Some Like it Hot - J. D. Light Page 0,11

sack, before placing those containers back in my hands, and putting the paper sack on his head.

I watched him for a moment, not entirely sure what I expected him to do, but starting to make the trek across the living room with the bag still in place was not it. "What are you doing?"

"It's better this way," he said, sounding miserable.

The kneecap to the coffee table probably didn't help his misery.

I hustled over to him quickly, putting the food down on the table and grabbing his shoulders, easing him around the coffee table and onto the couch, where he flopped backward with a groan.

I frowned, watching him for a long moment, before easing onto the couch a few feet away, not entirely sure what to do.

"Are you going to watch the movie like that?" I asked finally.

"I've seen this one. I just need to listen."

"How are you going to eat?" I tried, hoping a little rationalization would coax him out of his bag.

I honestly didn’t really understand why he was hiding anyway. Was he really bothered by his friend… or whatever the guy was thinking we were together? I was pretty sure the guy had been joking.

"I'm not hungry," he grumbled, but his stomach grumbled harder, making him groan.

"Would you rather I left?"

He sat up quickly, reaching blindly for me. "No! I want you to stay. I'm just embarrassed. I swear I'm usually better at talking. The rambling idiot you always seem to encounter is not the norm for me."

Grunting, because I really wasn't sure what I was supposed to say to that, I reached out and pulled the bag off of his head, handing him one of the boxes and a plastic fork. He blinked at me for a moment, searching for something on my face, but I also had no clue what that could be, so I simply shrugged and picked up my own box, turning back to the movie.

After a while he started to eat too, and not long after that, he was laughing loudly at the hungover idiots on the screen as I chuckled with a bit less enthusiasm, while stealing glances at the beautiful man, and hoping this could be the start of a friendship.

I didn't dare hope for more.

Okay, maybe I hoped a little, but I really did know better. I did.

"So, you're all adopted?" he asked a few hours later, while I was still sitting on his couch with him, watching yet another movie.

Well, we'd started out watching it, but he'd started asking me questions about my family within a few minutes of pushing play, and I'd happily answered, since family was the one thing I had plenty of and plenty to talk about.

"All but Cole, Riley's fiancé."

"And all alphas?" At my nod, he shook his head with wide eyes. "Your parents are brave."

"Yeah, we should have been hellions, but they never really had much trouble with us. They were really lenient, so there wasn't really anything to rebel against. They let us know what they expected from us, and it never really occurred to us to not listen, especially since Da got really pouty when he was disappointed in us. Something about that man pouting made it to where you always wanted to be good."

Da was one of a kind. He and Dad both had some of the biggest hearts out there, but Da could guilt the hell out of you if you stepped out of line. It sounded manipulative, and he was definitely that––so was Dad for that matter, though he was a lot more subtle about it––but he was also the first person to wrap you in a hug when you needed it, and the acceptance in that man was unbelievable.

"They sound great," Bates said with a wistful smile. "My dad passed when I was really young. I don't even remember him. I always wanted siblings, but my mom never even looked at another man. I don't remember what she was like before my dad died, but the woman on all the old home videos is different from the woman I know. Don't get me wrong, she's still amazing, and she always lets me know how much she loves me, but I think she lost half of herself when he died. There's a spark missing in her now." He gasped slightly, shaking his head. "Wow, this is getting deep for a first date."

Date? Did he just say date? Something about my face must have given away my surprise, because his