Page 57 of Devil's Kiss
Derek raised an eyebrow. “Good to know the way to your heart, and dick, is through a simple tuxedo.”
Dylan shrugged. “What can I say—there’s something about a man in a tux.”
“Oh, I get it. You’re looking pretty sharp yourself. But no touching tonight, Prescott…not unless you pay me.” Derek laughed at himself. “God, that sounds so wrong. Okay, let’s get going. Apparently I have some rich schmuck waiting to take me on a date.”
JORDAN WASN’T SUREwhy he’d let Brantley drag him along to the Gay and Lesbian Community Center tonight. This wasn’t the way he usually liked to go about donating toward causes he believed in, and he believed strongly in helping the homeless youth among the LGBTQ community. But really, an auction?
He’d almost laughed when Brantley asked him, because he was the last person Jordan would ever expect to turn up to one of these events. But then Brantley had admitted he wanted to get out more and maybe meet someone new and see if…well, just see “if,” and who was Jordan to say no to that?
Ever since Daniel Finley had moved to Chicago, Jordan had been trying to get Brantley back out into the dating world for what felt like forever, and he would just about mortgage a fucking house to buy the guy a date if that was what it took to have him sit down and eat a meal with a man whom he might have something in common with. Or at least have really good sex with.
Lord knows the guy could do with a couple of rounds in a bed with a hot guy to remind him how to use the appendage between his legs.
But it was none of Jordan’s business what Brantley did, or who, for that matter. He just hated seeing his friend so isolated when he was such a good catch for some lucky guy.
So there he was, standing at the back of an auditorium full of horny men ranging in age, pretending to be there to support a good cause, when really, it was just an added benefit of ogling all the eye candy about to be paraded on stage and the chance to date someone way out of their league.
Well, out oftheirleague.Let’s be real.
With a glass of Chardonnay in hand, Jordan leaned into Brantley and asked, “So do they have a menu of sorts?”
“A menu?” Brantley asked, his eyes wide.
“Why do you look so shocked? Surely it makes sense that we get toseewhat it is we’ll be purchasing. Right? You get a catalogue at an auction house, so I figured with all the prime beef they’re about to display, we would get a menu here.”
“Jordan,” Brantley said.
Jordan frowned and then looked back to the stage, where several men were muscling to get closer to the runway. “What? That’s why I’m here, right? I mean you. That’s whyyou’rehere. I’m not bidding. I currently have my hands full, thank you very much.”
Brantley smiled, and Jordan felt himself reciprocate. He’d been seeing Dr. Stephan Reid for a couple of months now, and things were going…well.
Stephan worked over at the local hospital, and that was where they’d first met. Jordan had been coming out of a meeting where he’d donated funds to an expansion of the children’s wing, and they’d literally run into one another and hit it off. Since then, they’d gone out to dinner several times, and one night they’d even gone to the local symphony, and all in all it was going…well.
The only problem was they hadn’t quite made it to the bedroom yet. Stephan was a little older. Actually, he was right around Brantley’s age, and whenever they’d come close and Jordan would make a move, the guy’s pager would go off or he’d be called into work. As frustrating as that was, though, Jordan was beginning to suspect that maybe he wasn’t as into Stephan as he should be, considering the lack of sexwasn’tbothering him. But Stephan was kind and generous, and they had similar interests when it came to giving back to those less fortunate than themselves, and Jordan figured it was worth giving it a little more time to see if it could develop into something more.
“Oh yes, Stephan. How is he?”
“Busy,” Jordan replied. It was the truth. He was always busy, but that worked out for Jordan, too, because honestly, he liked his freedom. He not only worked at the university these days but also sat on the board of several charities he found important, and he was the owner of two of the major apartment towers being built down on the main strip of Sunset, and somewhere in the middle there, he saw Stephan when he was free.
“Maybe one day soon when he’snotbusy, we can all get together and have dinner?”
Brantley had asked him this a couple of times now, and while Jordan wasn’t opposed to bringing Stephan around, he wasn’t sure how permanent he was and would really rather play it by ear.
“Yeah, maybe. I’ll have to ask him.”
“Please do. I think it’s only fair I get to meet the man who’s finally held your interest for longer than a night.”
Oh, there’s another one, you know…Jordan thought, and then immediately wondered why the hell Derek Pearson was in his head. He hadn’t heard from Derek in years. After the night of commencement, Jordan had gone off on his family’s vacation and when he’d come back, just as they’d decided, that had been that.
Jordan had gone back to work at the start of a new semester, and he hadn’t run into Derek since.
It hadn’t escaped his notice, though, that in a town the size of Sunset Cove, it was likely that Derek purposely avoided him and all his local haunts, because otherwise they would’ve run into one another by now.
He was about to give Brantley some lame response to the question about dinner when the lights went down and a spotlight lit up a man on the far left-hand side of the stage.
“Good evening, everyone. Are you all ready to part with some Benjamins for maybe a Peter or Paul?”
When the crowd around them whistled their agreement, Jordan glanced over at Brantley. He caught his friend’s eye and flashed him a grin before raising his hand and wolf-whistling right along with the other men. As everyone settled, the auctioneer ran through the rules of the event for the crowd. It was simple.