Read Online Where You Least Expect It by M. Durango - Free Book Online Page B

the short drive toward Christian’s apartment. “You want to grab something to eat?” They both had to eat, right?
    “Um.”
    Matt waited as Christian seemed to think. Maybe this was a bad idea. Maybe he should have just forgotten the whole thing.
    “If we can keep it cheap, yeah,” Christian finally answered.
    Matt looked over at him. “Are you sure?”
    “Yeah. I don’t really have any food at home, anyway.” Christian looked mildly embarrassed again.
    “Okay.” Maybe it was a good idea. “How about Mexican?”
    “I love Mexican,” Christian told him. “I eat refried beans a lot, because they’re cheap, and then I just end up craving real Mexican.”
    Matt nodded. “Mexican it is, then.”
    ***
    “This is one of my favorite restaurants. I love the cheesy decor and the little sombrero hats on the tables,” Christian commented once the hostess had left.
    “I come here every couple of weeks. I’m not a big fan of cooking.” Matt could make a few passable meals, but it had never been his strong suit. He kept meaning to learn but never seemed to get around to it. Restaurants were just so much more convenient than planning meals and he always seemed to be missing some critical ingredient.
    “I actually like it, but I can’t really afford to do anything fancy and it’s kind of a drag to cook for one person. Sort of depressing, you know? I mean, if you put all this time and thought into making something, there should at least be someone to share it with.” Christian shrugged, blushing slightly.
    Matt didn’t want him to feel embarrassed. “I can see that. I just don’t really have the patience. There’s usually something else I’d rather be doing.”
    “Oooh, you want to split an order of nachos as an appetizer?”
    Matt blinked at the complete change of subject, then laughed. “Sure. Jalapeños?”
    “Definitely. Chicken or beef?”
    “Either.”
    Once their orders were placed, they settled back with their drinks. They had spent enough time together that Matt didn’t feel pressured by the need to make small talk, but Christian jumped in before Matt could think of anything to say.
    Christian rested his arms on the table and leaned forward. “So, I know you like football, read some of the same books that I do, and spent time in the Army.”
    Matt took a sip of beer. “There’s not much else to tell. Work takes up a lot of my time, and when I’m not working I just hang around my place, go to the gym, play ball with Sam. Let myself get dragged to parties. Fight off Sam’s attempts to set me up.”
    “Which you obviously don’t like.”
    Matt shrugged. “I was in a long-term relationship that ended about a year ago. Sam thinks I’m missing out on something by not dating a new woman every month.”
    “I only had one long-term relationship. It lasted a couple of years before we split up. We were really young.” Christian grimaced. “Not that twenty-two is old.”
    Matt took a helping of nachos that the server left on the table. “When I was twenty-two, I was just back from being deployed and trying to decide if I should reenlist. Katie, my ex, argued about that a lot.”
    Christian made a pleased sound as he took a mouthful of nacho and toppings. “Did she want you to get out?”
    “She did. She didn’t really give a shit about the war until I was in it and then she was totally against it. It pissed me off, you know?” Matt always found it difficult to explain his conflict with Katie; most people thought she was just worried for him, but Matt didn’t see it that way.
    “Because she wasn’t supporting what you did?” Christian asked.
    Matt toyed with his beer bottle. “Partly, but it was more that her reasons were completely selfish and not because she thought it was the right thing to do. It was a knee-jerk reaction.”
    “Well, sure,” Christian agreed, “But you know there’s a huge psychological aspect to people’s beliefs that have nothing to do with reason or logic,