“Raph.” He grabbed the back of my neck. “You need someone, babe, and I want you to be happy.”
“But you deserve to be happy, too.”
A flash of hurt crossed his face, but it was gone so quickly I wasn’t sure if I’d imagined it or not. He offered a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “You have a chance at being happy, Raph. I want you to take it. You two have a connection, and you need to explore that.” His thumb ran over the skin of my neck. “And you never know, maybe someone will come along for me one day.”
A low, angry sound came out of my chest before I could stop it, and Izzy released me with a scowl, saying, “Whatever, Raph. I’m giving you my permission, if that’s what you’re seeking, although we agreed long ago that we could see other people if we wanted. We aren’t together, haven’t been in a long-ass time.”
“Iz.”
“Finish the dishes, Raphael.”
“Isiah.” When he met my eyes again, I whispered, “You know I love you, right? More than anything.”
His eyes softened, and he leaned in to rest his forehead against mine as he whispered back, “I love you, too, Raph… And before you ask again, yes, I want you to see where it goes with Laz.”
“You promise you’re okay with it?”
He laughed and gave me a push. “Gods, Raphael, I’ve only said it a thousand times. I’m literally trying to push you toward him, you idiot.”
When I met his eyes, I saw truth in them, so I blew out a breath and nodded. “Alright.”
He grinned. “Now finish the damn dishes. Your brother wants us to teach him how to play Monopoly or something before we leave to see Laz.”
When we walked into Tales of the Past, Laz was with a customer, but his eyes lit up when he saw our group. He waved a hand, and the motion was so adorably dorky, I couldn’t help but want to wrap him up in my arms.
I stayed back, though, and followed Izzy around the shop as we scrutinized different items. Laz always had interesting and high-quality things in here that caught my eye.
It was a good fifteen minutes before Laz was able to make his way over to us. Grady gave him a hug, and so did Alaric, so when he reached me, I didn’t hesitate. I pulled him into my chest, hearing his breath of air rush out in surprise, and I held him to me for a few seconds—longer than what was considered polite, probably.
He patted my back, then splayed his hands on my shoulder blades and gave me a big squeeze. When we finally pulled away and made eye contact, Laz’s cheeks pinkened, so I shot him a smirk, to which he rolled his eyes.
As I stepped back so he could greet Izzy, I caught Grady staring at me with a frown.
Before I could analyze that, Izzy and Laz hugged—much the same as Laz and I had. Izzy had his eyes closed and seemed to be breathing Laz in. He turned his head to whisper something into Laz’s ear that made him laugh, and after giving each other another moment of embrace, they parted. Laz was even pinker now than he had been after my hug.
I tilted my head to the side, curious as to what was going on with them. Izzy had been pushing me to date Laz, but he almost seemed to like him, too. He wouldn’t be pushing me into Laz’s arms if he had a crush on the guy, would he?
Laz let out an embarrassed laugh. “You know it’s been less than twelve hours since I last saw you guys, right?”
Grady said, “Yeah, but it was weird not having you there all morning.”
Surprisingly, I agreed with him. Maybe this had been what Izzy meant. Laz felt like he was meant to be a part of our group, our little family.
Laz sent his friend a grin, then waved us toward the back of his store where his office, storage, and the counter with the cash register were. “I put a few things in the back this morning. Let me show you this Sheraton drop leaf table. It’s from the early 1800s, so not quite as old as you two, but it’s getting there.”
“I’ll have you know that I’m two hundred forty-six years young, thank you very much,” I said.
Laz chuckled. “So like I said, it’s not as old as you.”
I gave him a little push, making him laugh as he waved us into the back.
He started going into detail about this cute little table, and his excitement was adorable. After he showed us that, he preceded to show us a few other items from around the same period; a porcelain cup and saucer, two Victorian porcelain plates, a chalice, and a Victorian box.
I leaned against the doorframe and watched him with a smile on my face as Izzy began asking Laz the most absurd questions. Izzy had started off joking around, but when he realized Laz knew everything about all the items in his shop, Iz seemed to switch to learning about the antiques and perhaps simply watching our little human friend in his element.
Movement caught my eye, and I found myself drawn to an old table clock. I had always found them intriguing. This one was stunning with a small gold tower shaped into intricate leaf designs and delicate flowers painted all over. The blue and red flowers were surrounded by gold outlines, so from far away, it looked like a crackled design, but up close, you could see the individual flowers. The clock was beautiful.
“You like that?” Laz asked as he popped up beside me.
Smiling, I said, “I do. I’ve always loved clocks.”
He grinned. “Good to know. This one is from 1890, and it still works well.”
“It’s gorgeous.” I turned to him. “But not as gorgeous as you.”
He flushed but had a pleased expression on his face. “You’re not so bad yourself.”
That made me grin, but I didn’t want to embarrass him anymore, so I said, “Tell me more about this clock of yours.”
He offered a grin and shoulder-bumped me. “Sure thing. Obviously, this one is way, way, way younger than you.”
“Hey,” I said with a snort.
He laughed, and the sound made my heart flutter in my chest. He had a beautiful laugh. As Laz got all excited and cute over the clock, all I could do was smile at him. I could hardly pay attention to his words, my focus drawn to the way his lips curled up at the edges and the way his excitement made his green eyes shine bright. Gods, I really wanted to be closer to him, wanted to touch him, hold him, fuck him into the mattress.
That last one had me holding in a groan.
“And you so aren’t paying attention anymore.”
Laz’s words finally brought me back to the here and now, and I cringed. “I’m sorry. I was listening, but I got distracted by your sexy mouth.”
“Raph.” Laz rolled his eyes.
“I want to taste your lips on mine again.”
His eyes widened. “Raphael.”
I held up my hands. “No, I know. This isn’t the appropriate place for that, but yeah, your lips distracted me.”
“You are so full of shit.”
A surprised laugh bubbled out of me. “I am not.”
He rolled his eyes but was smiling, his eyes still lighting up. “So full of it.”
I gently brushed my thumb across his bottom lip, then dropped my hand quickly so no one else would see us. “Not kidding.”
He sucked in a breath, then closed his eyes. “You are seriously going to be the death of me.”
“I sure hope not.”