By the time I pulled into the parking lot of LaManzo’s, I was convinced I was going to puke. Maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing though. Nothing like showing up to a date smelling like vomit to convince a guy he wasn’t interested after all.
Looking around the parking lot, I didn’t see any motorcycles. Either Heath didn’t drive one, or he was running late. Or maybe he had decided not to come after all.
I wasn’t sure how I felt about that last one. Yes, I had put up a fight with Derek, and yes, I was still pissed at my brother, but I was here. The least this guy could do was to give me the courtesy of showing up.
Realizing I was getting righteously pissed without even knowing if I had reason to be, I emerged from my car and set the alarm before heading into the restaurant.
I wondered if it was possible Heath was already inside, not sure how I would feel either way. On the one hand, it would be nice to know he cared enough to be on time. On the other hand, I didn’t want to look desperate if I showed up before he did. That might give him the idea I was interested in something I wasn’t.
Before entering the restaurant, I took a deep breath, trying to steady my nerves. I was definitely going to need a drink if I wanted to accomplish that. Only one though. I wasn’t about to let myself get drunk.
As soon as I stepped inside, I forgot how to breathe.
“I’m glad you made it,” Heath said, his smile and his stride confident as he approached.
Suddenly, I was glad too.
Heath stood there looking like a tattooed god in his white button down and fitted black dress slacks. Both of his arms were on display, highlighting the ink that stretched from his wrists to his biceps and no doubt went all the way to his shoulders. While his left arm was filled with vibrant color, the right was a swirl of black and gray. The top two buttons of his shirt were undone, showing off the hint of an owl tattooed on his chest.
“You haven’t been waiting long, have you?” I asked.
Heath grinned. “I think I’d better plead the fifth, or you’ll realize just how eager I was.”
I found myself smiling back at him. Of course he would be charming too.
“I hope this place is okay,” Heath said. “Derek said Italian was your favorite.”
It was which was no doubt why he had chosen the place, the devious prick. Soften the blow of the unwanted blind date and all that.
That wasn’t Heath’s fault though, and I wasn’t going to punish him for Derek’s mistake. I was going to enjoy a good meal with some serious eye candy and then go home and jerk off to the memories.
“I’ll let the hostess know you’re here,” Heath said. “She said we could be seated when you arrived.”
When he turned and approached the podium where the hostess stood, I took the opportunity to check out his ass, and holy mother of God. It was even better than I remembered, high and round and muscular. Oh, to be those pants.
Not wanting to be caught staring, or drooling, I made sure to lift my gaze before he turned to face me once again.
“We’re ready,” Heath said.
“Great.”
I expected he would follow the hostess and I would follow him, giving me another chance to ogle the ass of the gods. Instead, he waited for me to step to his side and then gestured for me to walk ahead.
I didn’t really want to have him at my back. Knowing he was only trying to be a gentleman made it easier for me to accept the offer. I was sure he was using the short walk to return the favor and check out my ass. Hopefully, he liked what he saw.
When we reached the table, he didn’t try to pull out my chair, which I appreciated. Some guys might be okay with it, but it always felt emasculating to me.
We had barely gotten our asses in the chairs before the hostess was dropping the menus in front of us and telling us our server, Zach, would be with us shortly.
Being seated across from Heath gave me the chance to take a long look at him without seeming like a creepy stalker. With those beefy arms and barrel chest, it was obvious he knew his way around a weight set. If not for the tattoos, he would have looked like everyone’s idea of the boy next door with those bright blue eyes and the short blond hair.
“What made you decide to get an owl tattoo?”
“I know I should probably say it’s because owls are wise, but the truth is, I just liked it.”
I laughed. “At least you’re self-aware.”
“Do you have any tattoos?”
Before I could answer, the server approached our table.
“Good evening, gentleman, my name is Zach, and I’ll be your sever this evening. Can I get you anything to drink?”
“I definitely want a beer.” Heath picked up his menu to peruse the drinks. “A Budweiser is fine for me. What about you, Ned? What sounds good to you?”
I cast a quick glance at the menu. “I’ll just have water.”
“Can I interest you in an appetizer?” Zach asked. “We have a variety of delicious offerings.”
“Nothing for me, thank you,” I said and Heath nodded his agreement.
Zach closed his notepad and shoved it into the pocket of his apron. “I’ll grab those drinks and bring you some of our fresh bread as well.”
I barely managed to hold back a sigh of satisfaction. I must not have been successful with the way Heath was grinning.
“I take it you like the bread here.”
I nodded. “Oh, yeah, it’s the best.”
“I can’t wait to try it then.”
My mouth flopped open. “Hold on, are you telling me you’ve never had their bread?”
“Yep, that’s what I’m telling you.”
“How is that even possible?”
“I’ve never been here before.”
“You’re kidding me. Why not?”
Heath shrugged. “I guess I’m more of burgers and pizza kind of guy.”
“Well, if you want pizza this place is the best in town.”
“Better than Round Table?”
Leaning back in my chair, I clutched my heart. “How can you even say that? Round Table is a chain restaurant. LaManzo’s is a family owned restaurant who bakes love into every pizza they make.”
Heath laughed. “You should tell them that so they can use it as their slogan.”
“You have to try their pizza first,” I said. “If it’s the best you’ve ever had, which I’m sure it will be, then I’ll tell the manger their new slogan should be LaManzo’s bakes love into every pizza we make.”
“And if it’s not the best pizza I’ve ever had?”
“We’re not even going there because it’s just not possible.”
“Okay, you’re on,” Heath agreed, giving me a grin. “I hope you don’t take this the wrong way, but you’ve totally surprised me.”
“Because I like pizza?”
“No, because when you came into the shop, I thought you were this shy, quiet guy, but you’re not.”
“Is that a good thing?”
“Yeah, it is.”
Heath pinned me with an intense gaze. Normally, when a guy looked at me like that, I looked the other way, flattered but not wanting to give him the idea I was interested. With Heath, I found myself staring back. The more I looked, the more I liked what I saw.
The moment was broken when Zach returned with the basket of bread and our drinks.
“There you are,” Zach said once he had everything arranged. “Were you ready to order, or did you need another few minutes to look over the menu?”
“Oh, we’re ready,” I said before Heath could reply.
“Great, what can I get for you?”
“We need a large pizza with the works.”
I cut a quick glance at Heath to see if he was okay with that. When he didn’t speak up, I figured that was as good as saying yes.
“Good choice,” Zach said.
“I know, right.” I nodded in Heath’s direction. “Can you believe this guy’s never had the pizza here?”
“You d
on’t know what you’re missing,” Zach told Heath.
“That’s what I told him,” I said, giving Heath a triumphant smile.
“You’re in for a treat,” Zach assured him. “Let me just get this order in, and I’ll be back to check on you shortly.”
“He’s right you know,” I said when Zach was gone.
“I hope so,” Heath said. “It would be a real letdown if this turned out to be the worst pizza in the history of pizza.”
“You have nothing to worry about. You’re gonna love it.”
Heath smiled as he reached for his beer. Until that moment, I had no idea drinking a beer could be such a sexy act, but there he was pulling it off. The muscles in his forearm flexed as he picked up the glass and brought it to his mouth. Watching his throat work as he swallowed made me think of how he would look swallowing me down.
The thought surprised me.
I wasn’t asexual. I was very much attracted to men, but it wasn’t often I dated, let alone indulged in fantasies of a flesh and blood man and not some perfect hero I’d conjured in my mind.
As far as my parents were concerned, I was too busy focusing on my nursing career to date. My brothers knew the truth. For the most part, they respected my decision to be alone, but lately they had started getting more vocal about me trying again so I didn’t end up alone.
Like that was possible in our family.
“All right, let’s give this bread a try,” Heath said as he returned his glass to the table.
Heath reached into the basket and grabbed a slice and a pat of butter and I did the same. Once he had his bread buttered to his satisfaction, I watched with anticipation as he took his first bite.
When his eyes rolled closed, I knew what he was going to say.
“Damn, this is really good.”
“Yes, it is, and I won’t even say I told you so.”
Heath laughed. “I think you just did.”
I shrugged as I took my first bite. Crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, I was reminded why I loved it so much.
“Derek said you’re a nurse.”
“Yes, I work in the emergency room at Mercy Hospital.”
“How do you like it?”
“I love it. I’ve always loved helping people, and there’s nothing like helping them when they’re feeling their lowest and getting them back to their best.”
“That’s nice.”
“What about you? What made you want to become a tattoo artist?”
“It was my brother’s idea actually,” Heath answered. “We didn’t have the easiest time growing up. Drawing was a way for us to escape, but I never thought it would be something we could do for a living. Whenever I thought about artists, I pictured generic museum exhibits you know. I figured art was always going to be a hobby, but Cooper kept saying I was too good not to share my talent with people. When I asked him how I was supposed to do that, he said I could always draw my own comic book.”
“Did you ever do that?”
Heath laughed. “Nah, I’m good at drawing, but I never would have been able to come up with a good storyline, which is what I told Cooper. That’s when he said I should do tattoos and if I did it, he would do it with me. We could open our own shop.”
A fond smile played on Heath’s lips as he shook his head at the memory. I liked the way he talked about his brother. As someone with four brothers who were the most important people in my life, I appreciated seeing someone else who had that same understanding of the value of that connection.
“I assume your brother works in your shop with you.”
“Yeah, you might have seen him. Young guy with silver painted hair.”
I nodded. I remembered him. It was kind of hard to forget a guy with silver hair.
“You’re older then?”
“Yes, I’m twenty-nine and Cooper’s twenty-six. What about you? Are you older or younger than Derek and Oliver?”
“Technically, I’m younger than Derek and older than Oliver.”
“Technically?” Heath frowned.
“Well, we’re all twenty-seven.”
“Um, okay,” Heath said, still looking confused.
“Derek was born first and then me and then Roger, then Kiel and then Oliver, but there’s only a few minutes between all of us.”
Heath’s eyes widened. “You guys were all born at the same time?”
“We’re quintuplets. My mom calls us her litter,” I said, still smiling. “Our parents had some fertility issues so they went the IVF route. They implanted five eggs in my mom hoping at least one would take and ended up with all of them taking.”
“Damn, your dad must have some super sperm.”
I laughed again. “Actually, no. That was part of the problem. They weren’t that strong.”
“I guess they didn’t get the memo that time.”
“No, they didn’t, thank goodness. I can’t imagine not having any of my brothers.”
“And I can’t imagine having four brothers.”
“It was crazy sometimes, and we didn’t always get along, but I wouldn’t want it any other way. I was born with four of the best friends I’ll ever have.”
“I never thought of it like that.”
“Most people don’t unless they’re a multiple.”
“You’re a nurse, Oliver’s a writer and Derek’s a cop. What about the other two?”
“Roger’s a paramedic and Kiel’s a firefighter.”
“So, what you’re saying is you’re definitely the guys to have around in case of an emergency?”
I smiled. “Yeah, I’d say you would be safe.”
Heath took another drink of his beer so I reached for my water.
“Is Cooper your only brother?”
“By blood, yes, but the guys in the shop are like my brothers too.”
“Tell me about them.”
“X and I grew up together, took art classes together, played football, kicked ass and took names when we had to.” Heath smiled. “Damian is our shop manager. You wouldn’t know it to look at him, but the dude can be pretty militant. It’s cool though. We wouldn’t get anything done without him. We met Flynn a few years ago when he came into the shop and asked if we were looking for new artists. I guess he’d had problems finding a place he felt comfortable because he’s gay. Some asshole told him to check out Rainbow Ink.”
I frowned. “You named your shop Rainbow Ink?”
“No, we named it Going Inksane, but we’ve never made it a secret that we’re gay. We don’t go to conventions advertising it or anything, but none of us are in the closet, never have been. Life’s too short for that shit.”
“We’ve never really been in the closet either. I think we were twelve when we realized we were gay.”
“All of you?”
“Yeah, our parents sat us down as a group to give us the birds and bees talk and told us that we were probably going to start noticing girls and Derek said something about girls being gross. Our parents thought he was still in that girl hating phase and said he wouldn’t think so in a year or so.” I smiled at the memory of how quick Derek had been to dispel that notion. “Derek told them they didn’t understand. Girls were nice to hang out with, but he was never going to kiss one or date one or marry one because he was going to do those things with a guy.”
“How’d your parents take that?”
“I think they were still trying to figure out if he was serious when we all started agreeing with him and talking about the boys in our school that were cute and the ones that we wouldn’t go near if you paid us.”
Heath laughed. “I’ll bet that was a shock.”
“At first, they were worried we were following Derek since he’s kind of our leader.”
“I could see that.”
“We weren’t though. We’re all gay and when they realized we meant it, they were supportive. Mom said she’d waited too long to have kids not to accept us for being born the way we were.”
“You’re lucky to hav
e that.”
“I’m guessing your parents didn’t support you.”
A dark expression crossed Heath’s face. “No, I doubt my mom noticed since she spent most of her time drunk or high, but my dad had no problem telling me what a disappointment I was.”
When he said he and Cooper didn’t have the best childhood, I was afraid it was something like that. My heart went out to him. Having grown up with parents who supported us at every turn, I had no idea how I would have handled it if they had turned their backs on us.
I reached across the table and placed my hand over his. “I’m sorry.”
Heath gave me a startled look. “Thanks, but you don’t have to be.”
“I know, but no one deserves to be treated like that, especially a child.”
“You are amazing. You know that, right.”
My face warmed, but before I could protest, he spoke again.
“You’re gorgeous, kind, successful, smart and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since we met.”
I stared at him with wide eyes. It had been a long time since a man had said anything like that to me and never one as impossibly good-looking as Heath. The man was a living work of art, but there he was calling me gorgeous. It was surreal.
“Please tell me I didn’t just make a fool of myself,” Heath said, surprising me with the genuine note of worry in his tone.
“I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since we met either,” I admitted softly.
A huge smile split his face and warmed my heart. “Does that mean you’ll let me take you out again?”
Before I could answer, Zach returned to our table.
“Here you are. The best pizza in town,” Zach said, smiling as he set the steaming pizza between us. “Can I get you guys anything else?”
“I’m good,” Heath answered.
“Nothing for me,” I said. Looking across the table at Heath, I added, “I have everything I need right here.”
When he resumed that sexy smile, I knew he understood what I was saying.
“All right,” Heath said when Zach was gone. “Let’s see if you’re right about this pizza being the best in town.”
“I was right about the bread, wasn’t I?”
“Yeah, you were.”
We both reached for a slice, and I watched intently as Heath took his first bite. Unlike the bread, he didn’t seem impressed.
Going Inksane (Nice Ink Book 1) Page 8
