Saving Grapes - Madeline Kirby Page 0,17
depend on how I feel about you after that.”
Ross swept his gaze up and down Ben, and his mouth split in a crooked grin. “Deal,” he said, holding his hand out. Ben shook it, and jerked his hand back when Ross tickled his fingertips over Ben’s palm.
“Don’t you ever give it a rest?”
“Just checking the boundaries. And I’ll probably flirt while we’re on our non-date, because that’s who I am. Think you can handle it?”
“Yeah,” Ben rolled his eyes. “You are not as charming as you think you are.”
“We’ll see about that on Friday. I’ll pick you up at seven. Wear something sexy.” And with a wink, Ross turned, climbed into his truck, and headed back down the hill to the job site.
After a sweaty day in the vineyard on Friday, Ben took a shower and stood in front of his closet trying to decide what to wear. Ross had told him to wear something sexy, and he had no intention of doing so. He couldn’t wear his work clothes, though. Most of them were dirty anyway, since Saturday was laundry day. That left his one pair of dress slacks and his clubbing jeans. He groaned, and reached for the jeans. He hadn’t worn them in months, not since the last time he and his friends had driven into Houston to celebrate finishing their exams. He’d never had any shortage of men trying to dance with him or buy him drinks when he wore these jeans. Not the look he was going for tonight, but he didn’t have much choice.
He pulled the jeans on over his black boxer briefs, relieved they still fit. Turning to check himself out in the mirror, he worried that maybe they fit too well. They hugged his legs and ass perfectly, and the soft, thin denim flattered his package as well. Great. Ross was totally going to get the wrong idea. He pulled on a black t-shirt, leaving it untucked, hoping it would camouflage the uncooperative jeans. Nope, the t-shirt was tighter than he remembered, and accentuated his chest and arms, which had benefitted from weeks of hard work in the vineyard. Back to the closet he went, looking for another layer. He found a gray and black plaid button-down shirt that should do the trick. He pulled it on over the t-shirt, rolled the sleeves up to his elbows, and was pleased to see the tail covered his ass. If he started feeling awkward he could always button it up. Nothing to see here, folks.
At last satisfied with his look, Ben grabbed his wallet and house key and headed downstairs to wait for Ross. He headed back to the kitchen where he could hear Thom making noise as he prepared his dinner. Thom looked up when Ben entered the kitchen, his face unreadable, and Ben briefly regretted putting on that plaid shirt. He knew he looked good – he should have given Thom a look at what he was passing up.
“Ross will be here any minute,” Ben said, putting his wallet and key in his pocket.
“Okay.”
“I don’t know how late I’ll be.”
“Okay.”
“Anything you want to say before I go out?”
For a second, Ben though Thom was going to say something. He hoped Thom would try to stop him. One word, if it was the right word, and Ben would call Ross and cancel. He’d only agreed to go out with Ross because he had been angry with Thom. But all Thom said was, “No.”
“Okay, then. Good night.”
Ben strode down the hall and out the front door to wait on the porch. He didn’t want to go out with Ross on a real date. And he wasn’t doing it to make Thom jealous, although if it got Thom to do something – anything – that would be a bonus. But he did want to get out of the house. Maybe Ross knew of someplace they could go dancing. Making a decision, he shrugged off the plaid shirt and left it draped on the porch railing. Ross’s appreciative once-over when Ben climbed into his truck a few minutes later had Ben wondering if he’d made the correct wardrobe choice, but it was too late to turn back now.
Chapter 8
THOM SAT on the porch, the lights out, and watched the headlights of Ross’s truck approach the house. He’d almost begged Ben not to go tonight, especially when he came into the kitchen wearing those tight jeans. When Thom had come outside and found that plaid