He bit his lip, fighting a smile until she broke out in laughter. Sobering, she stared at him.
“I think you’re it for him. He’d shout it from every rooftop if he knew it wouldn’t embarrass you. Don’t let anything I say ever make you doubt that.”
He nodded, remembering how many times Gabriel had said an I-love-you over the weekend or snuck a kiss or touch that afternoon during his time at the shop.
“Can I help you decorate the cake?”
His eyes rounded. She could bake one heck of a flaky pastry and had formulated some of the most delicious cream-filled recipes he had ever tasted. But the thought of her using her piping skills to decorate the exterior with more than a simple happy face…
“I was joking,” she said with a grin. “But you should have seen your face. It was priceless.”
A nervous chuckle escaped. For the last few months, he had spent hours practicing his piping to create different star shapes, petals, leaves, flowers, lines with pinpoint precision and large smooth, flat sweeps. There was still so much to learn and master.
The flashing light of the front door opening caught their attention.
“You’ve got a cake to assemble and we’ve got someone up front wanting to spend some money.” She squeezed his shoulder before leaving him to his work.
He took a deep breath, feeling a lightness in his spirit. He hadn’t realized how much his memories had weighed him down until he had opened up to Gabriel and now Natalie.
Ben pulled his phone out of his back pocket and shot off a quick text. I love you.
His pulse spiked when the dots instantly bounced on his screen. But do you love me more than hamburgers?
He bit his bottom lip, smiling while typing his reply. More than a buffet of burgers, hot dogs, greasy pizza, and cake. He had to start assembling the six-layer cake plus he had made a few bite-sized cupcakes he needed to decorate. He looked down at his phone when it vibrated with a text.
I still love you more.
Warmth spread through his entire body as he typed out his reply. I’ll show you how much I love you when I get home.
Can’t wait. :)
Neither could he.
They sat at a small table set in the corner of the hotel’s restaurant. The dining area was dark, but the small candle in the table’s centerpiece emitted enough light to read lips and see the signs. Ben stared across the table, smiling at Gabriel enjoying his steak. Poor guy needed a break from burgers and pizza. He never complained, but Ben noticed a few more hours were logged at the gym every week.
“What did you wear?” Ben signed when Gabriel looked up at him.
“You mean this?” He looked down at his black T-shirt. The black cotton wrapped snugly around his muscles and across his chest. He glanced back up at him, questioning.
Ben shook his head. After a few more text and phone call apologies, Gabriel reluctantly forgave his sister. Hurting Ben had been so far outside of her character, Gabriel knew it hadn’t been intentional. But his del Toro stubbornness and protectiveness demanded he hang on to the anger a bit longer than expected.
“When you took your sister to the movies that day with your two football friends.”
A wide smile spread across Gabriel’s face. “I still can’t believe she told you about that. She’s got more skills than I thought. It took me months to get all that history from you. And she gets it all in half an hour after telling you one story?”
“You get sex.”
“Good point.”
Ben arched an eyebrow at Gabriel’s heated stare. He cleared his throat. Sprouting a boner in the middle of the hotel’s restaurant wasn’t ideal. “Answer the question,” he signed, straightening as a chill rippled through his body at the lingering heat in Gabriel’s eyes.
“I had a big sword.”
“I bet you did,” Ben signed as he leaned back in his seat.
The sudden smile split Gabriel’s face. His eyes shone with that teasing playfulness that always made Ben’s heart skip a beat. He pushed his empty plate aside and signed. “I really did. But the guys said it wasn’t fair. So they rallied every kid in that theater to even the score with some fairy tale of their own about me needing to be ‘welcomed into their movie kingdom with a token if they wanted to accept me in their court.’ So I got jewelry. I think I got a sparkly bracelet, big diamond ring,