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The calculating grin on his face had me warily interested, because if nothing else the date would be a good chance to maybe learn more about Ezra.

  “I don’t know whether to be nervous or just plain scared from the excitement in your voice when you said that.”

  Leo let out a booming laugh at my honesty and I grinned back at him. He was an easy person to get along with, so maybe this date wouldn’t be so bad after all. Plus, it couldn’t hurt to become friends with Ezra’s best friend.

  “Actually, I happen to want Ez to give you a chance. So, we will use our date to help you plan yours, since nobody knows him better than me. For doing that, you will show up instead of me next Monday for lunch duty at Second Chance. Not that I hate volunteering, but I’m not much for the boring side of the operation. You should probably get to know the charity you donated to. Especially since it happens to be one of Ezra’s favorite places,” he explained quickly. He talked so fast and without pause, that it took every bit of concentration to keep up with him.

  “Sounds perfect,” I agreed, already mentally clearing my schedule. My mind couldn’t forget his vulnerability last night, it had me feeling like I wanted to whisk him away from whatever caused the shadows in his eyes. He seemed so fierce and headstrong, but I felt like I got a glimpse at some of his hidden layers. I completely ignored the fact that this thing with Ezra was already feeling more like a relationship than a mutual lust, but I knew it was only because the sexual tension between us was so high.

  “You know what, let’s go ahead and do it now, I don’t have to be back at work now, until after five, so I can close the store,” he said eagerly, pulling me to my feet.

  “Dude, I’m running a business here,” I protested, nervous about leaving Jax on his own. Sure it was empty now, but what if he got cornered by some douchebags again? Flashes of the patrons coping a feel on him had my blood boiling all over again. I knew he wasn’t as innocent as he seemed, but I had a feeling he was too nice to stop something until it was too late.

  “Yes, I’d hate to take you away from such a booming business,” Leo deadpanned, hand on his hip and his sassy face at full blast. I rolled my eyes and turned on my heels, seeking out Jax to see how he felt about it, as Leo strode toward the door. Technically the doors didn’t open for business for another few hours, so potentially I’d be back before he hit any kind of rush.

  “Hey, my date from the auction? He’s here to collect. You all right alone here until five?” He peeked out from the storage shelf and gave me an exasperated look.

  “I’ll try not to get too crazy in here,” Jax teased. “That cute blond, right? Have fun, playboy!”

  “Yes, he is blond. I’m more interested in my date with Ezra, though,” I admitted, loving the fluttering in my stomach as I remembered how fucking good he tasted. Plus, those sweet little moans just made it even better. Jax snorted and shook his head.

  “Go, Dad. Have fun,” he called, already shifting the bottles to restock another round of wine. I shook my head at the nickname, leaving him to his work.

  “You figure it out?” Leo asked, already at the door and tapping his foot impatiently. Here goes nothin’.

  I nodded in answer, but before I could manage to say anything Leo interrupted me.

  “First things first, do you have any date ideas?” he asked excitedly as he pulled me outside. I actually did have an idea, but I wasn’t sure if it was dumb. Ezra seemed like the romantic type and I wanted to make sure he enjoyed it. This date would be my one chance to show him that I was more than just a playboy.

  “I was thinking of taking him out to dinner on the boardwalk. It’s nice this time of year with the Christmas lights and decorations,” I mumbled, my cheeks heating a bit as I looked down.

  “Shut up, that’s adorable!” Leo squealed and clapped his hands. “That’s definitely an Ezra date. Just don’t feed him seafood, he’s not a fan.”

  “Noted!” I said, smiling now that he approved of my idea and at his enthusiasm. “How about Italian?”

  “That would work,” he said thoughtfully, “or that cute little steakhouse.”

  “The one by the Busy Bean? I love that place, their coffee is magical.”

  “So, tell me why you’re interested in my best friend.” His bluntness and quick subject changes startled me at first, but I was slowly getting used to it.

  “I think he’s adorable and sexy. I appreciate the fire he has. He’s never afraid to put me in my place, which I love. Plus, he’s genuine,” I said, smiling to myself as I remembered the first time he’d yelled at me over the noise violation.

  “Good answers, I approve. Well then, let’s get a coffee then go case the boardwalk,” Leo said excitedly, linking arms with me. He veered off to the coffee shop until his phone started blowing up with notifications. He let out a long sigh, flipping through his phone before giving me a pained look. “Pops needs some help moving furniture. You mind a detour, or should we reschedule?”

  “Let’s go help Pops,” I said, as he led the way to the antique shop. I loved that the old man was known as Pops to everyone. It was full of the small town vibes that I loved.

  Whatever image I had formed in my mind for his Pops, it was nothing like what was facing me as we stepped inside. The spritely old man threw a wave and a grunt our way, barely stopping on his conquest to slide bulky furniture around the spacious store.

  “Pops, you have to stop,” Leo yelled, throwing his stuff down and hurrying over. “Jasper King is here to help, you just boss us around.”

  “I just needed your opinion on it, Leo, I don’t need you to swoop in and save me. You’re half my size,” he grouched, throwing a scowl our way. Though it had little heat in it. I rolled my sleeves up and joined them, ready to help.

  “You’re Sheriff King’s boy?” Pops asked, glowering over at me.

  “Yes, sir, I am.” He gave a noncommittal noise, before finally conceding and barking orders. Apparently good old dad’s name held some sense of respect.

  “All right, fine. You two do the heavy lifting and leave the actual brain power work to me.”

  Leo rolled his eyes at Pops’ statement but I saw the small smile on his face at the teasing. That teasing didn’t stop as we followed directions for the next hour moving a dresser here, shifting it slightly left, then right. Just for Pops to decide that he wanted it on the other side of the display area. For such a small area it took much longer before we had each piece set up how he wanted it. From the looks of it I wasn’t the only one who had started to break a sweat before he was satisfied with the arrangement, but when Pops pulled out the decor to decorate the area Leo hurriedly ran to grab our jackets and hats.

  “All right Pops, it looks like you got it from here? I need to help Jasper here plan out the perfect date for Ez.”

  Shoving my jacket and hat into my hands, I took the cue to start bundling up.

  Pops gave him a mock glare. “You’re going to leave this old man to do all the actual hard work himself?”

  Leo gave him a brilliant smile as he ushered me out of the door, “Of course! You always do the decorating so much better than I can. They always say wisdom comes with age, maybe decorating skills come with it too?”

  Just before the door shut behind us I heard Pops give an indignant growl. “Boy, I’ll show you what comes with age. Be back in time to help me close, Leo! We need to go over the books again.”

  Leo gave me a smile as we walked away and looped his arm through mine again. “Looks like we have a few hours yet. So, what exactly are you thinking for this date?”

  I shook my head at him, but smiled all the same. Leo was one of those people that just had that undeniable energy to pull people to him and even I wasn’t unaffected by it. Hanging out with him would undoubtedly be a fun time.

  “I don’t have all the details worked out, but I was thinking we could just do a stroll along the boardwalk, window shop as we go, talk. If the weather is clear we should be able to see the boats lit up with Christmas lights. Then whe
n we need to warm up, we can stop at one of the restaurants?”

  I ended my idea in a question, since Leo knew Ezra better than I did. He seemed excited about my general idea of a walk, but without a solid plan, I wasn’t sure if he would still be on board. Apparently, I didn’t need to worry because Leo was grinning and nodding thoughtfully beside me.

  “That’s a perfect date in Ez’s book. Time to get to know each other, enjoy the town, and he’s a big fan of the lights so that’s perfect. And your plan is perfect for just going with the flow to see where the night goes. Maybe another blowjob in a back alleyway?”

  I laughed at his devious smirk and shook my head. “No need for another one of those moments. Next time I’d like it to be in the warmth of a bedroom or at least in a building, thank you very much.”

  “What, you don’t want Daddy King busting you for indecent exposure?”

  I groaned. “Please don’t ever call him that again.” Letting a shudder course through my body, I tried to get that name out of my head.

  Leo just laughed at my discomfort. “What? Your dad’s hot enough that I’d call him whatever he wanted me to. Including Daddy.”

  Turning on my heel I dropped his arm and started walking away. “Nope. No. I’m done with this conversation.”

  Leo laughingly sprinted to catch up with me and threw an arm around my shoulder, his eyes twinkling with delight.

  “You still owe me lunch before this date is over, big guy. No ditching me yet.”

  I let out a big sigh but didn’t try to untangle myself from his grip. We walked for a few minutes down the boardwalk taking in the small shops along the way and the softly lapping water as it hit the short under our feet.

  “In all seriousness, Ezra’s going to love this date when you take him. When is that going to be anyway?”

  That was a great question, the auction didn’t set a date of when it needed to be by and I knew our work schedules were pretty much opposite. Bringing up my mental calendar I thought over when I could step away from work.

  “Maybe next week sometime or the beginning of the following week? I need to see what days work for Ezra too.”

  “The bakery is always closed on Mondays, so those will be the days that he won’t be tired from working all day. But I’m sure he might still be up for other days too, if you didn’t stay out too late.”

  Leo looked contemplative as we walked back onto main street and I steered us toward Corny’s diner. I wasn’t sure what he liked to eat, but I felt like I’d seen him in there before. Plus, everyone liked diner food, right?

  “I think those times would work for Ez, if I’m remembering his schedule right. But you should try to work in some small dates before then. If you don’t spill off some of the sexual tension between the two of you, I swear people will combust, December weather or not. Oh, perfect... the diner. You know Ezra loves it here, you can always come here for your date.”

  The whiplash from following Leo’s train of thought had me speechless for a moment as I opened the door to let Leo inside out of the cold first. I wasn’t sure how to respond to his ramblings, but Corny didn’t seem to have that problem.

  “Yes, those two need to get laid. Dance the horizontal tango. Bump uglies. Do the dirty. And damn it’s about time you two got together. You’ve been circling each other like dogs in heat. Though we all have appreciated the prank war foreplay you and Ezra have been doing,” Corny teased, though if I didn’t know him I wouldn’t be able to tell with his amazing poker face.

  Kill me now. I’m not usually one to blush, but that did it. Not only was he saying it in a full restaurant, but in a loud voice so that everyone in the place could hear. Hell, probably the kitchen staff too from the sounds of chuckling filling the air.

  Leo laughed at the expression on my face and pulled me into a booth along the front windows.

  “He’s not wrong you know. It’s been killing me watching you guys go back and forth.”

  “Is that why you set him up to join the bachelor auction?” I asked as I took off my hat and jacket to throw it onto the seat beside me.

  He gave me an abashed look and shrugged. “Yeah, I threw him up there hoping you could win a date with him. I didn’t think there were that many creeps in our town that would up the bidding that much though.” I saw him shudder in memory of those older men.

  “I think some of them came from out of town, because I don’t remember seeing them around before.”

  Leo nodded. “Yeah I didn’t recognize any of them either. But I’m glad you jumped in.”

  I gave him a smile and a gentle kick under the table that had him looking at me with a shocked expression. “Next time you’ll have to let me in on the plotting, Leo.”

  His booming laugh filled the space between us and had me grinning at him. “Oh, we’re going to be friends, Jasper. I can see that.”

  I put on a mock affronted look. “I’m offended by the implication that you thought we wouldn’t be.”

  That set him off again until I started joining in. Leo’s laugh was one that made you want to start laughing too. We ordered burgers and fries for lunch and spent the rest of the time Leo had away from the shop talking and getting to know each other. Leo was a really interesting person who knew a little about a lot of things, sharing random facts and switching subjects at the drop of a hat. It was a lot of fun keeping pace with him.

  When our time was up, I paid for our food and walked him back to Pops’ shop a little ways down before heading back to the bar to check on Jax. As I was passing Made with Love, I caught sight of Ezra helping a few customers that were waiting in line and lifted a hand in greeting. Ezra didn’t return it, though I saw him looking at me when I passed by. Is he upset about the blowjob? It didn’t seem like it by the texts we’ve had over the past few days. But he seemed upset about something. I’ll text Leo and see if he can find out.

  I walked into the warmth of the Echo Bay Bar, rolling my eyes at the generic name before pulling out my phone. Mental note, time to give this bar a real name.

  Jasper: Just saw Ezra and he seemed upset about something. I’m not sure why. He seemed fine over text this morning.

  Leo: I’ll stop by tonight and check on him.

  I felt comfortable leaving it to Leo to see what was going on because I didn’t want Ezra to think I was overbearing. I was smiling as I walked fully into the bar to find Jax getting glasses ready for when we opened in thirty minutes and talking to my dad who was sitting there, out of uniform, sipping a Guinness.

  “Anything you need me to set up, Jax?”

  They both turned to me at the question, as I strode toward the bar.

  “No, I think I have everything ready to go. While you check it over, you mind if I take a quick breather before we open?”

  “You’ve earned it. Go ahead and just come back right before I unlock.” I waved him on and watched as he went out through the back door.

  I turned to find my father watching the door close behind Jax before turning to face me.

  “So, Son, I hear you’re finally going to be dancing the horizontal tango with Ezra, huh?”

  The laughter in his voice made me groan and lay my head against the bar top. “Everyone was at the diner when he said that, weren’t they?”

  My dad was chuckling as he took another sip of stout. “Probably. It’s a small town. People hear everything.”

  Ezra

  As the last customer left and I flipped the sign from open to close, I let out the angry sigh I’d been holding back. I couldn’t even process all of the conflicting emotions I had swirling through me like a hurricane. Leo and Jasper walking into the diner together, arm in arm. I might not have been surprised that Jasper was seeing someone else, it was stupid to think a playboy would give it all up for me. I was hardly special. But Leo? He was my best friend and knew exactly how I felt about Jasper, even before I was ready to admit that to myself.

  Betrayal made my chest ache, my thoughts spiraling despite my best efforts to quell the
m. It could have been friendly, but Leo didn’t even know who Jasper was before all this. What if the guy I wanted fell for my way hotter and more outgoing best friend, instead? Everyone leaves eventually, so I shouldn’t be all that surprised they’d leave me behind.

  I mopped the floors with extra vigor, taking out my conflicting emotions on every surface of my bakery. By the time the entire place was buffed and sparkling, I still didn’t feel any better. Part of me wished I could march next door for a few shots, but that wouldn’t end well.

  My thoughts strayed to Jasper’s mouth on mine in the back alley, my anger and betrayal morphing into a hot wave of lust. I walked to the front and leaned my head on the counter, trying to ground myself before locking up and shutting off the lights. Before I even took two breaths, a quick knock landed on the door before it swung open and Leo was rushing in out of the cold.

  “Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked, a frown pulling down the corners of his mouth as he took in the rearranged shelves and pristine surfaces, then glanced at my sweaty face and slumped shoulders. “You were rage cleaning? Talk to me.”

  “Don’t get bossy,” I huffed, throwing the dirty rag in the small hamper I kept around for the rags and aprons.

  “Don’t be evasive.” He raised one eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest, cocking a hip to the side. He was the picture of sassy confidence. I rolled my eyes but he didn’t relent.

  “I saw you and Jasper walking,” I started, but he just let out a small laugh.

  “And?”

  “And, what were you doing?” I asked, letting my mask of indifference slip away, the hurt taking its place.

  “Just talking to a new friend.”

  “A new friend you were hanging all over then laughing it up at the diner hours later?”

  Leo looked at me with dawning realization.“I don’t have feelings for Jasper, Ez. I would never do that to you,” he said, a hint of hurt in his voice that brought me right back to reality.

  “Fuck,” I cursed under my breath, turning and slipping down to the floor, in a full on emotional crash. “I’m sorry.”