“What are you worried about?” Moose asked, coming up behind them. “You get to sit back out of sight, playing games on the computer. Noah’s the one who’s gonna be out there taking the risks, and if he has to have a backup, that’ll be on me. Even Sarah won’t be in the line of fire, unless it’s during a really frantic getaway.”
“I don’t want any of you in the line of fire,” Noah said, “not if there’s any way to avoid it. That includes you, Moose. I’ve proven to be pretty good, over the years, at taking care of myself, so hopefully you won’t have to cover my back too often.” He looked at the big man and smiled. “That doesn’t mean I’m not glad you’re available if needed, though.”
Moose smiled back, then suddenly scowled. “Didn’t we tell ya you don’t have to fake the smiles with us?”
The smile vanished from Noah’s face instantly. “Sorry, dude, it’s just old habit. I’ve been pretending to be human so long that I can’t remember to let it go.”
“I think it’s cute,” Sarah said, returning from inside. “Let him smile if he wants to.”
“And this from the girl who, just a week ago, couldn’t stand the thought of being close to a man without emotions,” Neil said. He eyeballed Noah and tried to look innocent. “Oh, I wonder, do you think that has anything to do with the fact that she’s playing ‘ride the cowboy’ in your bedroom most nights lately?”
Noah turned and looked into Neil’s eyes. “Neil, that was uncalled for,” he said, but Sarah interrupted him.
“Oh, forget it, Noah,” she said. “I sleep with you because it’s fun exercise, and it’s not like I have to worry about my reputation. Let the kid make his wisecracks, he’s just jealous.”
Neil’s eyes went wide, as Noah shrugged his shoulders and turned back to the grill. “Jealous? Me? I’m not jealous,” Neil said. He stood there for a moment, and then leered at Sarah. “Well, not all that jealous. As I recall, you made it clear I didn’t have a shot with you back when we first met.”
She nodded at him with a grin. “Yep, I did, and this is why. I like you, Neil, but you’re still too immature and childish for me. Sorry.”
Neil opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He tried it once more, got the same result, then turned and went back into the house.
A cell phone rang, and Noah glanced over his shoulder to see Moose answering. From the smile that lit up his face, it was easy to tell that it was a call from Elaine. It seemed their date had gone quite well, and she and Moose had become something of an item. Moose walked a short distance away to stand under a tree where he could talk privately. It didn’t help a lot, because Noah and Sarah could still hear him calling Elaine his ‘little love muffin.’
“Can I tell you something, and not make you mad?” Sarah asked Noah.
“Pretty sure you can, since I can’t get mad. What would it be?”
“Sometimes, I wish you were more like Moose. He gets so excited whenever she calls, or whenever he’s going to go see her. I wish I could make you get excited like that.” She looked around at him. “Don’t get the wrong idea, I’m not falling in love or anything. It’d just be nice to have somebody get excited about me.”
Noah looked at her for a moment. “I get excited about you,” he said. “Whenever you call and say you’re coming over, I start to think about what I can do to make you enjoy yourself, while you’re here. You know I get excited when you come into my bedroom—that’s kind of impossible to miss. I don’t have many friends, but the few guys I know here, Marco and Roger, and Charlie the bartender, I told all of them about you. I even showed them a picture of you on my phone.”
Sarah looked into his eyes, and smiled softly. “But do you do that because it’s what guys who have girlfriends do? Or just because you want to?”
He looked back into her eyes for a moment, with his head cocked slightly to one side. “I do it because I want to. To be honest, I haven’t thought about you as my girlfriend, I just enjoy your company and I felt like bragging about the beautiful girl I’m hanging out with. That’s not emotional, that’s just probably ego.”
Sarah’s smile got a little bigger, and she leaned close and kissed him gently on the lips. “Then I really, really like your ego,” she said. “Later I’ll show you just how much I like your ego.”
The steaks were done shortly, and Noah stacked them on a tray and carried them inside. The guys were inside waiting, and they sat down at the table and dug in.
NINETEEN