Chapter Sixteen
By the time they made it back to Gabriel’s apartment, he felt overheated and overwhelmed.
“I’m sorry,” Gabriel had said between hot drugging kisses they’d been trading in the shade by Gabe’s truck.
Gabe’s new truck, which was now called something wild that was going to drive Tony around the bend.
“I’ve got to head back to my place, at some point.
Ren’s finishing up the recipe testing for the new menu, and I promised I’d help him. ”
“New name, new menu, new recipes,” Sean said wonderingly. Still shocked that they had both ended up changing their name—and not only had Gabriel taken the step that he’d sworn he’d never do, he’d re-envisioned everything he was doing.
It was brave or it was crazy.
Maybe it was a little bit of both.
“Yeah, well,” Gabriel had blushed—or was that the flush from the heat and the arousal that Sean had felt pressed hard and hot against his hip? “Someone encouraged me to try something different. And I decided it was important to prove that I could.”
“And Ren is helping you,” Sean asked after Gabriel had signed the sign guy’s paperwork, officially transitioning On a Roll to Balls & Buns.
Tony was really going to lose his shit. Sean couldn’t wait to see it.
“Even better, Ren is doing it with me,” Gabriel said as they’d begun their long, hot trek towards his place.
“Really?” Sean was thrilled for Gabe.
“He even came up with the name that’s probably going to get me murdered,” Gabe said with a sly grin.
“Yeah, I want to be there when you tell Tony,” Sean said. “Promise me.”
“You gonna be around tomorrow morning?”
Sean squeezed his hand. It was almost too hot to hold hands, but he didn’t give a fuck. He felt like he could do anything now that he’d won Gabriel’s heart—and Gabriel had won his own right back.
“Plan on it,” Sean said. “Besides, I wouldn’t miss this for the world.”
“It’s gonna be fun,” Gabe said, holding the door open for him. “Come on, let’s see how crazed Ren is by this point. I was supposed to be home an hour ago, and he keeps sending me texts.”
“What kind of texts?”
“Oh,” Gabriel said as he pushed the button for the elevator, “threatening ones, like he’s going to quit, that he’s going to move out, that he’s going to leave me for someone who actually cares about the business, etcetera, etcetera.”
“I didn’t think Ren was that dramatic,” Sean said.
“Ren’s a Moretti,” Gabriel said with a bright, happy grin. “Best get used to it, babe.”
They were kissing again when the elevator arrived with a ding.
It opened and Ren was standing there, glowering.
“You two,” he said flatly.
“Us two,” Gabriel said happily. “We made up.”
Ren rolled his eyes but he was smiling. “What a surprise. I’m so shocked.”
“You’re really not,” Gabriel said. Ren stepped out of the elevator. “Where are you going?”
“Away,” Ren said dramatically. “You’re pissing me off.”
“Well, I’m back now,” Gabriel said, reaching out and stopping the elevator doors from closing. “Come back, and we’ll get the last two recipes finished together.”
“Together?” Ren asked suspiciously.
Gabriel shrugged. “Three sets of hands are better than two.”
Ren stepped into the elevator, and after it dinged closed, rounded on them. “Just so we’re clear, there is to be no disgusting or sappy display of affection. No kissing, no hugging, no taking a break, AKA retreating to the bedroom for a quickie, alright?”
Sean nudged Gabriel’s shoulder with his own. “You said he was dramatic, not that he was such a drill sergeant.”
For a second, Ren stared at him. And then he started laughing, like he couldn’t quite stop. When he finally did, the elevator had reached the top floor.
“Honestly,” he said, as they walked towards their apartment, “I’ve never had something I needed to be a drill sergeant about before.”
“I gave him half the business,” Gabriel announced proudly. He patted Ren on the back as he unlocked the door. “Officially, legally, the whole nine yards. I don’t know why I didn’t do it before.”
“Probably because Luca would have blown a gasket,” Sean muttered under his breath as they walked into the gloriously air-conditioned apartment.
“You’re probably right,” Ren said with a crooked grin. “Honestly, that makes it even better.”
“It really does, doesn’t it?” Gabriel said, letting go of Sean’s hand and perusing the ingredients scattered over the counter. “Did you get the lingonberry jam?”
“Jam?” Sean asked, confused. “Did you decide to start serving scones?”
“We,” Gabe announced proudly, “are going to be serving all kinds of meatballs.”
“And all kinds of buns,” Ren inserted slyly as he joined Gabe in the kitchen, sliding a glass jar of jam across the counter to his cousin.
“But not my favorite buns,” Gabriel teased, shooting Sean a look that made it clear that when they were finally alone, he was completely committed to giving Sean everything he wanted—and more.
“Ew,” Ren complained. “I thought I said no disgusting or sappy displays of affection.”
“You said it,” Gabriel said with a lighthearted smile, “but that doesn’t mean it’s gonna happen.”
“What’s the plan for this dish?” Sean said, deciding that he might as well help, because like Gabe had said, three sets of hands were better than two. And he already knew what would happen if he ended up dragging Gabriel by his dick back to his bedroom.
Ren would make his life hell, for the near and the foreseeable future. And since he wanted to spend that foreseeable future with Gabriel, pissing off his cousin and best friend didn’t seem like the best plan.
“It’s a play on Swedish meatballs, but in a sandwich,” Gabriel said, shooting him a grateful look, clearly pleased that Sean had changed the subject. “The meatballs, plus a savory gravy, and lingonberry jam mayo, and picked cucumbers and radishes to add crunch. All piled up on a potato roll.”
Sean’s mouth watered. “Uh, that sounds awesome.”
“Thanks,” Ren said. “You really think so?”
“Uh yeah,” Sean said. “This whole concept is brilliant. Using Nonna’s meatballs to experiment with other dishes? It’s awesome.”
“It’s partially thanks to you it happened at all,” Gabriel said, shooting a particularly mushy glance Sean’s way.
“What he really wants is to beg you to put the Thai wrap on his menu,” Ren inserted.
“You showed me what was possible,” Gabriel said, and sounded apologetic. Like he shouldn’t take what had been undeniably a great idea and use it.
“I don’t own that idea,” Sean said. He’d moved into the kitchen now, and had taken the knife Ren had given him, and started slicing the cucumbers and the radishes for pickling. “We came up with it together.”
“Yeah, but if we’d kept to my ideas, we’d have some kind of weird soggy wrap,” Gabriel said, and the expression on his face—gratitude and admiration and love—made Sean weak in the knees.
Ren must have caught it too, because he growled a little. “What did I tell you two?”
“We weren’t even touching,” Gabe protested.
“Yeah, except you looked like you wanted to be,” Ren insisted, and he was not wrong.
“I’m sorry,” Sean said, even though he didn’t feel all that sorry. But he saw enough of himself in Ren that he thought he might understand a little of what he felt. “We’ll try to keep it under wraps.”
Ren sighed, and set down his flat whisk, where he’d been prepping to make the gravy. “You don’t need to apologize.” He hesitated, like he knew he needed to be the one making the apology, but wasn’t sure where to begin. “I’m really happy for you two, honestly.”
Gabriel raised an eyebrow. “Really?”
“Really.” Ren sounded certain now. “You two . . . it’s kind of beautiful, actually.”
Sean’s gaze met Gabriel’s and he couldn’t disagree, because while there was weight there, and shared history, and a thousand ways they’d needled each other over the years, he knew that Gabe would never stop fighting for him. Or cooking with him.
“See,” Ren continued, gesturing with the whisk, “that sort of shit is why I can’t even be angry. You’re so . . . so . . .”
“Adorable? Heart-warming? Wonderfully in love?”
Ren turned back towards the stove. “Sure,” he said carelessly, casually, but Sean knew he didn’t feel that way at all.
The tense line of his neck said everything he didn’t.
“Really,” he added, “I’m just glad you put poor Gabe out of his misery, because he was so far up his own ass, it was getting annoying. ”
Sean chuckled, and nudged Gabriel with his elbow. “I was pretty miserable without you, too. Missed you even when I didn’t want to be missing you.”
“If that’s the cost of you being here with me now, then I’m glad you were,” Gabriel said, and Sean couldn’t resist anymore. He tilted his head and Gabe’s lips met his.
“Ugh,” Ren said, his word punctuated by a sharp rap on the front door.
Gabe lifted his head from Sean’s slowly. “Who’s that?” he asked.
“Probably the Girl Scouts selling cookies,” Ren said, flicking the stove off under his pan of gravy and heading towards the front door.
“I’d like three boxes of Samoas and four of Thin Mints,” Gabriel called out.
But then Sean tugged his mouth down towards his again, and for a second, they both got lost in the kiss.
There was no better evidence of this than the fact it took a very wry, very frustrated voice to jerk them out of it.
“I see you both finally did what you were supposed to.”
Sean opened his eyes and pulled away from Gabriel.
Tony was standing in the living room, flushed, like he’d run the few blocks here. His blue eyes were twinkling with amusement, but his expression was flat. Emotionless.
“Yeah, about that . . .” Gabriel started to say, but Tony lifted his hand.
“Do you remember that contract you signed?” he asked.
Gabriel reached beneath the counter and gripped Sean’s hand. “Yeah, I do.”
“Do you remember,” Tony said, beginning to pace, “that there was a clause about requiring approval for any and all name and branding changes?”
“Uh, sure?” Sean said, speaking up this time. If Gabriel was in trouble, he was in just as much trouble—because he’d changed his name, too.
Now he hadn’t changed his to something that was guaranteed to make Tony’s blood pressure rise, but he’d still done it without any approval whatsoever.
Tony’s glare shifted, and then suddenly, he was grinning like he couldn’t ever stop.
“You’re both in trouble,” he said, “but you, Gabriel Moretti, are a real pain in my ass. At least Sean picked something that won’t have the family groups picketing me.”
“What?” Gabriel asked innocently. “Is there something dirty about it? I’m serving balls and buns.”
Tony threw up his hands. “You’re lucky that I think it’s absolutely hilarious and it’s not like the family groups are coming around, anyway.”
“Really?” Ren sounded just as surprised as Sean felt. He was sure that Tony was going to be way more pissed.
“Hey, fuck it, you guys are family, and it’s absolutely brilliant. You’re gonna have a line around the block.” Tony paused, thinking about this for the first time. “Maybe I’ll even end up hating you for outselling the rest of us.”
“No way,” Gabe said.
“Really?” Tony raised an eyebrow. “Why wouldn’t I?”
“You said it,” Gabriel said, but he wasn’t looking at Tony. He was looking straight at Sean. “We’re family. And even when family drives you crazy, you love them anyway.”
“Damn straight,” Tony said, but his voice had already faded away, because Sean realized he was right.
When he’d moved here, he hadn’t had anything anymore.
He’d felt empty and alone and unmoored. He hadn’t even realized that had begun to change, but it had, and then when he’d woken up and opened his eyes to what was happening between him and Gabriel, it was impossible to miss what else had happened.
He’d found another family.
“I love you,” he murmured to Gabe, and ignoring Ren’s outraged squawk, reached up to kiss him again.