Free Sunset Hearts by Macy Largo Page B

Not with her around. He just hoped she didn’t stay very long.
    “Thanks.” Alan put the phone back to his ear. “Yeah, meet me at the marina at seven sharp. Great! See you there.” He gave Jerald a peck on the cheek as he sat at the table again. “Thank you.”
    “Yeah, no problem.”
    Jerald took care of the dishes while Alan helped her take a bath and get settled in bed. If Jerald could pick a descriptor to label Alan, girlie would be at the bottom of the list, but caretaker would be at the top. Jerald hoped Alan didn’t get in too deep with this girl. Not that he worried about him romantically, but attracting any kind of attention from the Scorsini family was not a good idea.
    Hopefully she’d tip her hand soon enough. Then Jerald could use that to force Alan to see reason.
    When Alan returned to the kitchen, he wrapped his arms around Jerald’s waist and kissed the back of his neck. “You are the best. You know that?”
    “Why?”
    “Why, my ass. Do I have to embarrass you and say it?”
    He finished rinsing the last plate and dried his hands. “Please, don’t.”
    “So we can move you in tomorrow afternoon after my charter?”
    Jerald took a deep breath. “We need to hold off on that.”
    Alan studied him. “You’re not pulling some passive aggressive bullshit and holding that over my head so I’ll get rid of her, are you?”
    Yes. “No! Jesus, I just…” He tried to think of a way to get through this without starting another fight. “It took me what, two years of you working on me to get me to agree to move in. I’m not like you. I can’t just jump right in with open arms like you can. Maybe after I get to know her better I’ll feel more comfortable. I need time to get used to having a stranger around.”
    Alan crossed his arms in front of him. “So this means I’m not getting laid in the foreseeable future.”
    “You know, you can come over to my place and spend the night.”
    “And spend an hour hunting for my clothes in the morning after the rats have carted them away? I think not.”
    “It was one raccoon, and I told you, it’s gone. My trailer’s not that bad.”
    “It’s not that good, either.”
    It was already after eight. Normally they would have tumbled into bed by now and been halfway to getting laid or going to sleep. He didn’t want to piss Alan off, but he didn’t want to sit on the couch and end up with a worse case of blue balls than he already had.
    Jerald leaned against the counter. “I’ll come by in the morning and stay with her,” he said. “Maybe you and I can go out for dinner or something tomorrow night.”
    “I wouldn’t feel right leaving her here alone.”
    Of course you wouldn’t. He pushed away from the counter and headed for the door. “I’ll see you in the morning, then.”
    Alan caught his arm. “So this is how it’s going to be between us from now on?”
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
    “Oh, bullshit you don’t. You’re pissed because I won’t toss her out on her ass. The doctor told her she should stay off her feet as much as possible for a few days until the worst of her cuts heal. You don’t expect me to kick her out unable to walk, do you?”
    Jerald knew he shouldn’t say it. Still, he couldn’t stop himself. “I expect you won’t kick her out at all. It’s your house. I don’t have any say about what you do in it.”
    Alan let go of him as if he’d been scalded, shock on his face. “That’s not fair.”
    “I don’t want to fight with you about this, about her. Let’s not do this, okay? I’ll see you tomorrow.” He leaned in to kiss him, but Alan leaned away.
    Jerald found he was getting pretty good at not slamming doors even when he really, really wanted to. He stalked out of Alan’s house and managed to not squeal the tires when he pulled out. He stewed all the way home. An hour later, he lay in bed, watching TV, when his cell rang. He felt tempted not to answer, but it wasn’t worth