Forever (Always & Forever 2)

In the same simple tone, accentuating every word, Robert said, “I don’t think that child’s afraid of anything. Did Cam tell you she held a tarantula at zoo day with her school?”

Oh hell no. Landon shivered. Spiders were at the very bottom of his list of bugs he would ever deal with.

“She volunteered to hold it and named the damn thing. So next time, Kylie the fearless gets the guest room. I miss my man.” Robert saved it with his last sentence. Even though he loved the little princess, Landon was already thinking of ways to get Kylie, the spider whisperer, back to her house. He missed his man too.

“You’re being sweet.”

“I’m being territorial.” From upstairs, the credits to the movie began. “Let’s go check on her then go make-out in the guest room.” He clasped Landon’s hand and started out of the kitchen. “I thought the gate was very thoughtful as long as I don’t go headfirst over it myself.”

“Yeah, I worried about that too. We’ll leave the hall light on,” he said, cocking his head to watch Robert’s ass as they started up the steps.

Chapter 42

One month later

Robert, along with maybe ten others, all production staff and Helene, sat at a large round-top table in the upstairs event space of La Bella Luna where they had been since the early morning hours. The web series, Cooking with Chefs, began in the morning at six o’clock sharp to avoid interrupting or bothering the kitchen staff during their prep time. He’d made the decision to close during lunch hours on both Saturday and Sunday for filming. He worried about that decision, but it seemed best for right now. He had no way to measure what he’d gotten himself and the restaurant into.

The outside door opened, and Robert instinctively got to his feet, knowing Landon entered. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t meet you at the airport.”

“Am I interrupting?” Landon asked, his purposeful stride slowed as he came forward to meet Robert in the center of the room. “I can wait downstairs.”

“No, we’re done.” He already felt like he’d let Landon down by not meeting him at the airport. No way would he have Landon leave.

These first moments together always tugged at his heart, putting his world right again, if only for the next couple of days. His hand came up, cupping Landon’s neck, drawing him in for a soft, tender kiss that lingered a little longer than he’d intended. Something he’d do fifty times over the next couple of days to make up for the next twelve unbearable days when Landon left him again.

“I missed you.”

The softening of Landon’s face and the twinkle in his eyes spoke as loud as any words. Landon had missed him too. He gave Robert another peck and took his hand.

“We’re far enough along that it’s just getting redundant at this point. Let’s be done for now,” Helene said, drawing both his and Landon’s attention to the table. There seemed to be a chorus of agreement and thanks from their production team. “We’ll meet back here in the morning. The prep team has their marching orders.”

“Remember the section I cleared in the walk-in cooler,” Robert said. His hand tightened around Landon’s when he felt him trying to move away.

Again, there was a chorus of comments, none really mattering. The entire team of people knew Landon, maybe by nothing more than nightly video chats, but his husband got fist bumps and pats on the back as they left. Helena though stopped to give Landon a hug.

“I’m glad you’re here. Robert’s nervous about tomorrow.”

“I’m not nervous,” Robert countered, completely lying, but feeling okay in the fib designed to build his confidence and spirit for the challenge ahead.

“I don’t know why he’s nervous. He’s got his role down. He’s the Laurel to your Hardy, right?” Landon said, giving his slapstick comedy comparison.

Where Helene laughed straight out loud, Robert gave him a hard side-eye, wondering how long he’d been holding that joke to say in front of both of them. “Har har. You had to go old school for that one.”

“If I had more time, I could’ve done better,” Landon teased, clearly proud of himself. “I’ll never forget walking into Robert’s always pristine townhome to find what looked like an explosion after Helene’s first day with him. The destruction took days to clean.”

He released Landon’s hand and gave him a solid pat on the ass. “Don’t tell our secrets. I’ll lose street cred.”

The round of laughter helped ease the uncertainty Robert had in this whole process. He really liked to control his surroundings. His philosophy had always been—throw enough time and money into things and the outcomes were predictable. Winning Landon over had placed a solid dent in his theory, but the rest of Robert’s life ran smoothly under that mindset. Tomorrow though, he only had a minor say in how things happened. If this tanked, it could destroy all the progress he made in building La Bella Luna back to its original glory. He felt like such a fraud in this culinary world anyway…