On cue, he raised an eyebrow. “Then what is it? I’m not asking you to define yourself, I’m just confused as to why you look like you’ve been caught doing something wrong.”
“I haven’t done anything.”
“Would you want to do something with Cole if the opportunity came up?”
The conversation was skirting too close to reality. If I was going to talk to anyone about this stuff, it would probably be Angelo, but the mere thought of it was giving me hives.
Irritated, I shrugged out of my coat again. My phone clattered to the floor. Angelo glanced at it, smirkingagain. If he hadn’t been sick, I’d have punched him. Maybe. I didn’t dig violence.
I crouched to scoop up my phone. The screen was lit up with a text message.
Cole:I’m free tonight
Ten points to Angelo.
7
Cole
I opened the door to Toby exactly four hours after I’d last seen him, bare-chested and dripping wet, with a pretty Italian on his knees at his feet. There were no words to describe the possessive growl I’d carried in my chest since then. It was lunacy. And totally inexplicable. I’d kissed Toby twice. I had no claim to him and never would. If he wanted to get sucked off by Angelo—
“Cole?”
My brain caught up with reality. Toby was still on the doorstep and I was glaring at him as if my twisted take on what I’d seen in Joe’s kitchen was actually true.Twat. If it was true, he wouldn’t be here, remember?
I grabbed his hand and tugged him inside.The door shut with a rattle behind him. He frowned. “I need to fix that.”
“Not right now. Come on.”
“Where?”
“Inside, mate. Unless you want to hang out in the hallway?”
Toby followed me into the living room. “What’s that smell?”
“Either my cooking or the oil diffuser over there.”
I pointed to the small lamp in the corner that huffed out clouds of frankincense and ylang-ylang-scented steam. Toby’s gorgeous eyes lit up with curiosity and he ambled over, some of the tension leaving his slim shoulders.
“This is really cool. Where did you get it?”
“Can’t remember. Camden, maybe? You can get them on Amazon, though.”
Toby lowered his face into a cloud of steam. I bit my lip, wondering if the oils would have the effect touted on the labels. I hadn’t deliberately chosen scents with reported aphrodisiac properties, but... yeah. There were a dozen others I could’ve used.
“So nice.” Toby breathed deeply. “My mum was obsessed with scented candles. She’d have loved this.”
“Were you close to her?”
“Sometimes. More so after my dad died. He didn’t really like me.”
He said it so matter of factly.
I shook my head. “How could anyone not like you?”
Toby snorted. “I wasn’t exactly the strapping son he’d dreamt of.”
“You’re like ten feet tall and strong as a fucking ox. What more did he want?”