Page 48 of Mouth to Mouth

“That sounds perfect to me.” Hopefully that would give his stomach and nerves time to settle.

“Cool.” Luca jumped up to his feet before offering his hand to Brad.

Brad smiled while allowing Luca to haul him up.

Luca grunted.

Slipping an arm around Luca’s waist, Brad held him close, kissing Luca’s forehead. “Thank you, baby.”

Luca’s normally tan cheeks flushed red. “No problem.”

Brad stepped back, giving Luca space. He walked around the couch to the front door then held out his hand. “Ready?”

“Yeah.” Luca cleared his throat. “Yes.”

They held hands as they exited the apartment, while Luca locked up, and down the stairs. They’d barely reached the bottom when Luca groaned and tilted his face up to the sky.

“Baby?” Brad turned toward him.

“Just ignore them,” Luca whispered.

“Ignore?” Glancing over, Brad spotted James, Scott, Dawson, and Josh all pressed to the front window of the coffee shop, watching them. He barked out a laugh. Their friends were idiots.

“I’m going to kill them,” Luca muttered.

Brad squeezed Luca’s hand. “No killing our friends. Come on. We have plans and those do not include entertaining the dumbasses.”

“We can hear you!” Josh shouted from inside.

Luca and Brad flipped him off at the same time.

“Aww!” James squealed. “Look at them! That’s so cute.”

Brad shook his head, but those nerves that had been fluttering around his stomach? They were gone. Now Brad just wanted to get to know his boy better.

He led the way down the sidewalk in the direction of the beach and the favorite local restaurant nicknamed the Cantina. They had some of the best Mexican and seafood that Brad had tasted in town.

“So tell me about your family,” Brad said. “I didn’t even know you had a brother until he showed up.”

“More than one,” Luca said. “I come from a big, nosy, overbearing family. They love me but don’t understand me. Or why I moved here and wanted to make a life for myself.”

“Why’s that?” Brad asked, dying to learn more.

“I’m the first to leave,” Luca answered. “The family works with family. We have businesses all over town. My parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, they’re content to just work together. Share everything. There is literally no boundary that my family will not cross.”

Brad winced. He’d always thought that having a big family would be great. Maybe he should have thought about that a little more.

“How about you? Siblings? Parents?”

“One older brother, Ben. He’s two years older than me but is probably my best friend.” Really the only friend that Brad had left after the mess Jordan had made of his life.

“That’s nice. Are your parents still alive?” Luca asked.

“I’m sure we would have heard otherwise?” Brad shrugged. “We’re not close.”

“Not close?” Luca seemed confused. “Even as much as my family drives me crazy, I still talk to them once a week. Usually during family dinner on Sundays when I can talk to everyone.”

Oh shit. Brad had gotten that wrong. He figured Luca had stopped talking to his family the same way that he and Ben had. “My parents were fine. We weren’t abused or anything,” he hurriedly explained. “They didn’t even care when it turned out that I was gay and Ben bisexual.”