Page 8 of The Fault Next Door

Lila shook her head, sadness filling her eyes. “It hit him hard. He still hasn’t dated anyone. Girls around town call him a hot catch.”

Nolan’s eyes widened as he stared at her. She shook her head.

“Not me. I don’t swing that way.” Lila checked her watch and grimaced. “Oof, I have to head out. Have a good weekend.”

“Thanks,” he said as she walked away. His mind went back over their conversation. Had Lila just told him she was into women? He wouldn’t ask her at the office, but if he ever had time away from work with her, he would find out.

He bought the beer and wine, then stored them in his refrigerator when he got home. He knew red wine wasn’t supposed to be served really cold, so he took it out of his refrigerator about twenty minutes before six.

He'd kept busy doing laundry and cleaning the countertops. When Ryder's truck rumbled into his driveway, Nolan almost burst with anticipation. He needed to calm down. This wasn't a date. The man had been atrocious to him, and he needed to keep that in mind. Maybe this was a setup to do something awful. He didn't think that was the case, but still, a sliver of fear slid through him. Back when he was younger, a group of guys had tricked him into going to a remote location with them. He'd survived, but their beating had stayed with him for a long while.

The doorbell rang, and he damn near jumped. He moved quickly to his door and checked the peephole first. Ryder stood outside, looking way too hot for just a friend. Nolan opened the door and tried for a smile, though he was nervous, a little fearful, and a bit turned on.

“Hey,” Nolan said as he met Ryder’s blue eyes.

“The steaks have been marinating all day, so they’re ready. Why don’t you come over when you can. I’m just going to jump in the shower and will be out on the back deck in a bit. Don’t let Mavis trick you into thinking she’s hungry. She’s got plenty of grass.”

He blinked at Ryder as confusion filled him. “Oh, okay.”

“Mavis is my cow. The goats will try to eat everything, including your clothes, so don’t get too close to the fence.”

“Sure. I’ll be over in just a bit.”

Ryder waved, then turned and took off across his yard. The thought of his neighbor in the shower made Nolan's heart speed up. He needed a glass of wine. He decided to grab his plastic wine tumbler and take it with him. There was no way he could wait to partake until Ryder made it out of the shower.

"The man had a wife. He's not gay," Nolan reminded himself so he didn't get too excited. He was looking forward to the evening, though he knew he had to watch himself. He couldn't let on that he was gay, or everything in his life would blow up.

Chapter 7

Ryder shouldn’t bethis excited about having dinner with his neighbor. Maybe it was the residual anger from last night finding relief because he was having dinner with someone he’d asked over, not someone his parents set him up with.

This wasn't a date, though. He'd never even thought of dating a guy before. Heck, Nolan would probably be pissed if he even joked about it.

As he soaped up his body, he brushed his hand over his hard cock, surprised a little that he was that hard. He decided to jack off quickly so Nolan didn't think it was for him. God, that would have been embarrassing. The thought of Nolan looking up at him with his dark eyes as he…what? He knew gay guys had anal sex, but what else was there? He pushed the thoughts of sex with a guy—Nolan—from his mind as he pulled on his shorts and a loose shirt. It had been a while, maybe when he was a teenager since he'd had a random hard-on—and this had to be random. He wasn't into guys, never had been. Besides, Amy's death had crashed his libido to subbasement levels. It was nice to have some desire sliding through his veins, though he wasn't sure where it was coming from.

He stepped outside in bare feet and saw that Nolan was by the fence petting Mavis. “Is she being a jerk?”

Nolan turned around, a smile on his face. "No, not at all." He chuckled as Mavis nudged him. "Though she did try to drink my wine. I had to go get a plate from my house to cover it."

Ryder glanced at the table and nodded. "Ah, yes, she'll do that. In France they give some of their meat cows wine to make the steaks taste better."

"You are joking?" Nolan gave Mavis one last scratch, then started walking over.

Ryder’s heartbeat sped up. What was wrong with him? It had to be excitement about the conversation, nothing else. “Not joking. They call it vinbovin. I don’t know if they’re still doing it, but it was a thing a few years ago.”

“Is Mavis a meat cow?”

Ryder chuckled. "Any cow can be a meat cow, but no, I'm not sending her to the slaughterhouse any time soon. My uncle, Steve, used Mavis as a milk cow for years. She's old, and he didn't have the heart to send her off to become burgers and steaks. I think she was his best friend. Anyway, part of me buying the place was a promise not to send Mavis off until she was ready to pass. She's old, around eighteen or so. So she'll live maybe another year or two."

“Wow, I didn’t know they lived such a short life.”

“Yeah, but she has it good. She gets treats and enjoys music. I have a speaker out in the barn that I put some smooth jazz on for her at times. She tends to like it. If she could live inside my house, I think she would. If I had a bed for her, she would love it.”

Nolan chuckled. “That would be messy.”

“Yeah. One of the goats got inside once while I was showering. It was awful. I had little goat pebbles all over my house.”

Nolan’s eyebrows bunched together. “Goat pebbles?”