Free Melbourne Heat by Elizabeth Lapthorne Page B

I must be honest, it’s nice to have it all out there. As long as you’re still willing to continue, of course.”
    Spencer remained silent for a moment. He was willing, but last night he’d come up with a whole slew of questions he wished he’d thought to ask. But if he had to boil down all of his thoughts, concerns and questions, the answer was yes, he definitely wanted to continue the relationship. It still might crash and burn, but he’d always regret it if he gave up without trying.
    “I definitely want to still see you,” Spencer said. “And believe me, I have a ton of questions. I don’t want to bombard you with them, though, not here while I’m at work and I assume you are, too?”
    “Yeah, David’s on a different job and Geoff’s just ducked out for a smoke, so I only have a few minutes,” Charles explained.
    Spencer nodded. He expected the conversation would be better in person, anyway, not over the phone when they could both be interrupted at a moment’s notice.
    “The only stipulation I really have is I’d like to go slow.” Spencer scrunched his nose, the words not sounding as right aloud as they had earlier in his head. “I mean, just at a normal, regular pace, like we would have naturally if we hadn’t jumped in the deep end last night. I want to enjoy each step of us coming together, learning about each other. We only get to do these things once.”
    “I think I can understand that,” Charles said.
    Spencer could hear something in Charles’ tone, though.
    “I don’t want to ignore last night,” Spencer hastened to add. “Or pretend it didn’t happen. It did. And I can get my head around it. I’m just saying I don’t want to rush.”
    “No hiding, and no lies,” Charles said firmly. “I think that would be best. We let the pace dictate itself, but if you have worries, or if I want to clarify something, we’re upfront and honest. That’s what I’d like.”
    “That’s good,” Spencer said. “I agree with that.”
    “So what, exactly, does ‘rotten cook’ mean?” Charles asked.
    For a moment Spencer drew a blank. “What?”
    “Last night,” Charles continued when Spencer remained silent. “You said you were a rotten cook. How bad is that, or were you just being modest?”
    “Oh!” Spencer followed now. “I can cook a semi-decent lasagna and most of the time my roast lamb dinners are quite edible. Outside of that, though, I’m a sardines on toast kind of guy. Or a zap it in the microwave cook. There’s so many good, cheap places in the city to get food I’ve never really had the need to learn how to cook more than a couple of meals properly.”
    “I’ll enjoy trying your roast lamb one night,” Charles said. “But for tonight how about we go out again? There’s a great restaurant up on Lygon Street that does the best steaks you’ll have ever tasted. I’ll text you the time and details. How’s that sound?”
    “Good,” Spencer said. “Hey, look. I care about you. It’s been pretty intense and I don’t want to slam on the brakes. I’d like to see where it leads.”
    “I can definitely get on board with that.” Charles’ tone was deep.
    Spencer shivered. It did something to his spine, sank in his gut.
    “But that doesn’t mean I’m going to pretend to be sweetness and light for you. I enjoyed pushing your boundaries the other night, and I’ll probably continue to do so. It’s who I am.”
    Spencer grinned, turned on and intrigued at the same time.
    “I can take you,” he said with more cocky attitude than he really felt. “Bring it on, Charles. If you were some meek little pansy I bet I wouldn’t be so attracted to you. I’m a big boy. Do your best.”
    “Oh I will,” Charles laughed. His tone deepened even more. Spencer figured he wasn’t the only one who had a warm twitching in his crotch right now. “I’ll see you tonight, Spence.”
    “I’m looking forward to it,” he replied.
    They both hung up. Spencer blew out a big breath