No Sacrifice Page 23

Chance’s head snapped up. “Go… out with you?” he asked, blinking. “You… want to date me?”

  Patrick nodded. “Yes. I….” He gave a small, lopsided smile that did funny things to Chance’s insides. “Well, I want to do more than date you. But dating’s a start.”

  Chance simply was not capable of deciphering that at the moment, not with everything else, so he put it away for later. “I… yes. I’ll go out with you. I….” He shook his head, at a loss, but Patrick’s smile in response was huge and bright and undoubtedly matched the one he was sure was on his own face.

  Patrick stepped up, closing the distance, and reached up with one hand to cup Chance’s cheek. He brushed his thumb over the stubble there. “Rougher than I imagined. I like it,” Patrick whispered and, before Chance could register the comment completely, caught his lips in a kiss.

  Chance was pretty sure the world did some kind of funny tilt, because he was suddenly, completely off balance, floored, just shocked. Patrick… was kissing him.

  Patrick was kissing him!

  He managed to cobble together enough wits to return it. He wrapped his arms around Patrick, pulling until they were tight against each other. He could feel Patrick from chest to knee, and it felt incredible.

  And holding Patrick opened something in Chance. He barely registered Patrick’s other arm going around him and the hand on his face sliding up into his hair—he was too lost in the feel of this man in his arms, against him. They tilted their heads a little more, and then Chance felt Patrick’s tongue slide over his lips. He opened, and then he was tasting… tasting this man, tasting Patrick.

  He’d never felt, never tasted anything like it before in his life. He was far from being a virgin, but nothing had been this. It was like Patrick filled every corner of Chance’s mind, every little bit, until Chance couldn’t think of anything else. He didn’t want to either. He felt in that moment like he could do this forever, just stay there, in Patrick’s arms, kissing. He could just live on this, on the kisses, the taste of Patrick, breathing that scent, and nothing else, that this could sustain him, be all he’d ever need.

  Patrick knew this was where he belonged. All he’d done with Rhys that evening was forgotten. Anything he’d felt before—from anyone—paled in comparison to what he was feeling now with Chance. This man felt right. Perfect, in a way no one else ever had—not even Emily.

  The roughness of Chance’s five o’clock shadow against his chin felt good—much better than Rhys’s had earlier, though realistically Patrick knew it couldn’t have felt that differently. The arms around him, holding him so tight and so firmly against Chance’s body, felt like home. It was like there’d never been another place for him and never would be.

  The taste of Chance filled him as their tongues slid, the kiss deepening. Despite what he’d done earlier, Patrick felt himself reacting to the kiss, the feel of Chance against him. He couldn’t have moved for anything, though, couldn’t break the kiss. It was like Chance was what he needed to simply be. He could feel Chance’s reaction too, and it felt good to know he was affecting Chance the same way. He didn’t want to stop, didn’t want to let go for anything.

  Until they heard clapping and a “Yay!” in a child’s voice. They broke apart and looked over at the same time to see Avery standing on the couch, huge grin on his face. “Yay!” he cheered again, and Patrick and Chance both laughed.

  “I thought you were sleeping, Squirt,” Chance said, and Patrick noted he hadn’t let go yet.

  “Not tired,” Avery said, then ruined it by yawning. “Da? Can I stay with Chance?”

  “Uh… I’m afraid not, Stinker. Chance has to work tomorrow.” He was as reluctant to move as Chance seemed to be.

  Avery pouted. “Can he stay with us, then?”

  Patrick groaned and closed his eyes, cheeks turning red, but Chance just squeezed Patrick a little and chuckled. “How about this, Squirt. We’ll stay together this weekend sometime, okay?”

  Avery continued to frown but grudgingly said, “Okay.”

  Patrick looked up at him and raised an eyebrow. “With any luck, the shoot’s over on Wednesday. I’ll have a few days off then,” Chance explained, though Patrick realized he made no comment about where he’d sleep.

  Avery held his arms out, and reluctantly Patrick let go. He paused, though, and with a sheepish smile at Chance, dropped another kiss on one cheek before turning to get his son. When he picked Avery up, he turned them to look at Chance again. “So, is it okay that I was kissing Chance?” he asked.

  Avery nodded vigorously. “Yes! I like Chance. Is he going to be my da too? Jason has two daddies.”

  “Jason?” Patrick asked, thrown off by the question.

  “He went to my school when I lived with Mommy.”

  Patrick blinked and couldn’t quite look at Chance, at a complete loss for what to say. It was a big jump from asking Chance out on a date and asking the man to be daddy to Avery. He knew what he wanted, but he wasn’t about to bring that up with Chance. Not yet, anyway.

  But before he could say anything, Chance spoke. “Maybe, Squirt.” Chance reached up and ruffled Avery’s hair. It seemed to appease the child, and Patrick breathed a small sigh of relief.

  “Well, uh… we should go.” He looked up to see Chance’s gaze on him. “Uh… when do you want to go out?”

  “Let’s see how Wednesday goes. I’ll call you when I know if we’ll be done.”

  “Don’t you have to play at Sophia’s?” Patrick asked. “Not that I don’t want to go out then….”

  Chance shook his head. “I already told her I wasn’t coming in this week. I didn’t know how late I’d be, and even if it was early, I knew I wouldn’t want to go play that night.”

  “Okay. Wednesday, then,” he said, grinning, thrilled that it looked like Chance was as anxious to go out as he was.

  “Is that… too soon?” Chance asked, and Patrick tilted his head a little at the bitten lip and fidget.

  He smiled and shook his head. “Nope. I’d take you tomorrow if you didn’t have to work on Wednesday.”

  Chance smiled. “Okay, good.”

  They moved over to the door, and Chance opened it for them. Patrick turned back to him and found himself ridiculously unsure of what to do. He wanted to kiss Chance again but didn’t know if he should. “Um….” Chance solved it by leaning in and leaving a soft kiss on Patrick’s lips. Before he could pull away, Patrick returned it. When they broke apart, Patrick whispered, “You taste good.”

  Chance smiled. “So do you.” They stared at each other for another moment when Avery spoke again.

  “Can I have one too, Chance?”

  Chance grinned, turned to Avery, and left a kiss on the boy’s cheek. “How is that?”

  “Yay!” Avery said, then leaned forward until he could kiss Chance too. “Night, Chance!”

  “Night, Squirt.” He looked at Patrick. “See you soon.”

  It reminded Patrick of Rhys’s parting words earlier, but unlike then, when he’d been uncomfortable from them, these made him feel good. “See you. Have a good day tomorrow.”

  “Thanks,” Chance said.

  With another look at Chance, at the wide smile and gorgeous blue eyes, he turned and stepped through the door. Wednesday couldn’t get there soon enough.

  In a mocking reversal of the wait for his evening with Rhys, the day and a half Patrick spent waiting for his date with Chance seemed to take forever to pass. His only saving grace was that he had a bunch of things to do.

  He was still working on finding a preschool and pediatrician for Avery. He was trying to find time to fit in cooking lessons. He still didn’t know who was going to watch his son for his date. And he was trying to actually plan the date, which was something he’d done very rarely in his life, so far.

  It was, unfortunately, too late to ask Marcy, who was working. Sophia, of course, was out, as she was at the club. Angelo and Sebastian were both out of town. Patrick’s options had run out. It really hit home h
ow few friends he had. And the lack of family was even more obvious to him.

  When he texted Chance with the bad news, however, he got a surprise in reply: Chance called. “Hello?” Patrick said. He had no idea what to expect but was nervous Chance was going to just call it off.

  “Hi,” Chance replied. “I considered just texting back, but I had a short break, so I thought I’d call. We’re running late tonight, but it looks like we’ll be finishing.”

  “Oh, great!”

  “Yeah. No idea when I’ll get home, but at least I won’t have to come back tomorrow. The pay on this one was good, but the director was a dick.”

  Patrick winced. “I can empathize.”

  “I know you can,” Chance said, chuckling. “Listen, why don’t we just take Avery along tomorrow?”

  Patrick blinked, having never considered that. “Are… are you sure?”

  “Hey, you’re a package deal. I get that. Besides, he’s a great kid. I’m sure he’ll be fine.”

  “Well, okay, then. If you’re sure,” Patrick said with a grin.

  “I am. I won’t be able to stop by tonight, so say good night for me?”

  “Sure. Um…. Pick you up at six thirty tomorrow?”

  Patrick could hear the smile in Chance’s voice. “Sounds good. See you.”

  By the time Patrick hung up, there was a huge grin on his face, and the plans were already forming for the next day.

  Thankfully, with having to get Avery ready as well as himself, the day went by much faster than he’d expected. He’d had to take Avery shopping, then get his son to nap, which took a near Herculean effort. Patrick finally convinced Avery that if he didn’t nap, he’d fall asleep during the date, which Avery patently did not want to do.

  He needed the time to calm himself down and get ready. He’d nicked himself shaving and decided he was just way too wound up to go out like that. So once he was in the shower, he’d made sure to masturbate, though in the end he didn’t think it helped all that much. He was still a nervous wreck.

  He got his mind off things for a while as he wrestled Avery into the bath. Patrick tried to explain he’d want to look his best for his date with Chance, and eventually Avery acquiesced. He’d then insisted on “shaving,” but finally both looked presentable. Patrick had been smart enough to not get dressed until Avery was, not wanting to ruin the clothes he’d picked out.

  He would not want to do that for every date. He was determined the next time they went on an official date it would be without the boy. But Avery was ridiculously excited and happy, and Patrick couldn’t have disappointed him for anything. Avery chattered away from the middle of Patrick’s bed, asking a million questions, from “Why are you wearing those underwear?”—since Patrick had decided this was an appropriate time to wear the brief black pair—to “Why don’t I have black shoes too?” and “When are we leaving?” and “Where are we going?” until Patrick had nearly gone insane.

  Finally, he was dressed and they were ready to go, and not a moment too soon. At six thirty on the nose, Avery stood in front of Chance’s door, and Patrick took a spot off to the side to watch. Avery knocked, clutching their gift for Chance in his left hand. That had taken some thought. Patrick, the few times he’d taken Emily and his other girlfriends out, had brought them flowers. He didn’t think Chance was a flower kind of guy, so he wasn’t quite sure what to do, though he wanted to do something. Avery was the one who’d spotted their gift while they’d been out earlier, and as soon as his son held it up, he knew it was perfect.

  Chance opened the door, and Patrick watched the grin spread as he looked down at Avery. “Hi, Chance! I’m here for our date!” Avery held up a stuffed red dragon. Its wings were folded back against its body, its mouth was open, tongue hanging down, and the long tail curled over its back.

  Chance squatted down in front of Avery and took it, looking it over. “Hello to you! This is great! Thank you.”

  Avery beamed and threw himself into Chance’s arms. “You’re welcome! I picked it out.”

  Chance hugged him hard, and Patrick watched the blue eyes close briefly. “I love it. Why don’t you go put it on my bed, Squirt?”

  “Okay, Chance!” Avery took the dragon and ran into the apartment.

  Chance stood and turned to Patrick. “Hi.”

  “Hi, yourself. You look great,” Patrick said, and he meant it. Chance wore well-fitting jeans that looked almost new, a deep red short-sleeved, button-down shirt that clung in just the right ways, and black dress shoes of some sort. Patrick couldn’t tell very well in the shadows of the hallway, but it didn’t matter. All Patrick could think about was trying not to stare and make himself uncomfortable.

  “Thanks. You do too. I like the shirt.”

  Patrick glanced down at himself, momentarily forgetting what he’d picked out, then remembered the green that matched Avery’s. It too was a button-down in silk, and he was now very glad he’d picked it. “Thanks.” Before he could say more or do anything else—like act on the impulse to kiss Chance—Avery was back. “So, are you ready?”

  “Yup.” Chance hit the light switch inside the door, then paused to lock it. He picked Avery up, and they started down the stairs.

  Patrick didn’t listen to Avery’s chatter. He was too nervous, though he knew he was being ridiculous. There was no reason to be nervous. This was Chance. They’d been friends for months and spent plenty of time together. But that didn’t seem to calm him down and even made it a little worse. Before he realized it, they were next to his blue Mazda. He’d bought the little four-door as a compromise between an attempt at sporty while still being big enough to fit Avery into. He reached out to take Avery, but Chance just smiled. “I can put him in.”

  After buckling Avery into the car seat on the passenger side, he stood, and Patrick smiled at the look of surprise on Chance’s face when he saw Patrick holding his door. “You… didn’t have to do that.”

  “Why not? I asked you on a date, right? I’d do it for anyone else.”

  “Thanks,” Chance whispered, cheeks coloring a little.

  Patrick’s smile widened, and he leaned in, unable to resist another moment. Their lips met, and though it wasn’t long or deep, it felt so good to Patrick. When he pulled back, Chance seemed to be struggling for breath almost as much as he was. “I’ve been wanting to do that since Monday,” Patrick whispered.

  “Me too.”

  They stood there for a long moment, staring at each other, until Avery called from the backseat. “Da! Let’s go!”

  Patrick and Chance chuckled as Chance climbed into the car and Patrick closed the door.

  He’d done quite a bit of research to find just the right place, and as they drove up into the hills above Burbank, he hoped he’d picked well. He’d called to make a reservation before they decided to bring Avery, so he hoped they had space for his son. He took the turn into the private drive for the restaurant and thought he heard Chance gasp. He hid his smile as he focused on navigating the curvy road.

  When they pulled up to the valet, he climbed out and came around to get Avery, but Chance was already unbuckling him. After taking the valet ticket, they each took one of Avery’s hands, crossed the small road to the entrance, and climbed the short set of brick stairs. Tropical plants filled the small spaces on either side of the walkway leading up to the wooden double doors. Patrick pulled one open for Chance, and they filed into the entryway.

  It looked like something out of an Italian villa, with warm beige walls, brick trim, and dark red tile on the floor. Cozy groupings of sofas and chairs took up spots in two corners, a small fountain gurgled in the center, a wine rack filled another wall, and at the end, a hostess stood in a short black dress behind a dark wooden podium. “Good evening and welcome to The Castaway. Do you have reservations this evening?”

  Patrick stepped up to her and smiled. “We do, but I’m afraid when I made them, I didn’t know that my son would be with us.”

  “Let’s see. What name is it u
nder?” she asked, looking down at her book.

  “Tearney. Patrick Tearney.”

  Her head snapped up, and she smiled widely. “From Deception?”

  Patrick blushed and glanced at Chance, who was grinning at him. “Uh, yes, actually.” He would have thought, given the fact it was Southern California, they’d be used to actors—minor or otherwise—in their restaurant.

  Apparently not. She beamed at him. “Welcome! Welcome! I love your show! Let’s see… I see your reservation here, but hmm… that one won’t do. Would you prefer the patio? Or a window seat?”

  Patrick still hadn’t gotten used to being recognized, and it took him a second to answer. He glanced at Chance, who shrugged, still grinning, and Patrick was sure part of that was at Patrick’s discomfort. Patrick threw a narrowed glance at Chance, but that only seemed to make the grin widen.

  He turned his attention back to the hostess. The patio sounded nice, but looking through the window and seeing the railing, Patrick had a nightmarish vision of Avery trying to dive over the side. “Uh, window, please.”

  “Of course. This way,” she said, pulling menus out of a pocket, then turning toward the main part of the restaurant.

  They followed her as she wove between round white-clothed tables crowded together in the dining room, those closest to the windows the only ones filled yet. Along the interior brick wall, Patrick saw four half-circle booths taking up their own nooks, two containing couples focused only on each other. She led them past these, down two short steps, and to a smaller square corner table that had what was probably the best view in the room. The other three walls were solid window, looking out over the valley below. Directly across, they could see downtown Los Angeles peeking above the hills, and lights twinkled on as the sun sunk below the horizon. “Will this do?”

  Will it do? Patrick managed to nod and smile. “Yes, thank you. It’s great. Do you, by chance, have a booster seat?”

  “Of course. I’ll be right back.” She hurried off and, seconds later, returned with a small red plastic seat. Patrick set it in a chair, and Chance lifted Avery into it, then started to sit across from Avery, next to Patrick.