Page 37 of Bull's Boy

“Ollie,” Malcolm confessed without hesitation. He was sure his new friend wouldn’t be mad. “It was literally like the first thing he said to me.”

Bull sighed heavily, his big hands sliding up to Malcolm’s hips and staying there, his grip light but noticeable through the thin shirt. “Six sure has a wild one with him.”

That seemed like an understatement to Malcolm, but he didn’t want to talk about them. “It’s true though, right?”

“Yes, it’s true. Most people assume it’s because of how—” He gestured at himself in a vague way.

“Tall and muscular, you are,” Malcolm finished, and for some reason, Bull started to blush a little.

“Yeah, I guess.”

“You guess?” Malcolm asked and clapped his hands on Bull’s massive shoulders. “Look at these beasts. You’re built like a tank.”

That made Bull laugh for some reason, but he just shook his head at Malcolm’s questioning look. “I was always the biggest guy in the room, taking up all the space. Luckily, my moms let me play any sport I was interested in, which was pretty much all of them, so my size became an asset.”

“Did you play any sports in college?” He could totally imagine Bull moving around campus, embarrassed at all the attention he got by being some star footballer.

“Uh, no.” Bull cleared his throat and glanced away. “I played in some rec leagues, but I wanted to focus on my classes. Marv’sthe smart one. Shit like school always came easy to him, but I had to work hard to get my degree.”

Malcolm frowned and slid his hands over Bull’s traps, up his neck, and then clasped the sides of his face, his long stubble brushing against his palms, nearly distracting him. But he persevered, tilting Bull’s face up and saying, clearly, “Marv isn’t the smart one. You’re smart too. We all know you’re basically running Bo’s, even if your mom does come in sometimes.”

God, it should not have been so sexy for a man his size to blush and smile like Malcolm’s assurance embarrassed him, but he also liked hearing it.

Before he could argue—which Malcolm could tell he was about to do, no doubt downplaying the very real work he put in at Bo’s—he doubled down. “I’m serious, Bull. Just because you’re not an accountant doesn’t mean you’re not smart and don’t have skills. Your mom wouldn’t be getting you ready to take over the business completely if she didn’t know for sure you could handle it.”

“I guess,” Bull said slowly, but he hesitated, brows furrowing in concentration.

Malcolm let him have the time he needed to figure out what he wanted to say, absently brushing a thumb over one of those brows and then across his cheekbone before letting his hands settle at the top of Bull’s chest, his fingers tracing over his pronounced collarbones.

“I’m not sure I’m cut out to take over at Bo’s,” he confessed in a soft, hoarse voice, and Malcolm got the feeling it was the first time he’d ever said the words out loud.

“Why would you think that?”

“I do a lot now, you’re right, but that’s with the safety net of having her there. Once she retires…”

Malcolm tilted his head and smiled at him. “I don’t think Sally and Bo plan on moving out of town, do you?”

“No.”

“So even when she’s retired, if you ever have a question, I think that means you can call her.”

Bull rolled his eyes. “Yeah, but it won’t be the same.”

“You’re right,” Malcolm said. “I don’t mean to mitigate your fear here. I’m just trying to give you a different perspective.” He waited until Bull nodded before continuing. “It’s okay if things don’t run exactly the same way once Sally leaves. When that happens, it’ll beyourbusiness. If you want to change the hours or the menu or renovate the dining room, you can. You can do anything you want.”

Bull made a face like he couldn’t conceptualize the idea of actually changing his mom’s restaurant. He supposed he understood that. He knew Sally had opened the place when Bull and his brother were young, and they’d basically grown up there. It probably really was difficult for him to imagine changing anything about the place.

So Malcolm decided to change tack. “You’ve already learned the skills that you need to run Bo’s. You’ve been watching Sally most of your life and been doing a lot of the work for years now, according to Dahlia.”

“Yeah, but?—”

Malcolm pressed his fingers to his mouth, holding back his protest. “Andno matter what the future holds, if you make amistake—which doesn’t seem likely,” Malcolm added quickly when Bull opened his eyes wide. “But if you do and the place goes out of business, your moms aren’t going to stop loving you. You know that.”

Malcolm uncovered his mouth, and Bull’s big body rose beneath him as he took a deep breath and then let it out slowly. “I know you’re right, and maybe one day, I’ll actually feel ready.”

Shrugging, Malcolm said, “It’s okay to not ever feel completely ready. I think that means it’s something important when you’re nervous, you know?”

“I like that,” Bull said softly, staring at Malcolm like… Well, staring in a way that made the pile of marshmallows inside him begin to melt. “If it’s something important, it’s okay to be nervous when you do it.”

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