Page 67 of Seal the Deal
“Uh—”
“You call me Nicki, just like you have been,” Nicholas demands.
“Okay, Nicki.”
Nicholas grunts, his frown firmly in place as Andrew carefully dries off his hands.
“Where’s your pain reliever?”
“I don’t need that.”
“It’ll help with inflammation,” Andrew continues, like Nicholas didn’t just speak. “Where is it?”
“Top left cupboard,” Nicholas answers, because it’s once again easier than arguing.
Andrew makes his way to the cupboard in question, opening it with a bitten off curse in what Nicki is pretty sure is Spanish. It’s not hard to imagine what has Andrew unhappy—haphazardly shoved inside the cupboard is a mess of supplements, pain relievers, old prescriptions he never finished taking from past injuries and his pre-work out. Andrew mutters to himself as he riffles through the contents, returning a minute later with two pills in his hand and a bottle of water he found in the fridge.
“Drink.”
“Yes, Dad.”
“Not dad, boyfriend,” Andrew corrects.
Fakeboyfriend. Fake caring. Fake fucking everything.
“You need to eat,” Andrew announces. “What do you want?”
“There’s takeout menus in the drawer and some pre-made meals from my chef left in the fridge for days he’s not here.”
“Personal chef,” Andrew repeats. “Rich bastard.”
“Fuck you.”
“Yup, someone is hangry,” Andrew hums. “How about you go pick a movie, and I’ll figure out the food.”
Ignoring the hangry part, which is actually pretty accurate, Nicholas settles for, “You know how to use everything?”
“I’m not Alec, but I’m pretty sure I can manage figuring out how to turn on a stove or use your microwave.”
“Who’s Alec?”
“My youngest brother. He’s an amazing cook. We all make him cry with our incompetence in the kitchen. Well, Charlie and Jason make him cry. I’m not great but I can handle the basics.”
Somehow Nicholas suspects there’s not much Andrew can’t handle.
“You got a movie preference?” Nicholas finds himself asking, as surprised by the question as Andrew appears to be.
“Oh, uh…nothing too graphic. My brain will replay the mental images on loop for weeks at the most inopportune moments like when I’m trying to work or sleep. Otherwise, I’m fine with whatever. Usually my brothers pick the movie, so I’m used to watching what someone else wants.”
“Fine,” Nicholas grunts, making his way to the living room.
Scrolling through his streaming channels, Nicholas tries and fails not to tip his head back and watch Andrew move around his kitchen. He should probably be more concerned about letting a guest make food but all he can do is stare at the way his clothing looks on Andrew’s body—bunched up around his ankles because it’s too long and loose around his lean middle. Such a handsome man, even sexier in Nicholas’s things. It scratches a primitive itch in his brain while also making him want to march into thekitchen and sniff Andrew to see if he smells like Nicholas too. He resists, mostly because he’s pretty sure he’d get sucker punched.
Not even a hefty dose of self-preservation can stop Nicholas from thinking about what Andrew smells like though, those thoughts occupying his brain even when he returns his attention to the television and finally picks an old favorite.
After about fifteen minutes, Andrew makes his way into the living room holding a tray with two plates of food on it. One of them is some kind of chicken and pasta dish he eats regularly, and the other is scrambled eggs.
“Why are you eating eggs?”
