Page 64 of Love It or List It
Will was getting used bedroom furniture and a house key.
Joe was still turning over what to get Austin.Everything felt either too impersonal or just the opposite, like if Joe gave him that kind of gift Austin would take one look at him andsee something.
Which was stupid because there wasn’t anything to see.Joe had been careful about that.He and Austin were friends who owned a house they were fixing up together, and in a few months, they’d sell it and go their separate ways.
Not that Joe had figured out yet how they were going to go their separate ways when they had a dog and three kittens to consider.
When Joe got home the evening after another long day, he was surprised to find the house full of delicious scents.Not to disparage Austin’s cooking….
Okay, totally to disparage it.It didn’t usually smell so herby and garlicky and layered.He still leaned toward eggs, toast, and reheated meals.
Joe followed his nose and found Austin pulling something out of the oven.
“You cooked?”he asked, probably sounding very rude, but it smelled amazing.
“Only in the technical sense,” Austin laughed.“I picked up some ready-to-heat stuff at Schinkels—garlic bread, lasagna, and roasted veggies.”He motioned to a foil-wrapped packet and a covered foil pan.The delicious smells were all from the lasagna, then.“Just gotta heat the rest while this cools.”He opened the oven back up.
“Not that it doesn’t look and smell amazing,” Joe said, “but buying lasagna for an Italian?Bold move.”
Austin froze, hand still on the oven door after having shut it, and shot a startled look at Joe.“Uh.”
Joe waved his concern away.“I’m joking.And also starving and grateful.I never turn away dinner cooked by someone else.”
“Good,” Austin said, though he shot a look at the pasta.“I didn’t think—”
“It smells amazing.Stop worrying.Now.I’m going to change while the rest cooks so I don’t have to eat in my work clothes.”
Joe beat a hasty retreat, feeling like a heel.He’d only been teasing, but now he wondered if he hadn’t blundered into another one of those social blind spots of Austin’s that he seemed to have thanks to years of foster care and that Joe couldn’t seem to stop finding.
Shaking himself, he quickly washed and headed back to the kitchen.
Where he found Austin holding an unopened bottle of wine and staring at it uncertainly with flushed cheeks.
Joe paused and blushed himself.Drinking red wine together seemed ill-advised, and clearly he wasn’t the only one who thought so.Maybe they should just have water tonight?
Pepa, noticing his return, hopped in Joe’s direction, alerting Austin to his presence.So Joe swallowed his embarrassment and asked, “Trying to decide on drinks?”
Austin took the out and said, if a bit strangled, “I wasn’t sure about pairings.”
“Right,” Joe said with forced cheer.He knelt to pet Pepa, and in a bid to be totally normal while not thinking about Austin’s perfect cock, asked, “Er, what did they tell you about the lasagna?”
Austin put down the bottle of wine and lifted a paper from the counter.“Beef with béchamel sauce.”
“Ah, well, white wine it is, then.”
“White?”
“Yeah.”Joe stood and headed for the fridge.Thank God.White wine was good.He could do that.It didn’t make him horny.“Red wine for red sauce, white wine for white.”
“Oh,” Austin said.“That seems kinda… racist.”
Joe snorted.“What?”
“Like with like.Kinda exclusionary, is all,” Austin pointed out.
Joe rolled his eyes and pulled a white from the fridge.“It’s about flavors, not about color matching.”
Austin shrugged.“If you say so.I still think it sounds sus.”
