Chapter Thirty-Seven
Declan
I couldn’t stop smiling since we’d arrived at the stadium. I also couldn’t stop myself from holding Trent’s hand as we waited for the game to start. I knew we were in a very public place with a bunch of people around us, but I was hoping no one was going to be a homophobic prick. So far, we’d been lucky. And seeing how much Trent appreciated the gesture, I figured I could handle any insults thrown our way. No one in our immediate vicinity seemed to even notice, though.
“I got you three hotdogs,” Trent said as he handed me things out of his bag. He’d brought a shopping bag with him this time and loaded up on food outside the stadium on our way in. He made me carry a cooler that was filled with water bottles since the water here was crazy-expensive.
“I don’t need three hotdogs,” I said as he handed them over.
“Uh huh.” He waved me off and reached into the bag, pulling out a paper bag filled with jalapeno poppers. I laughed as he asked, “You want one?”
“No. I’m sure you’ll eat enough for the both of us, Little Jalapeno.” I grinned and shoulder-bumped him.
He smiled back at me and popped one into his mouth with a wink. I snorted at that, then waved down one of the beer guys and bought us each one. By the time I finished buying the beer, sat down and looked at Trent, his eyes were watering.
I bit my lips to keep from cracking up but a small laugh burst free, anyway, and I said, “Oh my god, you didn’t!”
He tried to glare at me, but it wasn’t very affective since he was making a ridiculous face.
I laughed. “I can’t believe you ate too many again.” I grabbed my water bottle and opened it, holding it out to him. He took is immediately and gulped down half the bottle. “I should’ve brought a cup of milk for you. I think that’s supposed to help with spicy stuff. I’ll have to pack some next time.”
He gasped. “Ohmygod. Why did I do that again?”
I laughed and leaned in to kiss his cheek, completely forgetting where we were. “I guess you wouldn’t be my Little Jalapeno if you didn’t.”
He eyed me but ended up smiling and sipping the water again. “Do you want to try one?”
“You really think I want one after that?”
“Oh, come on. I ate like ten in a row. You’ll be fine with one.”
I wrinkled my nose. “I don’t know. They seem gross.”
“Come on and live a little.” He held one out to me, wiggling it in my face.
“Ugh. Fine.” I opened my mouth and he put it in. I hesitantly chewed it and when the flavor hit my tongue, I was surprised by how good it tasted. It was spicy, for sure, but it was also sort of delicious. Once I’d chewed and swallowed the whole thing, I looked at Trent. “Okay, you have me. They’re delicious.”
Trent held his arms above his head as if he’d won some kind of award, and shouted, “Yessss! I knew you would like them! Point, me!”
I laughed at him and grabbed his arm, yanking it down. “You are so ridiculous.”
He dropped his arms with a grin and a shrug. “You love it.”
I shrugged. “Maybe I do.”
His eyebrows lifted and he tilted his head, examining me. “You love me, don’t you?”
I sucked in a breath and screwed my eyes shut. The warmth in my chest that I always felt around him overflowed all throughout my body, and I sucked in another deep breath at the feeling. I knew what the feeling was, I’d known for a long time, but I couldn’t bring myself to say it out loud. I knew how I felt about him, and even though I wasn’t completely sure he truly felt the same way, a part of me wanted to tell him how I felt. But I didn’t know how. Every time I tried to get the words to come out, I panicked.
When Trent’s soft hand touched my cheek, my eyes flew open. He smiled at me and said, “I’m sorry. I’m not trying to force you to say or do anything you don’t want to. I shouldn’t have said anything. I’m sorry, baby.”
I sucked air through my nose and blew it out of my mouth as I leaned into his hand. I gave him a nod, then turned to kiss his palm before grabbing his hand and threading our fingers together. Instead of addressing what he’d said, I reached into my back pocket with my free hand and held out a key to him. “This is for you. I meant to give it to you in the car earlier.”
Trent stared at it with a furrowed brow. “What…? Is that a key to your apartment?”
I nodded.
Trent’s eyes went wide before a huge smile broke out on his face and he squealed. “Ohmygod!” He snatched the key, threw his arms around my neck in a quick hug, then pulled back to look at it. “I can’t believe you!” He looked a little closer and started laughing. “Did you seriously get me a key with a jalapeno on it?”
“Yep.” I grinned at him.
He elbowed me. “So ridiculous.”
“When I saw the designed keys, I was just going to grab one with any kind of food on it, but then I saw that one,” I shrugged, “so I got it.”
He chuckled. “I love it. Thank you. I’ll get you a key to my apartment tomorrow.”
“You don’t have to.”
“I want to. Maybe they’ll have one with a cupcake.”
“You don’t need to get me one.”
He looked at me and frowned. “I want to. The only reason I haven’t given you one yet is because I thought it’d freak you out.” He shoulder-bumped me. “Plus, now I won’t have to get out of the hammock to answer the door. You know how long it takes for me to climb out of that thing when I’m covered in blankets and stuff.”
I chuckled. “True. You’ve been taking a long time to answer the door. I didn’t realize that was why.”
He snorted, but the announcers started announcing the players, so we focused on the baseball game for a while. Or I focused on it while Trent tried to hook his new key to his key chain.
We had a wonderful time at the baseball game, and when we got home that evening, Trent insisted on using his new key to let us in. His grin was huge when he opened the door.
***
The next day, I was sitting on the couch waiting for dinner to finish in the oven when Kade walked in and plopped down next to me. He looked me over for a minute before asking, “When’s Trent moving in?”
“Huh?”
“I saw a key on the counter the other day, so I figured it was for Trent. When’s he moving in?”
“That was just a key so he can let himself in. He’s not moving in.”
Kade frowned at me. “Oh, I figured he was.” He shrugged. “It would be fun to have him here all the time.” He got up, grabbed a drink and walked back into his room, leaving me to contemplate what he’d said.
It would be fun to have Trent here all the time.
I sat back and crossed my arms over my chest. Spending more time with Trent would be pretty damn amazing.
Before I could think about it too much, Trent let himself into the apartment. I stood up to meet him by the door and when he walked in, all I could do was stare. I looked him up and down with raised eyebrows, trying to take in all the… shininess. Trent toed off his shoes, then walked toward me, leaving a trail behind him.
I backed up out of his path and asked, “What the hell happened to you, and why the hell are you covered in glitter?”
Trent looked at me in exasperation. “You do know who I work with, right?”
“Good point.” I snorted. “Did Levi suddenly decide to start glittering his employees?”
“Yes, actually,” Trent deadpanned, “He had this whole assembly line set up where he just rolled us along. First through the glue, then through the glitter, making sure to get every single inch and crevice.”
I chuckled and he smiled at me as I said, “Dork.” I was going to push his shoulder but thought better of it and used my toe to poke his calf.
“I will forever be covered in glitter.”
“That’s the risk you take working for him. He probably made you sign a waiver.”
He laughed. “Oh, he totally did.” He said in a mock-voice, “I hereby acknowledge that glitter will regularly appear absolutely everywhere on absolutely everything, including on my person. Initial here.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “I can see him adding that to your contract.”
He snorted and held his arms out. “Do you see how much glitter there is?”
“Kinda hard to miss when you’re reflecting off of everything.”
He pushed my shoulder, leaving glitter on my t-shirt.
I shook my head with a smile and pointed behind him “You left a path.”
He looked over his shoulder and laughed out, “Oh shit. Sorry. I’ll clean it up.”
“How about you clean yourself up so I can kiss you. I’ll get the floor.”
“You know it’s not coming off of me, right? Promise you’ll kiss me even if I’m glittered for the rest of my life?” He fluttered his eyelashes at me and puckered his lips.
I laughed and ran my thumb over his cheek. “Just get the bulk off.” He frowned and opened his mouth, but I cut him off. “Please? It’s getting everywhere.”
“Okay, fine, but only because you said please. And… I don’t want your place looking like the studio looked before I left.”
I leaned in for a kiss, no longer caring if I got glitter all over myself. Standing beside him this long without touching or kissing him was too much. I just needed to touch him. When I leaned toward him, he backed up and said, “What are you doing?”
“Trying to kiss you. Obviously.”
“I’ll get glitter on you.”
“Don’t care.”
Trent looked me up and down, then asked, “How long before dinner’s finished?”
I looked at the clock. “About twenty minutes.”
He smiled, then grabbed my face with both his hands and pulled me into a steamy kiss. When he finally leaned away, he grabbed my hand and hauled me down the hall, saying, “Now that you’re glittered too, you have to take a shower with me.” He looked over his shoulder with a grin and my heart did a little flutter in my chest.
“You know I’ll do anything to see you naked,” I said, making him snort and push me through the bathroom door. His hands were ripping off my clothes before the door even snapped shut.