Glenn-Stormy-Love-&-Spaghetti-on-Aisle-Eight (3 page)

“Yeah, sure.” Seth was actually a little grateful that something had

come up. He was still clueless about what to talk about. Being tongue-

tied was not something he was used to. Why Frank made every ounce

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of intelligence dribble out of his brain, he wasn’t sure. “I’ll see you

tonight at eight.”

“Eight o’clock, Seth. I’ll be waiting.”

Me, too
. Seth sighed deeply as he hung up the phone. He was such

a dweeb. Seth stared at his cell phone for a moment then flipped it

open and dialed Micah’s number. He needed a fresh set of ears on this

situation before he lost his mind.

“Hey, man, Gideon said you had a hot date,” Micah said as soon

as he answered the phone. “I want to hear everything.”

“I swear to god I am losing my fucking mind, Micah.” Seth leaned

back in his chair and stared up at the ceiling. “Every damn time he

talks I become the world’s biggest loser. I can’t think of a single thing

to talk about.”

“That hot, huh?”

“You have no idea, Micah.”

“Hotter than Ivan?”

“Low blow, Micah.” Seth had been involved with Ivan Federov,

Gideon’s head of security and boyhood friend, for a time after Micah

and Gideon got married. It had been a brief affair that ended amicably

on both sides.

Seth liked Ivan and respected him, but the man wasn’t going to be

the love of his life. Ivan and Seth were both looking for different

things in life. They still saw each other every now and then, played

pool and just hung out, but only as friends.

“I didn’t mean it to be, Seth. I’m just trying to gauge how hot this

guy is.”

“Yes, he’s hotter than Ivan.” Seth frowned as he compared the

two men in his mind. “Although, they have a lot in common, I think.”

“How so?”

“They both have that
air of danger
thing going on for them.” Seth

had felt it the moment he’d stared into Frank’s gorgeous eyes.

“You think this guy is involved in the security field?”

“Maybe. He seems the type.”

Love & Spaghetti on Aisle Eight

19

“Hmmm. So, what’s his name?”

“Oh, hell, no!” Seth laughed loudly. “I told Gideon you weren’t

getting his name until we had been on at least one date. I’d like to get

to know this guy a little before he runs for the hills.”

“Gideon doesn’t even have to know,” Micah said. “I could just

have Ivan do a teensy weensy little search on him. Just to find out if

he’s on the up and up.”

Seth rolled his eyes. “No, Micah.”

“Spoilsport.”

More laughter filled Seth at the disgruntled tone in his best

friend’s voice. He adored Micah, but the man had gotten a little too

spoiled being married to Gideon Wulfe. He pretty much got anything

and everything his little heart desired.

After everything Micah had suffered in his life, Seth couldn’t be

happier for his friend. Micah deserved everything Gideon had to give

him, the most important being Gideon’s deep abiding love for Micah.

“So, how are things going with Ruthie?”

“Absolutely perfect.” Seth grinned as he reached for the framed

picture on his desk. His heart still thundered in his chest every time he

looked at the small black-and-white photo. “Sophie is beautiful,

Micah,” Seth said, referring to the unborn infant in the ultrasound

picture.

“Right,” Micah snorted, “like you can tell that from a sonogram.”

“I’m telling you, she’s gorgeous.”

“Is Ruthie holding up okay?”

“Yeah, she’s complaining that her feet hurt and she’s driving Lisa

crazy, but other than that, she’s doing great. The doctor says another

six weeks or so and she’ll be ready to deliver.”

“I can’t believe you’re going to be a father.”

“It’s what I’ve always wanted, Micah. You know that.”

“Well, yeah. I just kind of never expected it considering you don’t

like all those girly bits.”

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Stormy Glenn

“Luckily for me, I never have to even see all those girly bits.”

Seth shivered just thinking about those
bits and pieces
. How straight

men enjoyed woman parts, he would never know. “Modern medicine

took care of all that.”

“And Ruthie is still okay with signing the adoption papers?”

“Yep, that’s the agreement we have, and I really don’t see her

changing her mind. She signs the papers on Sophie and I agree to

donate sperm when she and Lizzie want their child. We each get what

we want. Besides, with Ruthie and Lisa living next door, the kids will

grow up together.”

Seth couldn’t wait to be a father. He had been looking forward to

this for years. It wasn’t until he had met Ruthie and Lisa that his

dream started to become reality. Ruthie had agreed to provide him

with a child in exchange for him providing sperm when she and Lisa

wanted their own child. Living next door to each other, they planned

to co-parent, even if Seth would have custody of Sophie and Ruthie

and Lisa would have custody of the next child.

“Doesn’t that feel weird to you?”

“Nope.” Seth chuckled as he set the sonogram back down on the

corner of his desk and then leaned back in his chair. “Ruthie and Lisa

couldn’t be better about letting me go along on all the doctor

appointments and everything. I’ll do the same with Sophie when she

gets here. Living next door to each other means we can share the

responsibility of raising our kids together without actually living

together.”

“It’s still weird.”

“Maybe, but it works for us.”

“What are you going to say to this new guy if things work out

between you?” Micah asked. “Is he even interested in kids?”

“Way too early to know that, Micah. I’m not even sure if we’re

compatible yet. If things progress to a second date, maybe a third, I’ll

bring it up, but I need to know we mesh before talking to him about

my daughter.”

Love & Spaghetti on Aisle Eight

21

“I suppose, but I wouldn’t leave it too long. You don’t want to

start getting involved with the guy only to find out that he hates kids.

That would totally—what? I’m in the kitchen.”

Seth blinked at Micah’s abrupt change of topic until he realized

that Micah was talking to someone else. “I’ll let you go, Micah. I

need to get ready for my date, and it sounds like you might be busy

for a little while.”

“Oh, yeah, sorry about that,” Micah replied. “Gideon just got

home from work and he was calling me.”

“It’s no problem.”

“Call me tomorrow and let me know how things went.”

Seth chuckled mischievously. “I’ll think about it.”

“Seth—”

“Bye, Micah.” Seth laughed with delight as he hung up. He

adored Micah, but the man was like a dog with a bone when he

wanted to know something. Seth wasn’t in the mind to share until he

actually had something to tell Micah. Tonight’s date would tell.

Seth jumped into the shower and then spent the next hour trying to

find the perfect outfit to wear. After going through most everything in

his closet, he finally settled on a pair of dark brown slacks and a

simple white dress shirt with the collar open. He finished off the outfit

with brown dress shoes and the gold necklace Micah had given him. It

was a simple look, but it worked for him.

By the time Seth was dressed and ready to go, he still had two

hours before his date. He wandered down the street to the small

market on the corner and picked out two bottles of red wine. He had

no idea if what he was picking out would taste okay or not, but he

liked the colorful labels.

He still had an hour and a half to go before his date by the time he

made it back to the brownstone he shared with Ruthie and Lisa. It was

actually a pretty sweet setup, thanks to Gideon.

The brownstone was divided into two separate residences. Seth

owned one side. Ruthie and Lisa owned the other. There was a

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Stormy Glenn

security door on the outside of the duplex that led into a large lobby

area in the middle of the two residences.

Each residence had a separate entrance leading off from the lobby.

Seth had the luxury of living in his own place while being close to the

unborn child he had helped father. The same would be true for Ruthie

when their daughter was born.

Seth smiled as he walked up the sidewalk toward the brownstone.

It was a fantastic house in a nice neighborhood. Far enough away

from the rush of downtown to be the suburbs but close enough to get

back and forth to work, school, and the park down the street. It was

the perfect place to raise kids.

Seth really hoped Frankie liked kids. Maybe he should take

Micah’s advice and bring the subject up tonight before things went

any further. It would totally suck to fall for the guy only to find out he

wanted nothing to do with children.

Time seemed to slow to a snail’s pace as Seth waited. With a half

an hour left, Seth couldn’t stand the anticipation anymore. He grabbed

a light jacket, the bottle of wine he had purchased, and headed off. If

he walked the fifteen blocks between his house and Frank’s, he

should get there right on time.

It took twenty minutes.

He was eager.

Frank’s place was a little more surprising. It wasn’t a brownstone

but rather an apartment in a quaint little neighborhood that Seth was

pretty sure he had seen in some Norman Rockwell painting

somewhere.

It was picturesque.

Mom-and-pop-looking grocery stores sat next to bookstores,

fashion boutiques, and sidewalk cafés. Potted flowers hung from the

lampposts, and a large grassy park sat center stage to it all. There was

even a small church at one end of the park.

Love & Spaghetti on Aisle Eight

23

Seth could tell that the floors above the businesses were

apartments, but the other residences in the neighborhood were houses,

most of them were two stories tall and in good repair.

“How did I not know about this neighborhood?” Seth asked

himself as he stopped and checked the numbers on the apartment

building he had stopped in front of. He glanced at the paper in his

hand that he had written Frank’s address down on then made sure he

was in the right place. The ground level was a little coffee bistro next

to a grocery store, the apartments above.

He was also envious of the view Frank must have from his

apartment. Granted, there was a nice park two blocks from Seth’s

brownstone, but when he looked out his front window, he got to see a

really nice oak tree sitting in front of the brownstone across the street.

He didn’t get the view of a beautiful park surrounded by quaint little

businesses and cafés.

Seth hit the door buzzer for Frank’s apartment then waited.

“Hello?”

Seth turned and talked into the small callbox to his left. “Hey,

Frank, it’s Seth.”

“Oh, hey,” Frank replied. “I’m on the third floor, Apartment B.

Come on up. I’ll buzz you in.”

Seth heard the door buzz and unlock and quickly reached over and

opened the door. The third floor wasn’t too bad, so Seth took the

stairs instead of the elevator. He had never liked the steel cage-like

elevators that were in some of the older buildings.

He paused at the third floor, drawing in a few deep breaths, his

lungs gasping for air and his legs reminding him it had been more

than while since he had last been to the gym. Maybe he wasn’t in as

quite of good shape as he thought he was. And maybe next time he

would take the damn steel cage.

Seth made his way down the wide hallway until he came to

apartment B. It looked like Frankie’s apartment faced the street.

While it would give him a beautiful view of the park across the street,

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Stormy Glenn

it left no chance for any type of green space outside of the apartment.

Seth’s envy of the place went down a notch.

He checked that his shirt was tucked in then smoothed back his

bangs before knocking on the door. His heart pounded a little faster as

the door opened and Frank’s handsome face smiled down at him.

Goober mode hit him with a vengeance. “Hi,” was the only thing

he could think of to say. Seth decided to go with the excuse that he

found himself suddenly faced with one of the most handsomely

rugged men he had ever seen in his life.

It melted his brains.

“Hi.” Oh man, there went the dimples.

“I brought wine.” Seth held up the paper bag in his hand.

“Great.”

When Frank took the bag and stepped back, Seth stepped into the