Sweet Life 69
over his sudden feelings about her.
“Dude, all I did was ask her over for dinner. You’re the one wigging out.”
He straightened, looking down at Allan. The smug smirk that curved his twin’s lip made him want to reach out and slap it from his face.
“I just want to make sure we’re on the same page.”
Allan slowly nodded. “We are. But I won’t lie and say I’m not attracted to her when I am. You obviously are, too. We can be attracted to her and still be just friends with her.”
Clenching his jaw to hold back his retort, Ben spun on his heel and returned to his room.
He was attracted to her.
Too damn much.
Allan took the truck and headed out to the grocery store. He hadn’t cooked for anyone other than himself in months.
Tonight’s menu would start with Caesar salad. Followed by sweet potato soup, steamed broccoli, and broiled salmon with a parmesan crusted sauce. And for dessert…
He still wasn’t sure what to get. Considering she ran a bakery, it seemed silly to buy a grocery store dessert. After finding the other items on his list, he had an epiphany and returned to the produce section. There, the special was fresh peaches, of all things. Shrugging, he grabbed several, returned to dairy for a quart of vanilla yogurt, and then located a bag of granola.
He smiled at his own cleverness as he made his way to the checkout stands. Sweet, healthy, and not baked.