Sam bristled. “What do you mean, nerdy? He has a brain, a freaking brilliant one. What’s your problem with that?”
“Is that the guy you were with last night?” Henry’s eyes widened in shock at Sam’s nod. “Well, damn. Don’t bite my head off, big guy. I wasn’t saying it in a mean way.” He cocked his head and quirked a smile. “You like him, huh?”
Sam shrugged and kept his voice as noncommittal as possible. “We had a good time, nothing else.”
Henry shot him an amused look, but Sam refused to say anything further. The crowd in front thinned, and from the corner of his eye Sam watched Zach chat with one of the panelists as they stood together. He wondered why a man like Zach, brilliant, good-looking, and well respected, had to resort to a hook-up with a stranger.
Then he caught Zach’s eyes watching him—that damn blue-eyed stare that attracted him in the first place—and breathing became difficult. Sam couldn’t let Henry see how affected he was by a simple look from a man he barely knew, and instead of giving Zach an encouraging smile, Sam forced himself to look away.
“Are you done?” His voice came out more clipped and short than usual, and Henry studied him from under a furrowed brow.
“What’s wrong? You got an angry look on your face all of a sudden.” He glanced over at the front of the room to where Sam knew Zach remained, checking his phone. “I thought maybe you’d want to talk to him.”
“Nothing’s wrong.” His jaw flexed. “And if I wanted to talk to him, I would. Can we leave?”
“Uh, yeah, sure.”
Without giving Zach another look, Sam followed Henry out of the conference room. They took the escalator down to the main floor and walked out to the boardwalk. The sun hit Sam on his back, surprisingly warm for early June. He stood at the railing, looking out at the ocean.
“What’s wrong, Sammy? Talk to me.” Henry leaned on the iron of the boardwalk rails, facing the hotel.
It took him a few minutes to marshal his thoughts before he spoke. “Do you ever feel like you missed out? Like somehow life passed you by, but you didn’t know it because you had no idea there was anything else?”
“I’m not sure what you mean.”
No surprise. Sam wasn’t sure even he understood what he was trying to say. But being with Zach last night made him think about what he missed by staying with a man who, in the end, hadn’t been worth his time or love.
“I think I wasted so much time trying to make a doomed relationship work that I forgot sometimes it’s better to cut your losses and run. Maybe I missed out on meeting the right person because I was too busy trying to mold the wrong one into something he could never be.”
The sounds of the boardwalk intensified as lunchtime crowds spilled out from the hotels and casinos. Everyone wanted to be outside on this beautiful day. Seagulls swooped overhead, their raucous cries piercing in the afternoon sun. The aroma of grease and sugar, the sharp salt tang of the ocean, and that indescribable beachy smell; Sam loved it all.
Squinting into the sun, Henry regarded him with a thoughtful expression. “Is this because of the night you spent with Zach Cohen? I wouldn’t make any life-changing decisions based on that.”
“I have no intention of doing that,” said Sam gruffly, understanding Henry’s wish for him not to get hurt by a stranger he barely knew. “I’m speaking in generalities. If I start dating again—”
“You mean when,” interrupted Henry.
“If.” Sam glared at Henry. “If I start dating again, I plan on being with a man I won’t have to change or change for, who wants the same things I want. I don’t plan on making the same mistake twice.”
“How can you know that for certain? No one really ever knows everything about a person, especially in the honeymoon phase. You know what I’m talking about. That ‘getting to know you’ phase where everyone puts on their best face to make sure they don’t screw up what looks like the start of a great relationship.” Henry shrugged and turned to face the water. “It takes time to find out about people.”
“Look, take the guy I was with last night, Zach. Casual sex is probably common for him. He’s young, good-looking, and smart, and probably goes to these conventions all the time. I don’t want someone who’s a serial hook-up artist.”
“He seems like a regular guy, not a player.”
“Who knows? But I’m not deceiving myself. Yeah, we had a great night, and I hope to see him again tonight, but I know how these things go.”
A hint of a grin touched Henry’s lips. “Yeah, Mr. Experience? Tell me how they go.”
“Oh, fuck you,” said Sam with a laugh, but he turned serious as he faced the water once again. Several boats bobbed out in the distance, and the water sparkled where rays of sunlight touched down. “You know what I mean. I’d be crazy not to want to spend time with the guy. I’m not betting it’s gonna last forever though; I’ve got my eyes wide open. It’s a weekend fling, and that’s all.”
He nudged Henry’s shoulder with his own. “Let’s get something to eat. You made me sit through that boring shit, the least you can do is buy me a hot dog or a funnel cake.”
Henry shot him an incredulous look. “Are you crazy? Who eats that shit?”
“I do. Come on.” In companionable silence they strolled down the boardwalk, dodging the pedicabs and hoards of sticky-fingered and ice-cream-smeared children.
“Let’s stop here. I want some fudge.” Sam stopped in front of Steel’s, the famous boardwalk fudge store. The sugary chocolate scent filled his head, and his stomach growled.
