Saul put the bar menu down. “I’ll have the same, please.”
Barb smiled at him. “Sounds good. Can I see your ID, please?”
“Oh. Yeah.” The kid’s cheeks went pink, but Saul pulled out a bright green nylon wallet and showed her the ID in a clear plastic pocket on the outside.
She peered at it, looked at Saul and then nodded. “I’ll be right back, guys.”
Saul laughed softly and shook his head as he put the wallet away. “Every single time.”
“Relish it. One day you’ll be an old man like me.” He put his hat on the empty seat, brim up.
“Old man.” Saul snorted and tapped his temple. “Age is up here. You don’t have to be old if you don’t feel old.”
Only a young man would say that.
Still, he grinned over and nodded. “Fair enough. Have you been here before?”
“I have. How hungry are you? We could start with some small plates and then maybe have an entree. Or even split one. The empanadas are good, the tuna tartare… what do you like? Oh, they have these crispy potato things… oh, so good.”
“Mmm…crispy potatoes.” He let himself make the Homer Simpson noise, and it had a ring of truth to it. He ate one meal a day, as a rule, and he was starving.
“Oh, we’re so getting those. What do you think about the grilled asparagus?”
He pretty much let Saul do the choosing and listened to him talk about the Environmental Studies program at CU, and the degree the kid clearly wasn’t using. He was just glad when the food started to arrive.
“Carter says you’ve been working for him for ages, huh?” Saul pushed the plate of potatoes closer to him.
“Thank you, and yes, right at twenty years. He’s a good man.” A great friend and married to a wonderful, talented son of a bitch.
“He is. He seriously could have schooled me for being so clueless about where the two paths we were on intersected, but he was completely cool about it.”
He watched the way Saul sat, the way the guy cut the potatoes with the side of a fork, the way Saul smiled almost constantly. So easy going, totally comfortable, didn’t look the least bit guarded.
“Twenty years is a long time. You’re from Texas originally, right? How did you decide on Boulder?”
“It is and I am. Carter and Arnie were buddies and when I came up to visit, I ended up staying.” He’d been broken, and he’d brought Carter Arnie’s buckles, intending to just disappear into the mountains. He’d ended up sobbing between Carter and Geoff, and then he’d simply stayed.
Saul reached out and touched his hand again, same as the other day, fingers steady and warm, and the eyes that held his as earnest as they were blue. “They told me a little about Arnie. You should probably know that. I mean, not details, just that you lost him. I can’t imagine. I’m sorry.”
“Thank you. I appreciate it. It was a whole lifetime ago.” Lord, Arnie would have been fifty years old this year. He wondered if they’d still be together, if they’d have come up here.
“Well, maybe you’re ready for a new lifetime then.” There was that smile again, it wasn’t pity or kindness, it was just a kid looking to have some fun. Saul gave his hand a pat. “Come on, try those potatoes.”
They were fabulous—golden and crispy, dusted with salt and paprika—and the sight made his stomach gnaw on his backbone.
Oh, crunchy, creamy potato goodness.
“So… orgasmic?”
When he opened his eyes again, Saul was staring at him, the expression as heated as any he’d ever seen.
Troy knew his cheeks were glowing, but he nodded. “Yes, sir. They’re stunning.”
“I’m glad you like them.” Jesus, it didn’t take Saul a second to go from chatty twenty-something to… this. Saul’s look was knowing, and way beyond his years.
“You should try one.” God, his voice was hoarse, husky—bedroom voice, Geoff would call it.
“You think so?” Saul slowly reached toward him and sank a fork into one of the potatoes, then made a show for him, closing hungry lips around the bite and chewing. “Mmm. So good.”
“Turkey. They’re still better than sex.” He felt a little silly, really, but they were some of the best potatoes he’d had in a long time, and Saul was being good-natured with the tease.
Saul laughed. “Oh, no. They’re not better than sex.”
He let himself laugh along with Saul, because he could remember that feeling, very fondly. “Would you like a piece of the bread? It smells good.”
“Sure, thanks. So, what’s up with you and the guys? Are you like, a threesome? Is Carter your Dom?”
“What? No. No.” His eyes damn near bugged out of his head. Not usually. Only in an emergency. “Geoff and Carter are just dear friends.”
Hell, Geoff was the one who gave him what all he needed, helped him fly.
“Cool. Good.” Saul took a bite of the bread. “Good. You want another beer?”
“I’m okay. I’ll give it a minute or two.” Because getting loose right now? Bad.
“Don’t trust yourself around me huh? I understand. I get that a lot.” Saul gave him a bullshitter’s so-serious look.
“Totally. The last thing you need is a tipsy cook on your hands.” He saved that for one Sunday night a month. Him, Geoff, sometimes Travis or Kris. They got stupid, watched movies, talked for hours because neither he nor Geoff worked Mondays.
“Mm. Such a good set up. You really have no idea the one-liners I’ve kept to myself during this conversation.” Saul ate the last spear of asparagus and took the last sip of his beer.
“Uh-huh. That’s my superpower—setting up those comebacks.”
“Oh, so you want me to say I’d love to have you, tipsy or otherwise, on my hands?”
Troy chuckled, tickled as a man with a feather up his ass. “Lord have mercy. You are something else.”
Saul watched him. “Maybe. I’ve never really been like everyone else.”
He snorted. He had. In fact, he’d been three different people by the time he was twenty-five. “So, would you like to share an entree? Or just get more potatoes and something with protein?”
“I like the latter option I think. You like fish?”
Two plates of potatoes, shrimp, wee lamb chops, and a plate of seared tuna later, Saul waved down Barb for their check.
Fuck. Was he supposed to pay half? Was he not? Shit. He should have asked Geoff. “What’s my half of the damage, man?”
“You paid your half. You subjected yourself to my babbling for a whole evening.” Saul smiled. “It was my invitation, Troy. If you ask me out, you can treat then.”
Saul pulled out his wallet and put cash into the little black folder before he could see the total. “You are really good dinner company.”
“Thank you. You are too.” He surprised himself by genuinely meaning it. “Would you like to go for a walk or something?”
“Yes.” Oh, look at that smile. Sweet and young. “I had this idea and… well, there’s somewhere I want to take you.”
“A surprise? How cool. I’m in.” He couldn’t help but be curious about what would make Saul smile like that.