Love Him Desperate (On the Market #5) - E.M. Lindsey Page 0,80

hand touch his elbow.

“You helped with this, didn’t you?”

Dmitri turned and found Simon standing next to him, looking the same as he ever did when he was behind the counter at the Chametz, but different too. He’d lost all the tension Dmitri was used to seeing around his eyes, and he had more of a tan from the California sun. He wasn’t dressed nearly as formal as Kyle had been, jeans and a sweater, and he had his usual kippah pinned to the back of his curls.

“I did. It’s good to see you,” Dmitri told him. “Happy birthday.”

Simon grinned shyly, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand and shoving the other into his pocket. Dmitri had never known him well—he was just barely back in town when the Chametz was closing down, but Bette had always given him and Owen cookies when they were little, and it was one of the kinder memories he’d taken with him when he and his dad left.

“Thanks. This is way more than I wanted, but Rocco got the idea in his head and he gets all…”

“Stubborn?” Dmitri offered with a small grin. “So that runs in the family?”

Simon chuckled softly. “Seems so.” His gaze drifted across the room, and Dmitri followed it until it settled on Lorenzo who was, of course, talking to Raphael and Rian. Dmitri’s heart gave a huge thump against his ribs, hard and painful. Raphael looked good—but that wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. Except that he was smiling with his eyes, and his posture was relaxed. He was leaning on his crutches, but his shoulder was pressed against Rian’s like he didn’t want to be anywhere else in the world.

Their eyes met after a second, and Raphael let one of his crutch handles go, waving him over as he mouthed, ‘Come here!’

Dmitri held up a finger. “I should…uh…”

Simon waved him off. “Of course. I’m sure I’ll see you around.”

It was sweet, if maybe a lie, because he and Simon weren’t friends. But he appreciated it anyway, and he gave him a handshake before turning on his heel and heading across the floor.

He was halfway to Raphael when Kyle appeared, but his hands were empty, and his cheeks flushed. “Sorry, slight front desk emergency,” he said against Dmitri’s ear. “Did you miss me?”

Dmitri stepped away just slightly and offered a smile. “Of course. Are you still going to get drinks?”

Kyle nodded. “Scout’s honor this time. Wait for me?”

“I’m going to say hi to Raphael.”

Kyle wrinkled his nose. “Right. You guys are like…friends.”

Dmitri wanted to argue it was more than that, because friends didn’t sum up what they had, even outside of the way he loved Raphael. But he didn’t have words in any language, so he just shrugged. “Yeah, we are.”

“That’s…” Kyle started, then shook his head. “It’s cool. See you in a few.”

He was off again, and Dmitri brushed off the weirdness before he made his way over and gave a shy wave. “Hey, everyone.”

Rian broke into a big grin. “Raphael said he wasn’t sure if you were going to make it tonight.”

Something like pain hit his gut, and he looked at Raphael, who almost seemed guilty. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“You were exhausted,” Raphael said. “I was hoping you might have stayed home to sleep.”

Dmitri swallowed thickly, because he wanted to take him at his word, but he was suddenly and wildly terrified that maybe Raphael didn’t want him here. “Well, I have a date.”

“We saw,” Raphael said. “With Kyle. You didn’t tell me you were seeing him.”

Dmitri felt both defensive again and guilty, because it wasn’t like him to keep his life a secret, but he was trying to draw those lines now. He had to pull back at some point if he was ever going to let go. “It’s new. I mean, we met a few weeks ago, but we had our first date this week.”

“So this is date two?” Rian asked, smiling wider. “He’s cute.”

“Yeah,” Dmitri breathed. He opened his mouth to say more, but Rian leaned into Raphael and murmured something into his ear. Raphael smiled in a way Dmitri had never seen before, and his heart felt like it was snapped into a thousand pieces. “I uh…I should go find him. You two have fun.”

He started off, and he was pretty sure someone called his name, but he didn’t turn back. He walked, pushing through people he knew and people he didn’t. He kept his head bowed and his eyes down because the