Page 20 of Starting Over in Cedarwood

“Your simple is sexy.” Shaun rubbed the top of Kevin’s hand. “You keep intriguing me. You say the right things, even when you think you’re wrong. In doing that, you seem to know what I like and you’re my kind of man. I even like the cat, and until today, I wouldn’t have considered myself a cat person. I guess Leo’s winning me over.”

“And that’s what made you make the statement about marriage?” Kevin stared at him. He liked the honesty and homey feeling between them.Like we could be a couple.

“Sort of,” Shaun said. “I told my friend Cheryl that when I found the guy whose idea of the ultimate date meshed with mine—it consisted of being together and not about spending disgusting amounts of money—I’d marry him.”

“And you know after one date with my cat monitoring everything, one botched date where my ridiculous ex showed up, and my description, that I’m the one?” Kevin smiled, but the idea of marrying Shaun wasn’t far-fetched. A little fast, but not impossible. He could see forever in Shaun’s eyes.

“Yeah.”

Kevin held Shaun’s hand tighter. “We need time to let this—us—happen. To grow. You can’t know I’m the one that fast.”

“Why not?” Shaun’s smile widened. “I could know. I’ve got friends who fell in love quite fast and knew within days. It’s possible.”

“But we’ve both thought we were in love before and got it wrong. What if this time is no different? What if…” He could come up with a hundred excuses.

“What if we make it?”

The idea both scared and intrigued him. “Yeah.”

“I didn’t say we were riding off into the sunset together with Leo tonight,” Shaun said. “I can’t even stay over tonight. I’m due at the newspaper office at seven. If I stay tonight, no one will get any sleep and I won’t make it to work on time. Leo might not appreciate having to stay up all night listening to us, either.”

Holy hell.Shaun was thinking along the lines he’d arrived at, too. “Leo won’t care.”

Shaun ate in silence, but his smile remained. Kevin finished his dinner, but wasn’t sure what to say. The confession and Shaun’s proclamation hung heavy in the air.

Shaun balled up his napkin. “I know I keep rushing the situation and I’m overly excited. I want this to work, and if you want us to take time to get to know each other, then that’s what we’ll do, because I agree.”

Kevin liked the way he thought.

“But I have a few…rules? That’s not the right word, but I can’t come up with the correct one.”

“Conditions?” Kevin asked. “Like getting rid of Leo? That’s a non-starter.”

“Nothing like that.” Shaun laced his fingers together and propped his chin on his knuckles. “Do you want to be a couple?”

“With you?” He’d blurted the wrong thing.Damn it.

“With me.”

“Yes.” He had no hesitation—once he got clarification. He’d started falling for Shaun the moment they’d discussed the date. “Do you?”

“Yes,” Shaun said. “Next one. Since we’re doing this, we aren’t doing anyone else. Does that make sense?”

“It does. You’re saying you want to be exclusive.”

“I know it sounds shitty, but if you’re with me, then we’re with each other. No one else,” Shaun said. “I’m too old to play games.”

Kevin snorted. “You’re not old. You’re, what, thirty-four? That’s not old.”

“I’m forty-two.”

“You don’t look it.” He’d aged quite well.

“And you?”

“I’m forty.”Oh God.“I think I’m careening headlong into old man mode with my cat and my solitude.”

“No, you’re not, and neither of us looks our age.” Shaun exhaled. “Whoa.”

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