“It’s surely a mystery, and yet…” He turns his head to look back at me with a coy smile. “Ned, darling,” he murmurs, his voice full of bedtime and cuddles, “take your fucking hands off me.”
The sound that escapes my throat is more whine than groan, but my palms lift of their own accord, and I fall back a step. “You’re no fun.”
He laughs as he faces me. “I’m all kinds of fun. Put your hands behind your back, so you’re not tempted to misbehave.”
My spine straightens. My jaw clenches. My wrists cross at the base of my spine.
Toni’s hum of approval is static electricity across my nerves. “I do love a man who does what he’s told.” I glare at him, but he laughs again. “The disappointment on your face. It’s divine, truly.” His cocky grin is bursting with dimples as he sidles up to me for a chaste kiss. The hand that covers my groin is less chaste. “Don’t worry, I’ll make it up to you later.”
“Promise,” I demand. Because I can demand things too, when I want. Toni likes it.
“I promise.” He slides his free hand up to take the back of my neck in a firm grip and my head drops forwards as I melt into his touch. “First, though, we’re going dancing,” he whispers in my ear. “I want to show you off tonight.”
My eyes open. Ice trickles through my veins, extinguishing all traces of desire. Zac used to love showing me off. In clubs. At parties. He would put me on display every chance he got. He used to tell me the exposure would be good for my career. Maybe that would have been true if he’d ever remembered to introduce me to anyone.
“Ned?” Toni is halfway to the door, staring back at me. “Are you coming?”
“Yeah.” I place my hand in his and allow him to lead me out of the apartment. Because not every man is like Zac, and Toni has earned the benefit of this doubt.
Even so, my stomach is in knots by the time we reach the club Toni chose for tonight’s date. I take a deep breath and follow him inside. We barely make it through the front door before a man in a tight white t-shirt, sans sleeves, greets Toni with an enthusiastic hug.
“Terry, how are you?” Toni’s response is equally enthusiastic, though he never lets go of my hand. “How did your interview go?”
“I got the job,” he exclaims. “You were right about me needing to take a chance there.”
“I knew it. Congratulations.”
“Thanks.” Terry’s gaze drifts my way before he lifts his eyebrows at Toni. “How have you been?”
“Fabulous, as always.” Waving a carefree hand through the air, Toni turns to me. “Terry, this is Ned Corbyn. He’s my boyfriend.”
The blatant pride in Toni’s voice as he introduces me to his friend brings a smile to my lips and I finally manage to exhale. “Nice to meet you,” I say, offering a hand to Terry.
“Likewise.” He gives me a once over as we shake, but it’s different from the way Zac’s friends used to look at me. This is curiosity, interest, surprise.
Zac’s friends used to leer at me like I was fresh meat. Like they couldn’t wait to take their turn with me. It made my skin crawl every time. I used to tell myself it didn’t matter. They were nothing to me, and I was everything to Zac. Even if he did sometimes joke about how hot it would be to watch me with his friends, he would never let anyone else touch me.
That’s what I told myself.
“Ned and I are off to shake our wild things,” Toni tells his friend, snapping me back to the present. “It’s good to see you though, Terry.” Glancing back over his shoulder, he favours me with a sexy grin and leads me towards the dancefloor. “Come along, darling. We can pretend they’re playing our song.”
Another half dozen people stop us before we reach our destination. Toni greets each person by name, speaking to them for a few brief, but devoted, seconds. He asks one guy about his sick cat and another how his daughter’s play went last month. Their faces light up as they provide quick updates on their lives. Most of them ask how he’s doing in return, sneaking glances at me the same way Terry did.
Toni’s response is the same every time. “Fabulous, as always.” An introduction to me follows before we move on.
Fabulous, as always.It’s not an answer, it’s a deflection. Toni appears to know something about everyone in this place, but how many of them know anything about him?
“Sorry about all the attention,” Toni yells over the music when we finally reach the dancefloor. “I didn’t mean for you to get stared at quite so blatantly. People aren’t used to me arriving with a date.”
“I like being introduced to your friends.” Putting my hands on his hips, I draw him against me. “Let them stare if they want. You’re the only one who gets to touch.”
“You bet your sweet and biteable arse, I am.” He bends down to place a kiss against the T visible against my chest. “I do so love to touch you.”
My chest expands at his words, and I push all thoughts of other people aside, enjoying my time with this baffling enigma of a man. We spend over an hour amongst the writhing mass of bodies on the dancefloor, paying homage to the thump and grind of the music. Sweat is running down our faces by the time we finally run out of steam and head to the bar.
With drinks in hand, we make our way out a side door to a small balcony where we manage to score a couple of stools at a tall bar table. The cool air is refreshing after the heat we generated inside. I pluck my shirt away from my sticky skin and take a long sip of my beer before giving a sigh of relief. Much better. “How long have you been coming here?” I ask Toni.
“Since I was old enough to get through the door,” he replies with a grin. “I did the rounds of the other gay clubs when I turned eighteen, but I liked this place best.”
