Recipe For Love (3 page)

"Her new husband was a lawyer."

Jesus.

"Wow, you really did get screwed, didn't you?" He motioned for Marco to bring them two more beers. "You're the one Rachel came to, though, when she needed help."

"I'm her daddy." Like that was the answer to everything.

It made Dan smile, though, the love in the words. "Good deal, man."

His skins came, along with their beers, and he pushed the plate toward Jack. "Have a few. I sampled too hard at the bakery today to polish them all off myself."

"You sure?" At his nod, Jack took one. "Thanks."

"No problem." Except that if Jack was going to keep licking his fingers clean like that, Dan was going to get the mother of all hard-ons. Jesus, look at that man's mouth. When it wasn't pursed and tight, Dan could tell it was lush and sensual. He could just imagine it wrapped around his prick as he held onto the man's hair, fucking those lips.

He covered his groan with a cough, turning toward the bar to hide his boner.

"Go down the wrong way, man?" Jack patted his back.

He nodded. He could just see how
No actually, I want to fuck your mouth 'til I come
would go over. The pure shock would be kind of funny, actually.

He found himself grinning. "Yeah, I'm good, thanks."

"No problem." Jack sipped his second beer slower. The man's phone had to have rung eighty times--the poor guy checking each time and hitting ignore.

"Does she really think screaming blue murder at you is going to make a lick of difference?"

"Yes." Suddenly Jack looked exhausted, old, and so sad.

"Jesus Christ." Dan shook his head. "I'm sorry, man. Look, don't worry so hard about the kids, okay? They're going to be all right. And for fuck's sake, just turn off your phone."

Jack chuckled, winked. "I can't. Rachel might call." At that, a sweet little tune sounded and Jack shook his head. "See?"

The phone was flipped open. "Hey, baby. Hey, now. No tears. Dry it up. Well, baby, y'all just did drop a surprise in her lap, huh? Are you okay?"

Sounded like Annie'd had a bit of a fit. Didn't surprise Dan at all. She'd come around, though. She was going to make an awesome, if a little bit grudging, grandma.

Dan wanted to reach out and rub Jack's shoulders in the worst way, give the man a little support.

"Okay. Okay. No, ma'am. You are not going to a hotel with anyone."

He waved to get Jack's attention. "Tell them they can stay at my place if they need a little privacy." He could sleep in the back room of the bakery. Wouldn't be the first time he'd done it.

Jack looked at him like he was going crazy, head shaking.

"Dude. She's already pregnant and they're going to get married. Not to mention they're over eighteen. Let them be." Christ, if this marriage was going to have a chance, the kids needed to be able to be alone together.

Jack's eyes closed. "Your boy's uncle says you two can go to his house."

Dan nodded. "Billy knows where the key is."

"Okay. You call me. I meant it. I don't care. I have to deal with your goddamn mother."

"You should make Billy deal with his future mother-in-law." Danny grinned evilly.

That actually made Jack chuckle, and he was smiling as he told Rachel goodbye and hung up.

"They're going to be okay. Really." Jack needed to let it go, at least for a little while.

"I hope so. I really do. She's a good girl."

"And Billy's a good boy. They'll figure it."

Jack nodded, finished his beer. "Yeah."

"You want another, or you want to go out for dinner or something?" He didn't mind giving up his house, but he wasn't ready to go back to the bakery for the night just yet.

"I think I need to slow down on the booze. Did you grow up here?"

"Yeah, I did. It was just me and Annie and my mom." He waved at Marco. "Can we have some zucchini sticks or something, man?"

"Sure. You guys want a burger?"

Jack nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, I think so."

"That'd be great, man. Thanks."

They sat there, the sun setting outside, the bar starting to fill.

"So what do you do in your downtime?" Dan asked

"I used to do woodworking and shit, but I don't have my workshop or tools so I guess I unpack boxes and surf the 'Net."

"Your ex took all your stuff? That's not right." This guy was the bad luck kid.

"Yeah. Tell me about it."

The bartender leaned over like he was sharing a secret. "I'll go set the house on fire."

Jack snorted. "Promise?"

"Yep. With Chris and Ben in it."

Dan winced. "Already shacked up with someone new? That's harsh, man."

"You know it. It was more like already shacked up before letting the current occupant know."

"Wow. That's..." Dan shook his head. "You need to date a different class of woman."

"I... Huh?"

"Well, between the harpy who's Rachel's mother and this last one kicking you to the curb like that?" He shook his head. "

"Oh. Right. I... Yeah. Shit."

Marco was chuckling, shoulders shaking.

Dan frowned, feeling like he was missing the joke. "What?"

"I... Uh. Look, man, I think... Marco. Burgers."

"Don't tell me they're the same woman."

"No. No, they're not the same person."

"Okay, then." Dan shrugged off the feeling of being left out on the joke, his eyes lighting up when one of the waiters came out of the back with their burgers.

Jack started eating, head down, tension in his shoulders.

He hated seeing anyone so uptight. "It will be all right, Jack. It'll all work out in the end."

The man was going to have a grandkid he was going to dote on, Dan was sure.

"It will. I hope."

"What can I do to help? I hate seeing you all uptight like this." Of course he believed there were few things a half hour with some baked goods couldn't cure. Or at least mitigate.

"To be honest with you, man, I just need to decompress."

"Yeah? And how do you usually do that?" Dan liked baking bread. Or fucking.

"Blowjobs, but that's over for now."

Dan could help with that. There was just the little detail of Jack being straight.

Marco snorted. "You'd have to go to Charlie's for that, man."

Jack flipped the man off, and Dan's eyebrows went up. Charlie's was a gay bar. It wasn't a rainbow flag type of place, but still, men knew what it was, if they were queer. So maybe Jack wasn't a hundred percent straight. Maybe the man went off woman whenever they screwed him over, like Rachel's mother and this last ex.

So maybe Dan could do that for Jack. Still, given they were about to become in-laws, he maybe didn't want to be Jack's one-night stand stress relief. Which was too bad, because the man really was everything Dan liked.

He buried his face in his beer and told his fucking cock to behave.

Jack leaned back, stretched, belly tight. Oh, fuck. Who was Dan kidding? His cock was not going to go down as long as Jack was in the general area.

"Your burger okay, man?"

He had no fucking clue. "Uh-huh."

"Cool."

"Yeah." Dan licked his lips and tried to figure out what the hell it was they were talking about. Jack's eyes were on his mouth. He knew it. Knew it. He licked his lips again, almost vibrating he was suddenly so turned on. Damn the man. Just damn.

"I need to hit the head, man. Be back." Jack was sporting a boner.

Fuck.

He could take the man back to the fucking bakery. He fucking could. He drank down half his beer. It was a bad fucking idea. He could take Jack into the break room, bend the man over, and fuck him blind. He shifted and adjusted himself. Shit. This wasn't helping his situation here any.

Marco leaned against the bar. "Man, Chris is a stupid son of a bitch, huh?"

"Huh?" Marco meant stupid bitch, right?

"Well, I mean, look at him? Who'd walk away from him?"

"I'm with you on that, man. It was the son part you got me on."

"What?"

"I mean is Chris a man or a woman?" There wasn't any point in pussyfooting around. He thought Jack was sexy. He wanted to know if the man would appreciate that or not.

"Chris is a dude. A slimy, bitchy dude."

Score. Okay, not that Jack had been screwed by a slimy bitchy dude, but that the man was into men. Dan was definitely going to have to offer the man that blowjob now.

"And clearly an idiot."

Marco nodded. "No shit on that."

He finished his beer, wanting suddenly to get out of there, get Jack back to the bakery. Like now. There was something that would make them both feel a lot better. He was settling up with Marco by the time Jack was coming back.

Jack grabbed his wallet. "How much do I owe you?"

"A lift back to the bakery and the pleasure of your company for a little longer."

"The pleasure? Right." Jack snorted, but grinned. "Come on, man. I'm happy to give you a ride."

"Cool. Thanks." It would do for a start. Once they were there, Dan was sure he could convince Jack to join him for a nightcap or something. And then... Well, they'd see if fate could give Jack the break he so clearly needed.

Jack headed for the bakery to drop Dan off. Jesus, the man was something else. A real Pollyanna. A hot, stacked Pollyanna.

Fuck.

Dan pointed to the right when it came time to turn off. "There's a little alleyway there where you can park your car off the street. See?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I got you." He slipped the car into the alleyway, put her in neutral.

"Come on in. There's cake. And cookies. And while I've got a little TV, there really isn't all that much to do in there. Take pity on me, okay?"

"I... Sure. Sure, my other option is unpacking." He winked to take the edge off the words. He wasn't sure he'd even bother doing that for a few weeks, see if Rache needed him to get a bigger place first.

"Come on, then." Dan climbed out, giving him a nice view of the man's ass.

He threw her in park, killed the ignition, locked up, and headed out, following.

It was warm in the bakery and smelled good. "I've got a back room."

"I'd hope so. Sleeping in the ovens would be awkward."

Dan laughed, the sound deep, good. He him to a little room tucked in a corner.

Jack checked his phone again to make sure Rache didn't need him.

"Hey, man. Relax, okay?" Dan took the phone from his hand.

"I'm trying. I just worry about her."

"She's safe at my place with her fiancé. She's going to be just fine 'til tomorrow."

He nodded, but his heart wasn't in it. He'd just given his daughter permission to sleep with a boy.

"Come on. Cake and bourbon." The glasses came out, along with a bottle and Dan went into the kitchen. "What's your favorite?"

"Favorite what?"

"Cake, cookie, or pie."

"Uh. I like crunchy stuff, I guess. Pecan pie."

"Then you're in luck, because I make the best pecan pie in town." Dan came back in carrying a pie, as well as a plate of other goodies. "Assorted brittles. I make them all here."

"You're a busy guy." He stole a bite of pecan brittle, moaning over the sweet. He noticed Dan was staring at him as he finished the brittle, the sugar melting away in his mouth. "It's good."

"There's a reason they're lined up the block at seven A.M."

"I bet you keep weird hours, huh?"

"Shit yeah. Depending on the day I'm in here anywhere from three to five A.M. I close the shop at four on weekdays, though, and three on the weekends. I'm usually pretty much sold out by then."

Dan cut him a generous piece of pie and passed it over on a fancy little china plate. "We use these for tastings on wedding cakes. Which would be a special order, and why I'm sometimes in here at all hours doing extra baking."

Jack wasn't sure which smelled better--Dan or his pie. "Keeps you in business, I guess. Thanks."

"It does." Dan cut himself a piece and sat next to Jack. "Go on and eat it--it's almost as good as a blowjob."

One of his eyebrows arched so high his cheek ached. "Now, that would have to be a miraculous piece of pie." Because even a bad blowjob was better than pie.

"I tell you what. We'll compare. Eat the pie and then I'll give you a blowjob." Dan's color was high, but his gaze didn't waver.

Jack's fork clattered onto the table. Wait? What?

Dan licked his lips. "Marco told me Chris wasn't a girl, so I know you swing both ways." The longer he didn't say anything, the less sure Dan looked, though.

"No. No, not anymore. Now I only swing one way." He couldn't stop looking at those lips.

"I've only ever swung one way. So, eat my pie and fuck my lips and tell me that Dan doesn't have the best pie and blowjobs you've ever had."

"Am I awake?" Jack took a bite of pie.

Dan blinked at him. "I offer you two feel-good things and you need me to pinch you to make sure you're awake? You need some happy in your life, man."

"No shit on that." God, that was good pie--crunchy and rich and sweet.

Dan gave him a knowing smile. "You like my pie."

"It's not bad." He took another bite. "It's no blowjob, but it's not bad."

"Patience, man. I need to wet my whistle before I make you pop yours."

One of Jack's eyebrows went up. "If you need to get drunk to go down on me, dude, don't stress it. I'm not into pity fucks, no matter what Marco thinks." He was hard up, but not that hard up.

"What? I'm not drunk, man, or getting that way. You're a sexy fucker and I've been wanting a piece of you since before I knew you were available."

"I meant..." He blushed, sighed. "Christ. Maybe this is a stupid idea."

Dan laughed. "Relax, man. We've got all night, huh? We can find a game on the idiot box and see what comes up."

He stared at Dan, then cracked up. Damn, that was clever.

The man grinned at him. "See? We're already more in the mood."

Jack relaxed. "So, I assume you're out of the closet?" God knew he was. With a vengeance.

"Shit yes. I'm not fond of the dark."

"Me either." He offered Dan another smile. "If this creepy fucker named Chris Popper comes on to you, run."