Read Cole McGinnis 05 - Down and Dirty for Free Online Page B

bench to face Bobby. “Talk to me about what you’ve been up to.”
    “Getting touchy-feely with me, Princess?”
    “Look, life’s good for me—well, except for waiting for Sheila to go all say-hello-to-my-little-friend on me. Talk to me about how horrible your life is skipping from boy to boy.” Cole sipped his beer, rubbing his fingers through the condensation on the glass when he was done. “And how come you never bring anyone around for dinner? You can, you know.”
    “I barely get their names. I don’t want to actually feed them. Twinks are like stray kittens. Feed them and they stick around, thinking they can move in. Look at what Jae’s stuck with.”
    “Hey, I don’t think food had anything to do with it,” Cole protested softly. “It’s… good between us, you know? Different. Kind of nice. Well, more than kind of. Really nice.”
    “Hell, what’s the going price on a white picket fence?” Bobby snorted as he peeled off a piece of skin from a grilled chicken breast. “Want it?”
    “Skin’s the best part.” Cole took the crispy curl and popped it into his mouth. “And white picket doesn’t go with the house. I’d say we could go get a minivan and a dog, but I don’t think Jae’s a minivan kind of guy.”
    “I don’t think Jae’s a dog kind of guy,” he remarked with a laugh. “Maybe you should get one anyway. Just to change things up.”
    “If I want to change things up, I just get different stuff for the bedroom. Or buy a new piece of furniture. Easier than taking care of a puppy.” Cole shuddered. “Okay, sexy times and dog got way too close together in this conversation for my liking.”
    “How good is it?” It was like poking a sore tooth. Bobby didn’t want to know what Cole and Jae were doing, but the happiness on the Korean’s face shone, and the wall Bobby’d always sensed in the man seemed to have crumbled down if not totally away. “He’s okay with wearing the pink triangle out in public now?”
    “Baby steps. Not like I’m a big PDA kind of guy.” His friend cocked his head, a smile touching his mouth. “Okay, a little bit of PDA, but not too much. Jae’s still… working on some things, but he’s happy, Bobby. You know? It’s like he can breathe finally. It’s nice.”
    “He seems better. More open,” Bobby admitted slowly. “It looks good on him.”
    “Feels fantastic, even if….” Cole trailed off, shaking his head. “I wish his mother didn’t draw so hard a line, but his sisters seem okay. Tiff’s come around, and he’s got support from Mike, Ichi, and Maddy. Scarlet’s great. Shit, without her—I don’t know how we would have made it. I need to buy her a car or something.”
    “She doesn’t drive.” He had to think about whenever he’d seen the Filipino man Jae called his nuna , but for the life of him, he couldn’t think of a single time he’d seen Scarlet behind the wheel of a car. “Does she even know how to drive?”
    “She says she can, but Jae tells me she’s bad at it.”
    “Hell, if Jae says someone’s a bad driver, that scares me she even gets into a car.” They laughed together, and Ichiro glanced over, catching Bobby’s gaze. His chuckle died in his chest, and the lust springing up from his groin set his insides on fire. Breaking the contact, Bobby reached for his beer, hoping the cold brew would quench the burning in him.
    “Really, dude, I’m serious, though. If there’s someone you ever want to bring over, just let me know. Don’t feel like you can’t drag someone around, okay?”
    “Trust me, Princess. There’s no one I want to drag around,” Bobby said through a gulp of his beer. “And there’s never going to be.”
     
     
    “H OW IS your arm?” Ichiro slipped into Korean as he smiled at a frizzy-haired woman going on about lavender and organic lemonade. “You look stiff.”
    “I’m okay. Sore a bit, but I caught Cole in the shower, so I’ve got an excuse if I get bruises later.” Jae rubbed