use to let Luis know he was there. “I could go on holiday for a month and come back to find you run this place better than me.”
Luis snorted. “Be my guest. Just keep me away from the paperwork.”
“Speaking of which.” Paolo handed over Luis’s payment card and the receipt for his rent, along with electricity tokens. “I didn’t know if you needed these, but I got them anyway. You’ll need them eventually, right?”
“You didn’t need to do that today. You should be in bed.”
“Fuck off. It’s shit without you. And I’m fine now. Whatever it was has gone away.”
Luis treated Paolo to a searching stare that made him feel stark naked in front of every cafe patron lost in their all-day breakfast. “Are you sure? Cos you said that last night and you were lying.”
“Mistaken. I’d never lie to you.”
“Wouldn’t you?”
“No.”
Luis never wasted words. He nodded and turned back to the grill. Paolo shook his head and marvelled at how a conversation could become so deep so fast. How Luis could flay him open with a simple question. He wanted to rip the tongs from Luis’s hands and shake him. Make him believe that he was worth so much more than how his arsehole family had treated him. But Paolo never wanted to make Luis do anything. If he was ever going to have a little faith, he’d have to find it himself.
Paolo ditched his coat in the kitchen and retreated to the fridge to make a list for the wholesale order. The cool air made him shiver, but after a night of sweltering in his own skin, he welcomed it. His headache ran its course, and by the time Luis brought his vibrating phone to him, he felt halfway human.
“Someone really wants to talk to you,” Luis said.
He started to leave, but Paolo didn’t feel like letting him go so fast. He grabbed his hand and yanked him back in.
Luis let him and crowded Paolo against the racks of produce stacked on the shelves. “You really are feeling better?”
“I am. I meant it when I said I’d never lie to you.”
Luis dipped his head for a kiss. Their lips met in a sweet collision, and suddenly all was right with the world. Paolo slid his hands under Luis’s T-shirt and ghosted his palms over warm skin that went on for days. Heat pooled where he wanted Luis most, but short of dropping his jeans in the fridge, there wasn’t much he could do about that.
His phone was still buzzing. Irritated, he pulled back and glowered at the screen. “Jesus fucking Christ.”
Luis buried his face in Paolo’s neck and kissed a path to Paolo’s collarbone. “Something wrong?”
Paolo swayed on his feet, tipped upside down by Luis’s attention to his throat. “Not unless you count Toni driving me insane.”
“What’s he doing?”
“Celebrating that I can’t go and see him tonight. Apparently, I mess with his stuff too much.”
“Why can’t you go?”
“Because I’ve been sick. I have to leave it forty-eight hours before I go back. Home policy to protect the residents.”
“Makes sense.”
“I know, I just hate leaving him by himself. Nonna’s okay when she’s with it enough to know where she is. She’s made friends. Toni’s not like that. He hates other people.”
“How did he run this place for so long then?”
“Same as me. By shouting at everyone.”
“You don’t shout.”
“You can’t hear me half the time, which is probably just as well. I annoy myself most days.”
Luis laughed. “I told you already, everything annoys you.”
“You don’t. And apparently, you don’t annoy Toni either. He’s bugging me because he wants you to visit him instead. Just tonight, I think, but maybe forever. He wasn’t specific.”
“He wants me to visit him?”
“Yeah, but don’t worry. I’ve already told him no.”
“Why?”
“Because my grandparents aren’t your problem.”
“No, I meant why does he want to see me? Have I done something wrong?”
“What? Why would you think that?”
Luis shrugged. “Dunno. Why else would he want me to visit?”
“Because he likes you, Luis.”
“Wow. You never say my name.”
“Don’t I?
“No. But I like it when you do. It sounds nice.”
“You say the strangest things.”
“Not on purpose.”
“I know.” Paolo kissed Luis again and forgot that they were in the fridge. Forgot everything except how Luis’s lips felt against his. How his warm body melded to his own as if they’d been made to fit together in a perfect puzzle. Only more insistent buzzing from his phone drove them apart.
Luis laughed. “Toni again?”
“I’m ignoring him.” Paolo dropped his phone in his pocket.
“Why?”
“Because