Teddy Spenser Isn't Looking for Love - Kim Fielding Page 0,77
love seat. “Could it be Lauren?” Romeo wondered aloud.
Teddy’s pulse didn’t even race—it was probably tired out from all the racing it had already done with Romeo today. He grinned as they picked up the call simultaneously.
“I need you both here first thing Monday,” Lauren said without preamble. Then she added, “Please.”
“To clean out our desks?” Romeo asked.
“I just got off the phone with Joyce. She’s flying in to meet with us.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
They didn’t waste the evening speculating about what Joyce Alexander might want. She’d meddled enough already. Instead Teddy and Romeo went grocery shopping, and then Romeo performed a magic act by baking cornbread and frying up some delicious pork chops.
“We should have made this for Joyce,” Teddy said amidst licking his fingers.
“Her loss.”
After dinner they squished together on the love seat, making out and watching episodes of the original Star Trek. There was a friendly argument over who was hotter, Chekov or Sulu, which ended in a draw. Teddy learned that Romeo gave excellent foot massages—as if he wasn’t already perfect enough!—and Romeo learned that Teddy was absolutely capable of eating a second dinner when Mrs. Blue’s pork chop recipe was involved.
They’d just finished Teddy’s personal favorite episode, the one with the shirtless George Takei, when Romeo looked at his phone and sighed. “It’s getting late.”
“Please tell me you’re spending the night here.” Did that sound desperate? Yeah, probably. But who cared? Teddy didn’t have the fortitude to face an empty bed.
Romeo grinned shyly. “Yeah? You want that?”
“We could hang out tomorrow too. You could sleep over again. Then it’s Sunday and time for me to meet the Blues.” Wow. That was...a lot, all said out loud like that.
“Right.” Then Romeo winced. “I, uh...”
“If you want or need to leave, do it. I won’t tie you to my bedposts, even if I really want to.”
“I want to stay. Tying is optional but intriguing. It’s just, um, Mama. I need to call and let her know I won’t be home. I know I’m a grown-ass man, but I don’t usually spend the night away, and she worries, and—”
“And it’s sweet that you both care.”
Romeo gave a heart-melting smile. “You really think that? You don’t think I’m a mama’s boy, or—”
“I think you love your mother, and if your thoughtfulness and consideration for her is any indication of how you’ll treat your boyfriend, I’m a lucky man.”
Oops. Now Romeo was wide-eyed, and Teddy wished he could rewind and take back that last sentence. The B-word part of it, at least.
“Boyfriend.” Romeo said the word carefully, as if it were foreign and he wasn’t sure how to pronounce it.
“Um, you can forget I said that. You’re thoughtful and considerate, la la la la, you’re a good son.”
Romeo shook his head firmly. “Nope. You said boyfriend.”
“I say a lot of things. You should have noticed that by now. Sometimes I can babble on for hours if nobody shuts me up, and God only knows what spews out of my mouth. I’ve always been like that. My first-grade teacher, Mrs. Solomon? She used to make me sit in a little desk at the back all by myself ’cause I was bugging the other kids, but even that didn’t really work and—”
“Boyfriend.” Romeo scooted impossibly closer on the loveseat, pressing himself firmly against Teddy. “That’s an interesting word. A good word.”
Teddy wasn’t sure what apoplexy was, but he felt as if he might keel over from it here and now. “How good?” he whispered.
“Good enough that I might just mention it casually to Mama. If you don’t mind.”
Grinning, Teddy picked up Romeo’s phone and handed it to him. Tonight they could celebrate their new status a little—tomorrow Teddy could worry about exactly what boyfriend might mean to them.
* * *
Because they had a free day, and because it was better than worrying, Teddy suggested a little shopping.
“Maybe we should watch our wallets,” Romeo said. “Since we’re probably both going to be minus a paycheck now.”
“Yeah. But I bet I can make you look good for under thirty bucks. Not that you don’t look good now.” Romeo happened to be naked as they were having this conversation.
“No way I’m taking that bet. I know I’ll lose.”
They went to one of Teddy’s favorite thrift shops, where a grandmotherly clerk had taken a shine to Teddy and sometimes set aside good finds just for him. She smiled broadly when she caught sight of the two of them. “Teddy! I haven’t seen you in weeks. Got a