Course Correction by Mia West

Author:Mia West [West, Mia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mia West

Chapter Eleven

Pop liked having Landry—Nate—in the kitchen. For one thing, he was someone other than Gil.

Pop didn’t get out a lot these days, but he’d been a social guy once. Back when Gil’s mom was alive, she and Pop would go dancing. And he’d met his guys every week at one house or another so they could watch a game. Not so much now, and it showed. He was peppering Nate with questions. And Nate was a good sport, keeping up with the barrage.

Tonight he had on khaki pants and a button-down shirt, and Gil figured they were for Pop. Nate treated him respectfully, calling him sir and asking questions back that gave Pop a chance to brag a little. And Pop was eating it up. Gil was in for an earful about all the things he could learn from Nate after he left.

But the two men were occupied right now, so Gil leaned back in his chair and sipped his beer, and took his own opportunity to admire Nate as he cooked.

He’d forgone a tie and rolled up his sleeves, which gave Gil a nice view of his forearms. Nate was tall and just this side of wiry. The Espinozas were bulky men, making Nate’s more slender build kind of exotic in this kitchen. He had long fingers that could have been mistaken for delicate by anyone who hadn’t spent the past few weeks getting grabbed in dark corners by those hands. There were permanent tender spots on Gil’s skin that had Nate’s name all over them.

More than their strength, though, was the sureness in most of what Nate did with his hands. Gil saw it every day at work, but even here in someone else’s kitchen he moved with confidence. His shoulders looked relaxed too, almost graceful, as he chopped stuff and stirred it around in the pan.

Which naturally drew Gil’s eye farther down Nate’s body. He wore a leather belt, and Gil guessed that was out of habit. These khaki pants didn’t look like they’d fall off without the belt, but Gil couldn’t help noticing how the strip of leather defined exactly how narrow Nate’s waist was. Gil especially liked how the belt canted slightly when Nate shifted his weight. When he did that, the belt would rise on one side and underneath…

Well, it was spectacular, to be honest.

“Eh!” Pop snapped his fingers in Gil’s face. “Set the table, Romeo.”

Gil stood and crossed to the dish cabinet. Nate had his lips pursed, but he looked sideways and winked.

Gil started to whistle.

“Not the whistling,” Pop complained. “Break him of this habit, Lieutenant.”

“How?”

“Order him!”

“I’m afraid I’m off-duty, sir.”

Gil pointed at Pop. “Ha.”

Pop waved him off. “Ha, yourself. So what spices you using there, Landry?”

He kept on with the questions, and Nate kept answering, and Gil’s chest was about to fucking burst. He hadn’t seen Pop so lively in a long time. Maybe he’d talk to his dad’s buddy Manny and get the guys over for a game or something.

Dinner was slightly quieter, but mostly because Pop was busy eating.

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