“The first is Armature Works.”
“No,” he said without any hesitation.
“Why?”
“Vince…” he sighed. “It’s nice, yeah, but everyone has already done that. Trust me. I’m from here. I know.”
“Okay, where?”
“Where else did you pick?”
“Either the Marriott on Water Street or the Renaissance Tampa International Plaza Hotel.”
“Well. Renaissance is nice, but how about The Tampa Edition?”
“Where is that?”
“Channelside. There’s a pool, which overlooks the water. Extremely elegant.” He spread his hand out wide. “Hey, wait. Does this place have a water view?” He stood up and walked toward the pool.
I’d had the ugly secondary fencing removed but left the white privacy fence, which was shorter, making it easy enough to see over the top to the water. I’d put in a gate, so I could go outside to look at the Bay easily whenever I wanted to. “It does, but you can’t see much right now. Mostly lights from buildings across the water. Pretty but you can come another time.” I beckoned him back.
When he sat beside me again, he put his wine on the side table. “Right. Did you check out the Edition?”
“No, but I’ll call them in the morning. If we can get a decent date, we’ll do that.”
“It’s posh. A couple of hundred bucks a head.” He looked skeptical.
“That’s fine. I’ll probably charge double and still make decent money for Sage.”
“You know rich people then? From here?”
“I know rich people from all over the US. They’ll come. Especially since it’s here.”
He gave a curt nod. “Right. That’s an even better reason to go with Edition. And start the thing early enough, like before sunset, so they can take in the view.”
“Perfect.”
“There are a lot of ways to promote this. I think we should try to hit some people in Tampa, too. Like the mayor. She’s queer. I’m pretty sure. And we need to select channels that target others, not the general public, but you want to hit that for awareness at least.”
He obviously knew what he was talking about, and I trusted him. I grabbed his hand in mine and kissed his knuckles. “I’ll leave that in your capable hands.”
Joey frowned and pulled away. Uh oh.
“What’s wrong?” It was not the reaction I’d expected.
“You don’t know who I am. Maybe this was a mistake.”
“I want to know you. Please…”
“Do you? Really?”
“Try me.” After my conversations with Hudson and Levi, I was determined to try this with him. None of it was a turn off and in fact, some of it…well…
“I’m…fuck it. I told you. I’m a little, and that is to the bone. Through and through. No one wants me, though.” He shook his head, looking doubtful.
“And I told you, I know what that is and what it means.” We had already discussed my conversation with Hudson, though we didn’t get into the details. “And I’m not afraid of that. I’ve never been a daddy. Hell, I’ve never been a boyfriend. Career came first, but now. I want this.”
“Sure. Now you’re finished with your career. You think you want to jump into something with a little. When you’ve never even done a damn thing…”
