“Were there any local people in Blissville or the surrounding county who did support a casino?” I asked. If so, chances were high they’d been contacted again.
“There were a few that I can recall. Your mayor and a few county commissioners were for it,” Dorchester told me.
I wasn’t surprised to hear that Rocky Beaumont supported the casino initiative. The man hated my guts, and there was no way that I could get him to talk to me. Rocky threatened to sue us if we leaked his affair with County Commissioner Jack Wallace. I love how he thought I had the time or inclination to out his stupid ass. It seemed that Rocky didn’t mind being known as a player when it came to the ladies, but not when it came to men. “Was Jack Wallace one of the commissioners?” I asked Dorchester. I figured if Rocky was for it then maybe his boyfriend was too.
“He was, how’d you know?” he asked.
“Just a guess.” Jack Wallace wasn’t a big fan of mine either, but I figured I had a better chance of getting him to talk to me. “We’ll want to have a chat with Jack to see if there have been any murmurs of building the casino again.”
“Good idea. We’ll do that in the morning before we head to Cincinnati,” Dorchester replied.
I dropped him off at his car and headed home. I loved Monday nights because Josh was off and we got to spend a nice quiet evening together. I had plenty of ideas on how to make the best of our night too. As I drove down the street, I noticed a tall man standing on Bianca’s porch drinking from a coffee cup. It looked like her landlord had finally found someone to rent the place. Damn, I guessed that meant no more lovemaking with the curtains open so that I could see Josh in the moonlight.
THE EERIE FEELINGI got after observing the new neighbor stuck with me for the rest of the afternoon. His presence felt foreboding, and that made no sense to me at all. I had already been attacked and stalked, so what else could be left? I didn’t let my mind linger on an answer to my question. Instead, I kept myself busy preparing for my big night.
I had the bedroom looking sexy and romantic, I manscaped my boys for their big night, got some pointers from watching gay porn, and I planned a delicious dinner. Gabe had yet to eat my homemade ravioli stuffed with ricotta and herbs. I added a salad, bread sticks, and cheesecake to make it memorable in case my bedroom skills sucked and not in a good way. I knew he was going to love at least one of my surprises.
Gabe texted me once he dropped John off at his car and what little calm I’d found evaporated. I told myself I was being ridiculous because Gabe loved me and he wouldn’t laugh or ridicule me. I also knew he was a pleaser and would never tell me if something I did wasn’t good for him. Gabe was the most amazing lover I’d ever had, and I wanted to be the same for him in every way.
By the time Gabe got home, and I’m talking the trip probably lasted a whopping seven minutes, I had downed a huge glass of red wine on an empty stomach. I was a lightweight drinker in the best of circumstances and that day wasn’t one of them. A wave of dizziness hit me hard, and I leaned against the kitchen counter for stability, but I convinced myself I was striking a sexy pose.
“Hey, Sunshine,” Gabe said, coming through the door. “How was your day?”
“Pretty damn good, but it’s about to get great,” I said in what I hoped was a seductive voice. I even added a suggestive wink in case I didn’t get my message across.
Gabe’s brow furrowed as he assessed the situation by raking his observant eyes over my body before he turned them to my surroundings. I knew the minute his eyes latched onto the half-empty, open wine bottle and empty glass on the counter. “Hitting the bottle already?” He came to me then and cupped my face in his warm, large hands.
“Your hands are as warm as your heart,” I told him.Sweet baby Jesus, I sounded so fucking sappy.
“Sunshine, what’s wrong?” Gabe brushed his thumbs over my cheekbones, and the concern in his dark eyes brought tears to mine.
I blinked away the tears and attempted to blind him with a smile. “Nothing is wrong. Everything is right, and I’m afraid of ruining it. You see, tonight is the night I’m going to be all up in your ass.” There were hand gestures that might’ve confused Gabe as to exactly what I had in mind. Fisting sure as fuck wasn’t one of them.
“Ah,” he replied. “You’re nervous.”
“No,” I said, shaking my head as vigorously as his hands allowed. “I’m going to rock your world, Gabriel Wyatt.”
“Sunshine, it doesn’t give a guy warm and fuzzy feelings to know that his lover needs to get drunk to work up his courage to have sex with him,” Gabe said humorously, which was in direct contrast to the chastising words. “And, baby, you rocked my world the minute you came into it, so I have no doubt that this will be any different.”
“Not drunk,” I corrected him. “It was just one glass of wine, but I drank it too fast on an empty stomach,” I explained. “Okay, I’m a little nervous; a little tipsy too.”
Gabe released me and walked to the fridge. He selected a block of cheese and some grapes from inside, then removed a box of crackers from the cabinet and pulled a knife out of the butcher block. I watched as he sliced the cheese to make a snack for me. “Come sit with me,” he said once he piled everything onto a plate.
I followed him into the living room and sat on his lap rather than beside him on the couch. I ran my hands through his silky dark hair and thought to myself that he needed another trim. I wasn’t tipsy enough to suggest it out loud because he already had a haircut phobia and the last thing he needed was to think of me coming at him with scissors in my inebriated state.
We talked about mundane things like the weather and how his drive to and from Cincinnati went while we snacked on cheese, crackers, and grapes. I saw Gabe’s determination to return to our original topic once we emptied the plate. I did feel better after my stomach absorbed some of the liquor sloshing around inside.
“Why don’t you tell me what’s bothering you so that I can put your fears to rest,” he told me.
“The economy, global warming, waiting on my newest Andrew Christians to arrive, and…” The stern look he gave me silenced the rest of my typical smartass response. “I think it should be obvious what worries me.”
“It’s not obvious to me, so you’re going to have to spell it out.” It appeared that he wasn’t going to make it easy for me.
“Alright, fine.” I took a deep breath for courage and said, “I’m worried that I’m going to suck and not in a good way. What if I only last ten seconds?”
Instead of making light of my concerns, Gabe said, “It’ll be the best ten seconds of my life.” When I looked at him in disbelief, he asked, “Do you want to know why?”
“Uh, yeah.”
