Rialto (Unbreakable Bonds 8)

Ian grinned at him.

He couldn’t keep his hands off his man then. He yanked him close to his body and kissed him. Ian’s lips were soft and warm and he lingered over them. “You’re so fucking cute. You want to redo everything, don’t you?”

“No,” Ian mumbled into his mouth. “Maybe just a few of those shirts…” He looked up at Hollis. “Thanks for doing so much laundry. Were you off today for some reason?”

“Because we’ve been pulling some night shifts—both of us—I took off this afternoon to catch up on things around here.”

“I still don’t know why you can’t fold things as soon as they come out of the dryer when they’re nice and smooth.”

“I was preoccupied with what’s going on with you. I hate seeing you so upset.”

Ian hugged him, then stepped away to grab a sheet. This time, no matter how much he smoothed it, the wrinkles weren’t coming out, and he was obviously holding back a scowl.

So. Damn. Cute.

“You really think this could be Ginger? She was definitely pissed when I had to fire her, but she was such a…horrible person. She fooled me completely during her interview, and I still feel bad about that.”

“What kinds of things did she do?”

“She was rude to the other servers and especially to the kitchen staff. At first, she didn’t do it in front of me. But I caught on pretty fast when she started slipping up. Plus, people started putting in complaints about her—even some of the customers. She would take too many breaks and not get to the tables fast enough. Mostly, she just pissed off people who work for me. She was constantly picking at them. But she was only there a month. This seems like a lot of anger for such a short time.”

“You never know with people. Maybe she pissed off a customer enough for this.”

“I don’t know. I made sure each and every one of them left happy when I was there.”

Hollis pulled out a shirt that had turned into a wrinkled mess and realized it was Ian’s again. He turned over the basket and dug out the things that could be wrinkled, like underwear. Since he was finding a lot of Ian’s shirts in the basket, he’d just throw them into the dryer and fluff them.

Ian didn’t say a word as he watched him carry the load to their laundry room. Hollis grinned the whole time he fed the clothes into the dryer. It honestly didn’t bother him that his GQ was so particular about his clothes; it was one of the things he loved about him.

When he walked back into the living room, he found Ian had moved on to the kitchen and was getting down plates from the overhead cabinets. They clinked onto the counter. He doled out food onto each one, then set them out. Steam still rose from the pasta. Hollis recognized the spaghetti Bolognese and his stomach growled.

Ian never complained, but he went out of his way to keep Hollis from cooking. Not that he minded. Ian might have his quirks, but he was warm and caring and so damn hot—Hollis still had trouble believing he had such a wonderful husband. They’d built a family he was proud to be a part of.

He walked to Ian and tilted his head back. Brown eyes met his and Hollis smiled as he leaned down to softly kiss Ian’s lips.

“What was that for?” Ian whispered.

“Because I love you and all your little quirks.”

“Hating wrinkles isn’t a quirk.”

“Yeah, it kinda is.” He kissed him again. “But you’ve got a bunch.”

“What other quirks do I have?”

“You like your fashion. You like being in charge in the kitchen.” He dropped his voice. “Sometimes, you like being in charge in the bedroom. Have to say, I love those times.” He winked. “The toothpaste has to be squeezed from the bottom up. Your car has to be perfectly neat at all times. Want me to go on?”

“Those are all normal things.”

Hollis laughed. “To you they are.”

“Your car could use a good cleaning.”

“That it could. Come on, let’s eat.”

They ate their dinner at the breakfast bar while Ian continued to try and come up with anyone who would be angry enough to go after Rialto. Outside of the conversation topic, sharing an intimate late-night dinner with his husband was one of Hollis’s favorite things, and he kept his gaze on Ian. He would never tire of looking at the man, never get over how lucky he was. The thought that someone was deliberately hurting Ian’s business turned his stomach and despite being hungry, he didn’t eat a lot of his meal.

They cleaned up together, put away the folded and fluffed laundry, and Hollis pulled Ian down for some snuggle time on the couch. He flipped on the television to find Star Wars playing and settled back with Ian against his chest.