Love In Slow Motion (Love Beyond Measure #2) - E.M. Lindsey Page 0,42

unwound just a little. “You can drink, it’s fine.”

“It’s also fine if I don’t,” Fredric offered, though he wanted one more than ever now. Silence settled between them, then the server arrived, and Fredric ordered an iced tea. He listened to the server’s footsteps retreat, and he allowed himself to feel the disconnect between them. And maybe it was salvageable, but he was so damn out of practice, he didn’t know where to begin.

“How do you…” Hudson began.

“Do you think we…” Fredric said at the same time.

Hudson cleared his throat. “Go ahead.”

“No,” Fredric offered. “Please.”

“I…was just wondering how you read the menu. Um. Here, in specific.”

Fredric wondered if this was going to be blind 101 for the rest of the night, and he fought the urge to run to the bathroom and beg Ilan or Agatha to call in an emergency. “I memorized what I like already. It’s easier that way.”

“Right,” Hudson said, then cleared his throat. “What were you going to say?”

In his moment of frustration, Fredric had entirely forgotten. “Uh…have you lived here long?”

Hudson was quiet, and a second later, the server arrived again, so Fredric rattled off his order, and Hudson did the same. After a beat, the other man sighed. “This isn’t going the way I expected.”

Fredric bowed his head and nodded. “No, it’s not. I’ve never done this before,” Fredric shifted in his seat and felt Bas press his nose to his calf. “Dating, I mean. I met my wife when I was in high school. We got married two weeks after graduation, and we were together until a year ago.”

Hudson cleared his throat. “Am I your first man?”

Fredric laughed and dragged a hand down his face, then leaned his elbow on the table. “Yes. I mean, I suppose technically, no. But my first date tried to seduce another person at the restaurant while he was at the table with me, then he ran off before we even put in our appetizer order, so you’re way ahead of him in the game.”

“Are you serious?” Hudson asked, his voice rising a little.

“I am.” He thought about telling Hudson the man his date had been flirting with was Ilan, and that Ilan had pulled him from the fire and gave him the courage to consider trying this all over again, but it felt almost like a betrayal. “I wasn’t sure I wanted to try again.”

“People are terrible,” Hudson muttered. Fredric heard him lift his glass and take a long drink. “And that’s not really the introduction you should have gotten to the world of dating men.” He paused, then laughed. “Then again, neither is this.”

“Well, it’s not awful.”

“But not something you want to repeat?” Hudson asked, and Fredric couldn’t lie.

“I guess there is something to be said about chemistry. But I liked talking to you before,” Fredric told him, and he meant that. Hudson was nice—genuinely. But Fredric wanted sparks—even just tiny flickers of ones. He wanted his breath to catch and his heart to beat a little faster. And if it was hard, he wanted to work for it, and earn kisses that made his toes curl and touches that made his skin light up.

He wasn’t ready to lose hope yet that that person existed for him, but he was damn sure that person wasn’t Hudson.

“Friends?” he offered after the long silence, and he heard the smallest sound, somewhere between a laugh and a sigh.

“I can think of worse ways for a date to end,” he offered, and Fredric found himself smiling.

The conversation flowed a little bit easier after that. Fredric half expected to feel guilt or pressure to make it something more, but he didn’t give in. And when the dinner started to wind down, Hudson didn’t bring up going on the after-dinner walk, and Fredric didn’t say he’d call him again. Instead, they talked about their exes, about the worst cases they ever had to put in front of a judge, and just how exhausting it was to socialize with their peers.

Fredric eventually handed over his card, ignoring the other man’s protest, and then signed the receipt and took Bas’ harness in his hand. “Walk me out?” he offered.

“Definitely.” Hudson kept pace with Fredric without trying to direct him, and Fredric decided he liked the man, even if he didn’t like the man.

“Can I ask you something uncomfortable?” Fredric threw out there when they stopped by the edge of the building.

Hudson laughed. “Go for it. I more than made an ass out of myself