Page 40 of Up All Night
“Hey, we served everyone in record time.” Sean clapped me on the shoulder, only to quickly drop his hand.
“Sean, your mother’s been looking for you.” Joe’s tone was back to friendly, but his eyes remained guarded. “She has someone she wants you to meet.”
“Dad,” Sean groaned, drawing the word out to ten syllables like Wren or Rowan might.
“It’s just a hello.” Joe gestured vaguely as Sean shot me a helpless look.
“I’m…” He took a deep breath and squared his shoulders. My body went walk-in freezer cold, muscles stiff and icy, heart pounding sluggishly. I must have made some noise because Sean glanced at me again.
“I’ll cover for you here,” I said far too quickly. My words were warm, but the expression on Sean’s face as he moved to follow his father was anything but. And I wasn’t at all surprised when Sean sought me out a short time later.
“What was that all about?” he asked as he came over to the bench where I was sitting. Suzy had pushed a plate of food on me, so I’d taken the opportunity to escape the tent for a bit of quiet. The park still teemed with people, but none were paying attention to Sean and me.
“What?”
“Practically joining my father in matchmaking.” Sean shook his head as he sat next to me. Not that I’d invited him, but I scooted over nonetheless.
“It wasn’t the time or place for anything else.” I kept my voice low but firm.
“Do you not want me to come out?” Typical Sean, going bluntly after the white elephant sitting between us. He’d been ready. I hadn’t.
And I couldn’t lie to him. “It’s complicated.”
“I see.”
“I don’t want to be responsible.” I stared down at my empty plate, watching a puddle of syrup spread out. Eric’s request from earlier echoed in my ears. I was failing already.
“You’re not responsible.” Sean’s face was somewhere between furious and hurt, neither of which I wanted. “I am. And other people’s reactions are on them, not either of us.”
“Yeah.” I wasn’t sure I bought a word of that. If Sean’s father reacted badly, that would certainly feel like my fault.
“Anyway, you probably need to get some shut-eye before your shift.” He moved his hand dismissively, voice as disappointed as I’d heard it.
Disappointed in me. The easy thing would be to walk away now, let him have his hurt and anger, and be glad I didn’t mess things up worse for him.
“Nope.” My head shook, joining my voice in, not waiting for permission from my brain. “I traded days with one of the other cooks. It’s my first Saturday off in forever. I was thinking we’d have some time after clean up.”
“You asked for a day off? To spend more time with me?” Sean made the simple act of a shift change sound like a rare gift. He smiled slowly. “Bet I have some ideas for how to fill the time.”
“I bet you do.” Sex wasn’t going to solve anything. It would probably make everything that much harder. Falling into bed rather than having the tough talk was a bad old habit of mine, but there was nowhere else I wanted to be with Sean. And maybe I couldn’t take care of him out here in the real world, but I could damn sure take care of him in the sack, be what we both needed, if only for a moment.
ChapterNineteen
Sean
“You made it.” As soon as Denver opened the exterior door of the house, I hefted myself off the floor near the door to his studio, where I’d been lounging all of thirty seconds.
“The traffic coming back from the park was unreal.” He tilted his head. “How’d you beat me?”
“Motivation.” Putting extra swagger in my voice, I blew across my knuckles.
“That, and you have friends with sirens.”
“I do.” Actually, I’d caught a ride with Eric and the kids. Since he had the day off, they had plans to do a family hike followed by a big shopping trip. Them being busy was perfect for my own plans with Denver. But Denver thinking I had superpowers was fine by me.
“Well, get in here.” Denver motioned me in ahead of him. As always, I went to slip off my shoes by the coat rack, but I barely had the second shoe off before Denver pressed me into the wall.
“What’s this?” I grinned at him, totally happy to be caught.