Page 13 of Beautiful Trauma
“Thanks to Sean, I know Des set up a celebration dinner for me tonight at Rinella’s. He always pads his reservation number because there’s always a last-minute invite. I’m inviting you.”
“Oh,” Geoff said excitedly before his happiness faded. “I don’t want to impose. If Des wanted to include me, he would’ve asked.”
“He didn’t invite you because he knows how uncomfortable you get in a setting where you’re the only one who’s not out yet. He knows how important you are to me, and he’d never intentionally exclude you from my celebration dinner. I’ll talk to him as soon as I get back to the office. What do you say?”
“If you’re sure…”
“I am.”
“What time should I be there?”
“That’s a good question. I’ll have to find out and text you.”
We finished our lunch and parted ways. I was too busy scheming during my walk back to the office and not paying a bit of attention to where I was going, which is how I turned a corner and walked nose first into someone’s chest.
“Shit!” I said, rubbing my nose.
Firm hands gripped my shoulders. “Are you all right, Henry?”
Recognizing the voice, I snapped my head up and looked into dark eyes glittering with concern and arousal.
“OH, HI,EZRA,”HENRY SAIDbreathlessly. It was the same thing he had said to me when he woke up in my bed. He sounded both surprised and elated—then and now.
Then, I’d rolled him over and kissed him fully awake until his dick was as hard as mine. I’d had him once more before I fed him and put him in a Lyft. Facing Henry on the sidewalk, I wanted to kiss him just as bad, but I wouldn’t allow it. My hand, acting independently of my brain, cupped Henry’s face. I ran my thumb over his full bottom lip, wishing I could nibble it with my teeth before sucking into my mouth. My brain screamed no, but my head was already lowering to take what I wanted.
“Do that shit in private,” a man said, slightly jostling me with his shoulder when he passed. Normally, I would’ve been pissed the homophobe thought he had a right to tell me what to do and fumed he had physically touched me in any way, but I was grateful it stopped me from doing something stupid like make out with my student in broad daylight on a public street.
Dropping my hands from Henry, I took a step back. “Are you okay, Mr. Sullivan?”
Henry’s eyes changed from dazed to destroyed in seconds. “Sure, but it would’ve been my fault if I wasn’t. I should’ve been paying attention to where I was going. At least we didn’t knock heads.”
I needed someone to knock some sense into me.“What had you so distracted?” I asked, even though I should’ve wished him a good day and kept walking.
“It’s silly and a little embarrassing.” Henry shook his head then smiled. “Hey, I was going to thank you tomorrow night, but I’ll do it now since we’re both standing here.”
“For what?” I asked, pretending I didn’t know what he was talking about. I would rather he tell me what had put the sappy smile on his face before he’d crashed into me.
“For paying to fix Jess’s tire and having it towed back to the pizzeria. You didn’t have to do that,” Henry said softly, looking at me with doe eyes.
I needed to disavow him of the notion I was a knight in shining armor. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Henry. I dropped you off at the pizzeria and went to my friend’s to catch up and eat pizza.”
“Okay, Professor Meyer, I’ll let it go since you clearly don’t want credit for doing a nice deed. I’ll see you in class tomorrow.”
I nodded. “Take care, Mr. Sullivan.” I stepped around Henry and walked away from him while I still could.
I needed to find something to keep my brain occupied on my day off, so I called my father to see if I could steal him away for the afternoon to play golf. Knowing he would be at work, I dialed his direct line. He picked up right away.
“Hello, Son. Were your ears burning?” My father’s deep, jovial laugh never failed to put a smile on my face.
“No, should they have been?”
I heard a click and knew he’d picked up the receiver, switching off the speakerphone to talk privately. “I was just talking about you to an old friend over lunch. We’ve both recently moved back to the city, and we made plans to get together for dinner tonight. Your mother and I would love for you to join us.”
I smiled and shook my head. “Let me guess; they have a single, gay son around my age who would be perfect for me.”
“Did you already talk to your mother? Why didn’t she tell me she’d already invited you to dinner?”
“No, Dad, Mom didn’t call me and invite me to dinner. I’ve become very adept at detecting her matchmaking attempts,” I said drolly.