“Here’s the shirt she wants us to wear. She had your nephew design a logo. I had no idea that delinquent was so talented. It looks good.”
Nate glanced up from his seat on the front porch in time to see Louis slip the T-shirt over his head, covering his bare chest. He snorted and took a swig of his beer, his third in the last hour, as Louis tugged on the hem.
Louis’s brow furrowed. “I’m sure I told her my size. This shirt is a little…tight.”
Nate shook his head. “I’d bet the restaurant that isn’t a mistake. Sex sells, old buddy. Haven’t you heard?”
Louis tilted his head and smiled. “Yeah? Well, I can’t argue with that. But apparently you can. What’s your problem, Nate? You’ve been acting like a wounded bear for weeks now. And while we’re on the subject of pissy partners, what the hell did you do to tick Clay off?”
Nate sighed. Clay hadn’t spoken to him since TS had gone running out of the restaurant this morning. Who could blame him? Nate had been an utter jackass. He’d crossed a line and then, instead of fixing it, he’d made it worse.
She’d been wrong though. He hadn’t been trying to push her away. He’d been too busy holding himself back from ripping off her clothes and making her his then and there. And too mad at himself for losing control.
He’d walked out of the fridge to find Clay glaring at him in stony silence. And though he was currently in Nate’s kitchen organizing and prepping for TS’s arrival, he still hadn’t spoken a word.
“Well?” Louis was waiting for his answer.
“Damn it, Lou. Am I the only one who has a problem with this?”
“With what?”
Nate stood and started pacing. “All of it. Selling ourselves and compromising instead of letting our food stand on its own. Paying Bob and TS to change everything. To make us into something we aren’t.”
Louis raised an eyebrow. “Make us what? Successful? We certainly aren’t that. How about solvent? Or lets use another s word. Satisfied. We aren’t that either. Why are you so hung up on this?”
“He’s lying.”
Nate looked up too at those words to see Clay standing in the doorway, wiping his hands on a towel. “I’m what?”
Clay leaned against the doorframe, his body blocking out the light. “You’re lying. You’re not an idiot, Nate. I think it’s safe to say you’re more business savvy than Louis and I combined. This has nothing to do with changing the restaurant. It has to do with Truly.”
Nate did a double take. “With what?”
Clay sighed. “TS. That’s her name. Truly. Robert told Jane, and she told me. He also told her all about her jackass of an ex boss. Enough that I have the desire to meet him in a dark parking lot…soon.”
Louis smirked. “Truly? What does the S stand for? Scrum—” He caught Clay’s look, threw back his head and laughed out loud. “No way. No friggin’ way. Scrumptious, huh? Oh, that’s perfect. Even her name is tasty.”
Clay stepped forward protectively. “No teasing. I mean it.”
Louis held up his hands and winked at Clay playfully. “I can’t make any promises, sugar pants. Even if we weren’t chefs, even if she didn’t have an ass I just wanted to take a bite out of…with that name? Well, her parents obviously weren’t thinking ahead.”
Clay only glared and Nate sighed. Clay never glared. He was and had always been the gentlest giant Nate had ever known. They had to fix this. “Clay’s right. This is why I’ve been having a problem.”
The confusion cleared from Louis’s expression, and Clay took a step back. They understood. The three of them had been friends for a long time. They
’d learned early on that they shared similar desires. In hobbies, career goals…and women. They also had some unique sexual proclivities in common. Proclivities that Nate had been forced to put on the back burner when his sister and her kids needed a place to stay. He wasn’t ashamed of his desires, but it was hard enough to be a child of divorced parents without throwing a perverted uncle into the mix.
But that hadn’t been the only reason. Louis was. Louis and Clay had always enjoyed each other’s bodies, and Nate enjoyed watching, directing…and sometimes more. But both of them knew that, apart from their friendship, forever wasn’t in the cards. They liked women too much. The last time they’d shared a woman, however, Louis had fallen for her. Hard. Which wouldn’t have been a problem, if she hadn’t decided she wanted to be with Nate. And only him.
Nate hadn’t wanted her that way, hadn’t been in love with her, but it had almost destroyed the three men’s friendship. He didn’t want to go through that again. Especially since he found himself growing more attached to Truly by the day.
Louis shook his head. “I should have known. I mean, I knew Clay had a hardcore crush on her, he’s been randy as a stallion since she showed up.” He looked over at Clay and smiled. “Not that I’m complaining. God knows I’ve wanted her from the moment I saw her…” He looked up at Clay and Nate. “She’s not Amy, guys. I mean, I want her, yes. But Amy was…well—”
“A cast iron bitch?” Clay said it kindly, but Louis still flinched.
“Yeah. She was. But Truly is different. I can tell. Special.”
Nate took another sip of beer before blurting out, “I kissed her.”