Page 8 of Mr. Naughty List
In that moment, Mr. Danvers sounded exactly like the middle school teacher he was. RJ could just imagine him asking that same question to a thirteen-year-old like his stepbrother, Carter. He chuckled under his breath and Mr. Danvers laughed too.
“I haven’t gotten any truly great presents in years.” RJ supposed his little siblings weren’t bad gifts in of themselves, but they’d both been summer babies. “Maybe ever. Christmas was always a disappointment growing up—no money meant no presents.”
Mr. Danvers winced, and RJ reconsidered his revelation. Exposing his vulnerabilities wasn’t the way to seduce this man, so he went back to the happy stuff. “But as an adult I’ve found it the merriest time of the year. That’s why I wanted to do Christmas gigs, specifically. Seeing all the people having a good time, with all the Christmas packaging to go with it? Always fun.”
And he’d hoped playing to small, enthusiastic crowds like this one might act as a kind of holiday medicine to ease his travel-weary heart. So far, with one show in the bag, he could say it was helping to mend his worn-down soul.
Mr. Danvers smiled. “You were fantastic up there. Have you ever thought about doing your own album? Instead of just playing for other people?”
RJ raised his brow and smiled prettily, sucking on his teeth and thinking of the best way to answer. “I have.” He pondered his small group. Madison had mad talent, but he wasn’t about to go down the path of putting together a band with her. Too much hassle. “But I really love touring. I’m just in town to get my bearings and visit my family.”
And, yes, okay, also to record a little demo record for his agent to pass around. But he didn’t need a band for that. After a few weeks here, he’d hopefully be rested and ready to get back out on the road. He wasn’t in Knoxville to make commitments, just amends.
“Is that all you want out of music? To tour for other people?”
“Maybe,” RJ said, kicking back in his chair again. “I’m young yet. Who knows what I really want out of music, or life?”
Besides, RJ didn’t know the last time when he wasn’t on a stage that he’d gotten what he truly wanted out of anything. Maybe that morning on Montmartre. Maybe that’s why he’d brought it up.
“It’s all good, though. Don’t worry about me, Mr. Danvers. This Christmas is bound to be a decent one.”
Sitting in the cold on the Scruffy City Hall patio with Mr. Danvers was already his favorite night since that Montmartre sunrise. He’d enjoyed watching Mr. Danvers’s reactions to all his crazy stories. The crinkle of his eyes, the guffaw of disbelief followed by wide-eyed amazement, and the way he’d thrown his head back when he laughed.
It was adorable to watch the man give in to the humor so thoroughly that laughter shook his body. And getting that kind of reaction out of the teacher he’d crushed on so desperately in school—and remembered obsessively ever since—was a pretty damn awesome high.
It definitely beat cocaine and was way more exhilarating than pot.
RJ ached to know more of Mr. Danvers’s non-teacherly reactions. Sexy ones especially. As soon as possible. But he wasn’t entirely sure how to pivot from telling stories about touring to getting Mr. Danvers to consider him as a viable hookup option. He knew that’d been his plan, but somehow the execution was harder than the fantasy.
“Some life you’re living, RJ,” Mr. Danvers said again. He tucked his hands between his legs and shivered despite his coat.
RJ shivered too. He rubbed his hands up and down his arms over the goosebumps. Breaking eye contact with Mr. Danvers, he checked the weather app on his phone. The temperature was dropping, nearing forty-three degrees now. Cold enough that when the breeze came through it really bit into him. Maybe he should suggest they take this somewhere inside? That could be the pivot?
“Here,” Mr. Danvers said, shrugging out of his tweed sports jacket. “Put this on to warm up a little. I’m wearing long sleeves. You’re in nothing but a T-shirt.”
“Or we could go inside,” RJ suggested, hoping he sounded seductive.
Mr. Danvers pondered the offer and then scooted closer. “It’d be harder to talk in there, and, well, I’m enjoying this conversation.” Mr. Danvers bit into his lower lip, a coy gleam in his eye. “You get me?”
RJ’s cock twitched. He licked his lips and his voice almost cracked as he said, “Yeah. Me too. And I get you.”
“Good.” Mr. Danvers held the coat out again. “Put it on.”
RJ’s cock rushed hot as he pulled the tight jacket on.
Maybe he’d managed the pivot after all. Maybe he was on exactly the right track.
Chapter Three
Well, this wasn’tgoing to plan.
RJ, as it turned out, was an intelligent, funny, thoughtful man who had seen more of the world than Aaron had at this point. So much for him being dull or stupid. RJ, with his stories about Paris, Finland, and Singapore, made Aaron feel like the student. A very naughty one who kept thinking about his young teacher’s lips, and hands, and package. God help him.
And now, shivering in the cold wind, he couldn’t stop imagining a scenario where he breached the space between them and curled up on RJ’s spacious lap to share the warmth of the too-small tweed coat that barely covered RJ’s arms and tugged at his broad, angular shoulders.
Truly, RJ looked ridiculous in it, but sexy too. Like a big, sexy man in a doll’s jacket.
Christ.Aaron rubbed his forehead. He was absurd.