We gathered around the table, Meredith said grace, and then we began passing around the platters and bowls of food. Conversation lulled while we piled our plates high with food but kicked into higher gear once we’d had a few bites. I wasn’t exaggerating when I told Josh on numerous occasions that he made the best food I had ever eaten. I would’ve been happy to worship his skills in silence, but I didn’t consider myself to be a rude person. I answered whatever questions I could about my time working on the task force, which basically left me with discussing the people I worked with rather than the details I had discovered, which weren’t many. So, I stuck with discussing the individual personalities and skill set of the members.
Josh snorted when it came time to talk about Paul. His reaction drew odd looks from Chaz and Meredith. Paul and I had hooked up once after my breakup with Kyle. Somehow Josh knew it immediately the night he and I ran into Paul at Vibe. I momentarily thought Josh would get mad that I had kept the secret from him, but I assured him that I made Paul aware that I was off the market. That seemed to be enough for Josh, who then asked me to take him to a hotel and fuck him like a stranger. What could’ve been a big fight turned out to be one of the most memorable nights I had with him.
I tilted my head to the side and considered his facial expressions. It was one of those times that I needed him to tell me how he felt because the expression on his face gave nothing away. I learned firsthand at my parents’ house just how brilliantly Josh could play poker. I filed away a mental note to ask Josh about the situation with Paul later and finished telling Mere and Chaz about the rest of the team.
“It sounds so…” Meredith broke off as she thought about the words to use.
“Miami Vice,” Josh supplied for her.
Meredith laughed. “I was going to say exciting, but I guess that works too.”
“Task forces are only fun when the actual busts are made,” I told them. “Until then, it’s a lot of boring legwork and planning. It often feels like you take one step forward and ten steps back.”
“Blissville must seem dull in comparison to Miami,” Chaz tossed out there.
Had I not been looking into Josh’s eyes just then, I might not have noticed the subtle tensing of his body when he heard Chaz’s comment.
“Quite the opposite actually,” I told Chaz, “and there’s no place I’d rather be.” Well, maybe someplace naked with the man I loved, but for the moment I’d settle for being in the same room with him.
Josh smiled sweetly at me then said, “Who wants to play Monopoly after dinner?”
We all groaned because Josh killed us every single time he played, demonstrating how good his business skills truly were. I blew out a resigned breath because it looked like I wouldn’t be getting my guy naked for quite some time.
IT WAS MORE THANjust my ears that perked up when Gabe announced he knew another guy in town who was hooked on playingWorld of Warcraftonline. It wasn’t jealousy, but intrigue that prompted my response to his statement. I recalled that Gabe once mentioned that there was an online gamer that caught Kyle’s attention. What if the world truly was smaller than we thought? I was sure the odds of Chaz being the same guy that Kyle met online were slim, but that didn’t mean impossible. Besides, I saw the attraction between Chaz and Kyle whenever they were in the same room together. Hell, Kyle had noticed Chaz when he was in a relationship with Gabe, not that he ever acted on it or behaved inappropriately. Quite honestly, a hot-blooded gay man would notice the attractiveness of another if there was breath in his body. There was nothing wrong with that.
I had planned on bringing it up as soon as our friends left, but then jealousy surfaced during our dinner conversation. I was ashamed of my reaction to hearing Paul’s name, even though I realized it was a human reaction that most people would feel. I wasn’t most people. I’d been through too much bullshit to let petty jealousy get in the way of my happiness. No matter how much I tried to reason with my heart, the damn thing still hurt in my chest. It appeared that I still had a long way to go before I wouldn’t feel inadequate compared to Gabe’s past lovers.
I didn’t like feeling the way that I did, and I wanted to postpone being alone with Gabe for the first time since we started dating. A sure-fire way of doing that was to play Monopoly with them. Look, my friends and Gabe had wonderful qualities but being business savvy wasn’t among them. It was like taking candy from a baby, but I went easier on them to drag out their misery and buy myself some more time before I had to act like a mature adult. It was so brutal that my sexy detective preferred to take his time in jail rather than play against me. Gabe assured me that he wasn’t placed in general population during his three turns.
“Have mercy!” Chaz threw down the remaining $7 to his name. As frustrated as he sounded, the smile on his face warmed my heart. It was amazing how much better he looked after a good meal, dessert, and the company of people who loved him.
“That’s whathesaid,” Gabe replied, nodding in my direction. Chaz and Meredith snorted at his joke. Gabe sent me a playful wink before he removed his game piece from the board and tossed it into the box. “I’m out.”
Meredith double tapped her fist against the dining room table. “Me too.” She looked at her watch and remarked how late it was. “At least we’re off tomorrow.”
“Some of us are working,” Gabe reminded her.
“True,” she replied with a grimace. “I’m sorry we stayed so late.”
“It’s ten o’clock, Mere. Even geezers like me can stay up that late and still function the next day.”
“I’m so glad you woke me up, so I didn’t sleep through dinner,” Chaz told Meredith. “I would’ve gladly missed out on the Monopoly, but not time with my best friends.” Chaz hugged each one of us tight enough that I wondered if something else was going on with him. I had to accept his reasoning or risk an argument.
After our friends had left, I had a difficult choice to make: talk or fuck? As a man, I would always lean toward fucking over talking, but I was smart enough to know that sometimes what we needed wasn’t always what we wanted. I decided to do things on my terms. I ran a hot bath because the water would help us both relax and we’d be conveniently naked for when it was time to get sexy with my man.
Instead of sitting between his legs like I normally did, I straddled Gabe’s lap so I could look into his soulful brown eyes. I had to mentally nudge myself to get to talking because I could easily get lost in his gaze, especially when he looked at me with so much love. I had to decide which topic I wanted to bring up first. I went with the most complicated one to get it out of the way.
“I need you to know that I trust you, Gabe. My issues with Paul are about my hang-ups and have nothing to do with you. No, I don’t like that you’re working together, but I understand that it doesn’t change things between us.”
Gabe reached up and cupped my face. “It doesn’t change anything between us. First, my time on this task force is temporary. I’ll only be making the trip to Cincinnati for the next week, or so, to conduct interviews, but I won’t be going there indefinitely. I doubt neither Captain Reardon nor Sheriff Tucker will permit Dorchester and me to stick with the task force much longer if something doesn’t break soon. Second, I don’t work with Paul. He only advised our team once. I’ve seen him more at Vibe than at the precinct. Even if I worked closely with him daily, I’d never choose him over you. I’m not just saying that because you’re naked in my lap.”
“I know,” I told him. “You love me.”
“More than anything, Sunshine.” Gabe kissed me tenderly then said, “I want to be able to help you work through the issues that hold you back. One of these days I want you to be able to tell me what made you feel this way. I know about Sampson, but you’ve never told me about the loser in college.”
“That’s heavier than what I wanted to delve into tonight,” I told him, but then realized that putting it off wasn’t going to help me. “Okay,” I finally said. I placed my hands on his strong shoulders and blew out a calming breath.
“I didn’t mean you had to do it now if you’re not ready,” Gabe said. Honestly, he looked as nervous to hear about my past as I felt about telling it.
