Risking the Shot (Stick Side #4) - Amy Aislin Page 0,67

beat that icing to death if you keep taking your anger out on it.”

He scowled at Calder, but his cousin wasn’t even looking at him, too busy with whatever was on the laptop in front of him. Not too busy to scold Dakota, though. And Calder was right, damn it. He couldn’t overbeat the icing or he’d screw up the texture and have to start over.

Calder sat on the other side of the table, down at the other end, in the exact spot Tay had sat the night he’d come for dinner and stayed to study while Dakota decorated the golf cake. The same night Tay had sat in his lap and they’d rubbed one off on each other. Tay had been uninhibited and sexy, and Dakota still couldn’t believe that someone so vibrant and successful would want anything to do with a single dad eleven years his senior.

Unless he didn’t want anything to do with him, as Dakota had managed to convince himself since he’d let Tay walk out of the house two days ago. They hadn’t had time to talk since then, outside of a few exchanged text messages, and the stress was eating Dakota alive from the inside out, squeezing his ribs tight until it choked off his air.

Setting the icing aside, he caught a glimpse of his cell phone out of the corner of his eye, sitting innocently on a placemat a couple seats away. The same phone that had a text from Tay that Dakota hadn’t responded to yet.

Hey! I had a dream about a capybara invasion last night, Tay had written earlier this afternoon. Made me think of you. How’s your day going? Coffee date sometime this week? Maybe tomorrow? :)

Dakota had a day full of meetings tomorrow. If nothing else, he should tell Tay not to come by.

“If you grumble one more time, I’m going to throw a spatula at you,” Calder murmured.

Was he grumbling? “Why are you still here?” It was nearing 10:00 pm.

That pulled Calder’s attention from the laptop and both eyebrows went up, lips pressed in a tight line.

“Sorry.” Dropping into a chair, Dakota ran his hands over his face. “I’m just . . .”

“Angry?”

“No. I’m not angry. I’m . . .” Digging the heel of his palms into his eyes, he inhaled sharply, expanding his ribcage. “Disappointed, I guess.” Sad. Sad was a good word.

Calder closed the laptop and moved up the table to sit across from him. “What happened?”

“Nothing happened really.” Sitting back, Dakota reached for his phone and brought up Tay’s last text. “I’m just realizing that I don’t think Tay’s as into this . . . relationship, I guess, as I am.” He reread the text.

Was he reading too much into Tay’s avoidance of more serious topics?

Calder scrutinized him. “What makes you say that?”

“He’s an expert at changing the subject when a topic comes up he doesn’t want to talk about. It makes it hard to get to know him.”

“Personal topics?”

“Yeah.”

“And you think that means he doesn’t want you to truly know him,” Calder accurately surmised.

Groaning, Dakota thumped his head against the back of the chair. “I think I’m overreacting.”

“Ya think?”

Shit. Shit, shit, and shit again. Ever since Tay had left after the zoo on Saturday, Dakota had purposely taken a step back, taking his time responding to Tay’s texts as he figured out whether he wanted to invest more time in their relationship if Tay wasn’t willing to put in the effort. What if he was reading things all wrong?

“There might be a reason he’s avoiding certain topics,” Calder said. “You don’t know what’s happened in his past. Maybe something made it hard for him to talk about himself. Doesn’t mean you don’t know him. Tell me what you do know.”

Dakota closed his eyes, bouncing his head against the back of the chair. “He’s smart. Determined. Doesn’t quit. Genuinely likes Andy. He’s close with his parents and his grandmother, but his relationship with his sisters is a bit strained. He’s a people person. Not that he wants to be the center of attention; I don’t think he wants that at all, but he likes being around people. He’s . . .” He blew out a breath. “He’s real. What you see is what you get.”

“You may not know random details about him,” Calder said. “But you know who he is. What’s more important than that? And if there are things you want to talk about that he’s avoiding, talk to him about that, about why