a few times.”
Brett wrinkled his nose. “Not there. They’re not even trained properly and they use those awful piercing guns. I’ll take you to a proper body piercer.”
Linden leaned over and kissed Brett’s cheek. “You’re adorable when you’re protective.” A timer on Linden’s phone went off and he shot to his feet. He adjusted his shirt, smoothing the wrinkles out of the front. “I’ve got to get back in the kitchen and finish up a few things.”
“I’ll be out to help you in a couple minutes.”
Linden looked like he wanted to rush to the kitchen, but he paused and cradled Brett’s face in his hands. Their kiss tasted of lip gloss and coffee. It was warm like summer sunshine. Linden deepened the kiss, pressing his tongue into Brett’s mouth as he stoked a fire in Brett’s core that would never go out. When Linden pulled away, Brett sighed.
“Do we really have to have company?” He grabbed Linden’s retreating hands and planted a kiss in the palm of his right hand before letting go.
“I made far too much food to cancel on everyone. You can share me for a few hours. As soon as they leave, I’m all yours.”
A surge of possessiveness hit Brett. The next time he was alone with Linden, he planned to mark his territory. He’d give Linden a necklace of hickies. He’d leave fingerprint shaped bruises on his hips. He’d come on his chest and rub it into his flesh. He felt a bit like one of those romance novel alpha males about Linden. He’d reduced Brett’s internal monologue to a single-syllable word uttered over and over. Mine. Mine mine mine mine mine.
Linden vanished with a wink, and Brett took a few minutes to touch up his makeup and let his erection go down. Linden had that effect on him. He could scarcely be near him without getting hard. Hell, sometimes just thinking about his boyfriend was enough to get his motor running.
Brett sighed and stood, tugging his long, off the shoulder sweater a bit lower, hiding his still half-hard dick. With Linden occupied in the kitchen, Brett knocked lightly on Ansel’s bedroom door and let himself inside.
Ansel lay stretched out on his bed, staring at the ceiling. One hand lay tucked behind his head, the other rested on his stomach. He glanced at Brett. “I don’t know how she made this place work, you know.”
Brett knew Ansel missed his mom, but her passing was a sore subject and Brett only brought her up when Ansel did first.
“I know.” Brett sat on the bed next to Ansel. He dragged his fingers through Ansel’s hair. “The world was a different place when she was in it.”
“Yeah.” Ansel whispered. “I miss her. I don’t want to give any of this up. It’s all I have left.”
“You have me. And Eric and Caleb. And Linden. Dante. Zane. I know they don’t make up for what we lost, but I think she’d like the little family we’ve cobbled together.”
“She’d have adored Linden. He’s like a puppy.” Ansel turned his head so he could look Brett in the eyes. “He makes you happy.”
“Yeah.”
“I’m glad.” Ansel smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. Brett wanted to fix things for him, for them both. He didn’t want to leave this place either, but business had been down. Overhead had gone up, and as things currently stood, they’d have to sell the building if Ansel couldn’t get a loan.
“We’ll figure things out, okay?”
Brett knew from the look on Ansel’s face that he didn’t believe him, but it was the only thing Brett could promise. He’d think of a plan later. Maybe he could sell a kidney. “Come on. We should give Linden a hand. Everyone will be here soon.”
Brett stood and pulled Ansel to his feet. He led him by the hand into the living area. Linden, who had found an apron to wear over his outfit, greeted them. Brett’s phone chimed with a text from Dante, alerting him that he, Zane, and Ricky had arrived.
“They’re here.”
Linden’s eyes widened. “They’re early.”
“I’ll go let them in.” Ansel volunteered, quickly exiting and avoiding Linden’s impending panic attack.
“It’s fine that they’re early, love.” Brett approached Linden and put his arms around his waist. He drew him close and let Linden bury his face in Brett’s shoulder.
“I don’t know why I’m nervous.” Linden admitted with a chuckle.
“It’s okay to be nervous. You’ll feel better when they come up the stairs and come in here and nothing changes.”
The tension in