You & Me: An M|M Single Dads Romance by Tal Bauer

Author:Tal Bauer [Bauer, Tal]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-03-29T16:00:00+00:00

5:00 p.m. was an eternity away. And then it arrived way too quickly.

I was infinitely more nervous for the art walk than I’d been for our date at Juice & Butter. All that fretting and worrying over trying to look as sophisticated as Landon. I’d wanted him to look at me and like what he saw, and I still did, but everything I put on looked like I was trying too hard.

One of the sweaters cut for a ten-year-old fit. Cheri was right, too. It did cling to all the good parts I had. My waist looked tiny—because it was—and the fabric made an illusion out of the width of my shoulders. I looked, at least a little bit, like I had a decent body. I slipped into the slim-fit jeans she’d sold me, pulled on my boots, and brushed my teeth.

Hey, Google, I thought. How do you break your own heart first so someone else can’t?

At exactly 5:00 p.m., I rang Landon’s doorbell. A minute later, we were walking toward downtown. He was in dark, snug jeans and a cream Henley. So simple. So devastating. He wore the same cologne from Tuesday, and every breath I took brought more of it inside of me. I was getting drunk on the smell of him, the sight of him. I kept my hands in my pockets and curled my fingers into my thighs to stop myself from reaching out and taking his hand.

“How are you?” Landon asked. I hadn’t said a word except hey when he’d opened the door.

“I’m good!” I tried to smile. I probably looked like a chimpanzee doing a fear grimace.

I wasn’t good. I was terrified. How had I acted before last night? How had I been around Landon when he was my best friend and not the man I’d fallen for? I was desperately trying to fake that I didn’t want him with everything I was. All I was doing was being silent and moody like I’d turned into Emmet.

This distance wasn’t natural. Holding back felt like I was peeling scabs off my skin before they’d healed.

We made it downtown without me blurting out my secret, which I counted as a victory. Landon talked about the revitalization of Old Town and pointed out houses that had been renovated or knocked down and rebuilt to mimic the old-timey look. I nodded along, and as soon as we arrived, I led Landon to the nearest outdoor bar. “Two glasses of wine,” I said, slapping down a twenty. “Your strongest, most intense.”

“Got a malbec,” the bartender said. He was a burly man in blue jeans, a plaid dress shirt, and a gray Stetson. “That strong enough?”

“Sure.” I resisted the urge to ask for a double. Or a triple. And I resisted knocking it back like a shot. I toasted Landon before we set off across the street, in front of the band that was still setting up, and toward the outdoor gallery exhibits.

He clung to me like glue. I’d promised

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