“Does anything look good to you?” Luca asked, realizing he’d been daydreaming again. He made an effort to concentrate on the big man beside him as he forced sad thoughts out of his head.
“I’m not sure,” Kane said. “Is any of this food?”
Jarrett burst into laugher across the table from them. Thayne chuckled beside his husband as Luca smiled at Kane’s semiserious question.
“I been wonderin’ about that myself,” Jarrett drawled. “I guess it’d have to be food if it’s on a menu, right?” he asked, looking over at his husband.
“You are both hopeless,” Thayne said, looking at Jarrett and Kane before glancing at Luca and rolling his eyes. “Look,” Thayne said, pointing to something under entrees and holding his menu out to his husband. “Eggplant parmesan is available on the vegetarian menu. Vegan entrees are on the other side.”
Luca leaned over to Kane and pointed to the areas Jarrett’s husband was explaining on his own menu. “Please don’t pretend you’ve never heard of eggplant,” Luca said, staring at Kane until he glanced up and met his eyes.
“Scrambled or hardboiled?” Kane asked with a smirk. Jarrett laughed again and this time Thayne joined him as Luca gaped at him.
“Oh my God, you think I’m serious,” Kane said, grinning. He rolled his eyes and affectionately bumped Luca’s shoulder with his own. “Who hasn’t heard of eggplant?”
“Well, I wasn’t sure.”
“It’s really good here. Their veggie burgers are fantastic too and they bake their own bread. It’s gluten free but it doesn’t have that super dense texture I don’t like,” Thayne said.
“Oh, yummy. That’s what I’m having,” Luca said, closing his menu.
“A veggie burger?” Kane asked.
Luca nodded. “What about you? The huevos rancheros looks fantastic.” Luca pointed to the entrée on Kane’s menu.
“Hmm,” Kane hummed and then closed his menu. “That sounds good.”
“Oh, look, Jarrett. They have tofu tacos,” Thayne said, pointing to the menu with a teasing glint in his eyes.
“You shut your whore mouth,” Jarrett said and this time it was Luca and Kane’s turn to laugh.
“Not a fan of tofu, Special Agent Evans?” Luca asked.
Jarrett eyeballed him over the menu. “Call me Jarrett, Luca. And no, in answer to your question. I couldn’t think of a single thing that could possibly be worse than tofu.”
“You’ve eaten a lot of tofu, have you?” Kane asked with a smirk.
“Thayne has bricks of the stuff in the refrigerator,” Jarrett grumbled.
“Bricks? Plural?” Kane asked, looking horrified.
“Yeah, ‘cause apparently, they come in various viscosities,” Jarrett drawled.
Luca laughed and the others did too.
“Viscosities?” Kane asked.
“Soft, hard, medium… I don’t know. It’s just the way the shit comes. And I still haven’t figured out why a person needs more than one level of hell,” Jarrett said waving his hand at his husband. “But this one here, needs all of ‘em.”
“Says the man who thinks ketchup counts as a vegetable,” Thayne replied with a smile.
Luca laughed, feeling lighter for the first time that day. He was really happy Kane had stopped by Thayne’s Mustang and asked the men about dinner. The waiter came over and they ordered their food. When Kane’s huevos rancheros came, he dug in and held out a bite for Luca to taste. Luca was going to refuse but when he caught the unmistakable look of devotion in Kane’s gaze, he ate it right off his fork. It tasted as good as his own burger which he devoured with relish. At the end of the meal, Kane sat back and patted his stomach, looking full and happy.
“What do you think?” Thayne asked, wiping his mouth with a napkin as the waiter refilled his iced tea glass.
“Surprisingly, good,” Kane replied.
“So, you think you could eat here again?” Luca asked, feeling hopeful.
Kane nodded slowly. “I think so and it’s not that far from my house.”
“Where do you live?” Jarrett asked.
“Valley Village,” Kane replied. “And, I hope it’s not a lot to ask but do you think you could drop us at my house?”
“Sure. We’re south of the Boulevard in Sherman Oaks,” Thayne said. “You’re right on our way.”
“Thanks. I left the Charger at the station in Brentwood this morning,” Kane said.
“So, y’all are a couple now?” Jarrett asked. He oomphed loudly as Thayne elbowed him.
“You shouldn’t ask that, you cretin,” Thayne chided.
“We’re not a couple. Just…” Luca let his words trail off as he suddenly caught sight of Kane’s expression. He wasn’t horrified. He looked resigned but as their gazes met, he smiled at Luca before reaching over to take his hand under the table. When he looked back at the men across the table from them, Luca saw him give the slightest nod.
“We’re trying to figure some things out,” Kane said.
You could have knocked Luca over with a feather but his heart swelled so much, it felt like he couldn’t breathe. Kane searched his eyes seeming to be waiting for something. Luca swallowed hard and nodded.
“Yes.” Luca turned back to Thayne and Jarrett who were watching them both closely. “I guess we’re trying to figure some things out.”
Kane squeezed his fingers and when Luca glanced over, the look of desire in his gaze was stark. Surprisingly, there was nothing sexual in it. The desire, clearly on display, was something entirely different and it warmed Luca from the inside out.
Chapter Seven
Thayne and Jarrett dropped them off at Kane’s townhouse fifteen minutes later. It had been a thoroughly exhausting day and honestly, Luca wanted to crash. The problem lay in the fact that he had to be at work first thing in the morning. Kane hadn’t asked him to stay over and he didn’t want to sound presumptuous by asking if he could. Neither of them had a car with them so trying to get home to his place with an Uber in early morning traffic and then to work by eight wasn’t looking like a great option either.
Kane unlocked the door and let them both into the townhouse. Luca climbed the stairs to the main level with Kane at his back. He could feel the man’s gaze on his ass all the way up and as much as he wanted to roll right into Kane’s bed again, he was emotionally tapped out. He really hoped Kane wouldn’t want to be intimate. After Kane flipped on the air-conditioning to blow the heat of the day out of the house, he turned to Luca.
“Come here, baby.”
Luca walked into his outstretched arms and was surprised when Kane hugged him gently. He didn’t attempt to kiss him, just let him cuddle against his wide chest. Luca closed his eyes, breathing in the scent of the man who always had the ability to make his knees go weak. When Kane finally let him go, he kept both hands at Luca’s hips, looking down into his face with a concerned expression. He lifted one hand and cupped his cheek. Luca leaned into the palm of his hand.
“It’s been a hell of a day for you, hasn’t it, Luca?”
That simple question brought the sting of tears to Luca’s eyes. There were so many layers to this man that he was only now beginning to see. He wondered how Kane knew where he was emotionally, but the man could read him like a book.
“Oh, Luca, don’t cry, baby.” Kane pulled him close again. “I know you’re not used to all this and I know you just lost a friend.” Kane leaned back and kissed his forehead softly before looking back down at him again. “Let me go feed the babies and change their bedding. Why don’t you just sit down and turn on a movie. When I’m done, I’ll come down and make some popcorn.”
Luca sniffed and nodded sharply before managing a tiny smile. “I have to get home some time tonight. I’ve got an early shift at eight.”
Kane nodded slowly. “Well, I can take you to work in the morning on my bike if you’d like.”
Luca frowned just a little. “Your bike?”
Kane smiled. “I have an LS 218 that’s so fast i
t’ll get you to your store in no time. Like literally, fifteen minutes even with Monday morning traffic.”
“I have no idea what that is but I can only assume it’s a motorcycle,” Luca said.
“Wait till you see it. It’s my pride and joy,” Kane said with a huge wide grin.
“I thought the Charger was your pride and joy.”
Kane nodded. “Yes. The Charger is pure car porn, but since it’s an 8-cylinder gas hog and I am trying to help the environment now that I’m all grown up, I saved and saved and bought myself the top of the line in electric motorcycles. Wait till you see my other baby.”
Luca snorted as he finally let go of him and stepped back. “You’re just a big kid, aren’t you?”
“Well, I don’t drive a Yugo, if that’s what you’re asking.”
Luca laughed out loud, setting both hands on his hips and trying to look almost offended. The first time Kane had ever seen him behind the wheel was when he was getting a driving lesson from his friend Thelma. He only had one more lesson before he could go out and get his license. He had no money to buy a car since he sent his mom and sister as much of his paycheck as he could, but what the heck? At least he’d be able to drive when he finally bought one.
“Let me go feed Dorothy and Toto.”
“You still have the babies?” Luca asked. Kane’s ferrets just had a litter when they’d first met.
“Nope. They’ve all gone to their adoptive families and it’s just mom and dad.”
“I hope they’re spayed and neutered now.”
“Toto was neutered the same day I found out Dorothy was expecting. She was spayed as soon as the kits were rehomed with their new families,” Kane said, starting to climb the stairs to his loft bedroom where he kept the ferrets. “I didn’t have to spay her but I want her to live longer and my vet said it will give her extra time. I’ll be right back.”
Luca watched him climb the stairs two at a time, disappearing into the only bedroom on that floor. Luca had been over to Kane’s place a couple of times. It was a nice two-story townhome with a large balcony with chairs and plants. Luca thought it would be a nice place to sit and read a book. He walked over to a bookcase and perused titles there, smiling when he caught sight of several Michael Crichton hardbacks. They’d once discussed how much they both loved the author’s books. He pulled Prey out of the bookcase and then walked over to the sofa, flopping down on the comfortable couch.
When he did, he noticed a misshapen ashtray that looked like a child had formed it. It was painted with a flecked blue paint and had a high gloss, obviously fired in a kiln. He set the book aside and leaned forward, taking the ashtray off the table. It was very heavy and Luca flipped it over to look at the bottom and learn its origin. In orange clay, someone had drawn the initials K.D. with some sort of sharp object, perhaps a ballpoint pen. He flipped the ashtray back over and looked harder at it.
Kane had gone into the WITSEC program when he was only twelve and he’d told Luca that they’d changed his name. If he’d made the ashtray as a young child, it would have had the initials J.B. for Jimmy Boyle, his birth name. Luca examined the lumpy misshapen thing and marveled that such a skilled man with a gun could have absolutely no talent with sculpture. He was still holding it when he heard footfalls coming down the stairs behind him. He turned and caught sight of Kane.
“You admiring my artwork?” Kane asked with a stunning grin. Luca had been caught red handed with the lumpy ashtray in his hands. He felt a blush redden his cheeks, flooded with embarrassment. He held up the ashtray and smirked.
“You made this?” Luca asked, wondering why he’d ever admit to such a thing.
“Yeah. I did,” Kane said with a laugh.
“I thought it might be a Picasso. You guys have a similar appreciation for form,” Luca said, looking up at Kane as he flopped down on the couch beside him. He held out a hand and Luca plunked the ashtray in it. Kane smiled as he looked it over.
“I dated a girl with a kid once,” Kane said, glancing up at Luca. “She had a six-year-old son who was born with cerebral palsy and she took him to art therapy once a week. I went with them one day and the boy wanted me to sit down and show him how to make something for his mom.”
Luca listened with his heart in his throat.
“All the kids were developmentally disabled or physically impaired in some manner, so I sat down with the boy and showed him how to work the clay. He made one for his mom that looked just a little better than this.” He looked back up at Luca and shrugged his shoulders. “It was the best he could do.” Kane smiled at the memory.
“And you didn’t want to make him feel like you’d made something better than his, right?” Luca asked around the huge lump in his throat.
“Something like that, I guess.” Kane leaned forward and set the ashtray back on the table and as soon as he leaned back, Luca tackled him back on the couch, climbing over his body and straddling him.
Kane oomphed with surprise and he wrapped both arms around Luca’s back, almost in reflex. Luca wound his arms around Kane’s neck, lowered his mouth, and took possession of Kane’s in a burning, devouring kiss. The man couldn’t have said or done anything sexier than he just had. As Luca kissed him, sliding his tongue into the big man’s mouth, he tried to imagine something sweeter than purposely creating a lopsided ashtray just to make a little boy with cerebral palsy feel like a king. Luca’s imagination just wasn’t that good.
They kissed for what seemed like an eternity. Luca grew hard in his pants, despite the fact that he was emotionally exhausted. Kane was still in his suit but Luca didn’t care; time suddenly wasn’t a factor and getting home quickly had lost its importance. Luca began to unbutton his shirt when the phone in Kane’s pocket suddenly began to ring. He lifted his mouth from Kane’s only to find his lover panting, his lips swollen from their kisses. His own lips stung.
“Sorry, baby. I should get this,” Kane said, grunting as Luca swung his leg over and sat hard beside him on the couch. Luca noticed the massive bulge in Kane’s suit pants and smiled to himself as Kane dug his phone out of a pocket in his coat and answered.
“Delancey.”
Luca listened to the distinctly male voice coming through the line as he watched Kane’s face. When he stood up and walked away, Luca sat there, feeling strange. He probably should have been jealous but he wasn’t. Most of the time when his own phone rang, it was some guy calling him for a date or just to ask if he wanted to join him at a club somewhere. He stared at the small lumpy ashtray sitting on the coffee table and listened to Kane speak into the phone.
“Okay, yeah. Tell Mike and Kelly to wait for me. I’m in the Valley so it’ll be a half hour before I can get there.” When Kane swiped the phone and walked back around the couch, he wasn’t smiling. “That was Cassidy Ryan. I gotta go down to the coroner’s office in LA, Luca, so I guess, I can take you home after I change clothes.”
Luca stood up and moved into Kane’s personal space and Kane surrounded his back with both arms, pulling him close the way he’d done earlier. Luca blinked up at him.
“It’s okay. I gotta work early anyway, Kane.” He smiled. “Besides, I know it’s only an excuse for you to get me onto the back of the bike, right?”
Kane grinned. “Yes. That’s it.” He leaned down and took Luca’s mouth in a deep kiss and Luca melted against his huge body, loving the way the hard muscles of his back bunched beneath his suit coat. They kissed for a full minute before Kane groaned and pulled away. He reached down and adjusted his erection.
“Damn you, Luca.” Kane grinned and turned away, walking down the hallway toward his bedroom as Luca smiled after him.
｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆
Kane was changing clothes when Luca’s own phone rang. He pulled it out and spotted Corey’s number immediately. He sighed and answered the phone, promising himself that he’d beg off whatever plans his best friend wanted to rope him into.
“Hey, Corey. What’s up?”
&
nbsp; “Luca! Did you hear about Marty’s?” Corey sounded even more excited than usual and the last thing Luca wanted to do was explain that he’d not only heard about the bombing and Freddy’s death, but he’d been on the street that afternoon and actually seen the devastation.
“I heard about it, Corey.”
“Well, there’s a huge fundraiser for the victims at Hamburger Mary’s tonight. The whole community is coming out for a candlelight vigil. I’m going to be by to pick you up in about ten minutes, so you have to be ready,” Corey said.
“I’m not home, Corey but I will be in about a half hour.” Luca hesitated. “It’s really tonight?” He knew he had to go. At the very least he had to be the one to tell Corey about Freddy before he found out from someone else but at the moment, he really wasn’t looking forward to telling anyone about seeing the blown-out building firsthand. He also didn’t have the energy to answer the barrage of questions about Kane that he knew would be coming the moment he told his best friend about their reunion.
“Okay, well, I’ll see you then. I’m driving so we don’t have to take the bus,” Corey said.
Before Luca could say anything, Corey hung up. He pulled the phone away from his ear and stared at it just to make sure he hadn’t missed something but sure enough, Corey hadn’t even waited for his answer. Hell. Sometimes the guy got so excited, he couldn’t control himself. Kane walked out of the bedroom dressed in faded 501 jeans, a black T-shirt, and a black leather jacket a moment later. He looked like a walking wet dream but when he padded over to a row of boots by the stairs and squatted to pick up a pair of buckled leather riding boots, Luca wanted to swoon.
Jesus, the man was simply drool-worthy.
｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆
The rumble of the bike under Luca’s ass ceased as Kane shut off the motor. He let go of the death grip he’d had around Kane’s body and leaned back as he reached up to take off the helmet he’d given Luca to wear. The bright blue motorcycle was everything Kane had promised it would be. It was gorgeous, damned fast, and electric—good for the environment. From the moment Kane had pulled the tarp off it in his parking garage, Luca had known he was going to love riding on the back of it. The padded black seat on the bike was built for two and when Kane reached up to a locked overhead storage box in the garage and pulled out two helmets, he shivered with desire to sit behind Kane and hug him tightly while they rode.
Play With Me Page 10