Blake picked up his coffee and cradled it in his hands before finishing the drink. “I might have figured. You look like you work out a lot.” He stared down into his empty mug, a frown touching his lips. “I could lift weights for ten years and never get muscles like you.”
Not liking the shift in tone of the conversation, Jeremy plucked the mug from Blake’s hands and went back into the kitchen, swiftly making him another double Irish coffee. When he returned to the living room, Jeremy took Blake’s hands in his and wrapped them around the mug.
“Hey. Not everyone has the same body type. I’m not lean like you. I bet you’d be an amazing runner or swimmer.” Thinking to give Blake a kiss, Jeremy leaned over but when alarm flared brightly in Blake’s eyes, he took Blake’s obvious unease into consideration and trailed his fingers down Blake’s delightfully scruffy jaw, then smoothed his thumb over a deliciously full bottom lip. “We’re all different—that’s what makes us beautiful.”
His face flaming, Blake pulled away, gulped down the coffee, then set it on the table. “Uh, okay, hi.”
“I’m sorry, but you looked upset and I wanted to make you feel better.”
“I, um, didn’t think you were gay.” Keeping his gaze focused downward, Blake traced a circle on his pants with a fingertip.
“I’m not,” Jeremy said with a chuckle. “I’m bisexual.”
“Oh, sorry.” Blake shot him a half smile. “I just assumed…”
“It’s okay. I get that a lot.”
They sipped their coffee in silence for a few minutes.
“It must be fun to work at a gym.”
Did Blake think all he did during the day was ogle half-naked bodies? Running a business as a sole proprietor was hard work. “It keeps me busy.”
“Did you go to school for kinesiology?”
“Yeah, after I got my MBA in finance and business management.”
As Jeremy expected, Blake’s brows shot up in surprise. “Oh, wow. An MBA? I didn’t think—”
“I get that a lot too.” Hurt, he gave Blake a tight smile and left his seat, ostensibly to go to the kitchen to rinse out his mug, but in reality he used the opportunity to gather his thoughts. It was a battle to continually have to prove himself and convince people that owning a gym didn’t mean he was all muscle and no brain. It grew tiresome trying to change their minds, and it disappointed him to think Blake might be the same as everyone else.
A hand touched his back. “Hey.”
He faced a supremely miserable-looking Blake. “I didn’t mean to insult you. I’m sorry if you took it that way. I said ‘wow’ because that’s a lot of schooling.” His pretty eyes glimmered with regret. “I’m really impressed.”
“Yeah?”
Heat simmered between them, and Blake’s breath audibly hitched. His earlier misgivings thrust aside, Jeremy hooked his fingers into the belt loops of Blake’s pants and pulled the unresisting man close.
“How impressed? Enough to go out with me tomorrow night?”
Wide-eyed, Blake remained mute, and Jeremy took the opportunity to kiss him on the cheek. “Come on,” he murmured against Blake’s mouth. “Go out with me. Tomorrow night. We can have dinner.”
Chapter Two
Things like thisdidn’t happen to him. He was Boring Blake, the one kids made fun of in school for his glasses, braces, and being smart in math. Gorgeous men, men like Jeremy, didn’t pick him up, kiss him, and want to take him to dinner.
“Uh, me? Dinner?”
“No, you’re Blake.” Again Jeremy kissed him, this time softly on the mouth, and Blake almost swooned at the touch of his warm, firm lips. “I’m Jeremy.” Another kiss. “And I want to take you to dinner tomorrow night.”
Jeremy kissed him with more persistence and nudged his tongue against Blake’s lips, seeking entrance. Warmed by the whiskey and the sinful delight of Jeremy’s hard-muscled body against his, Blake opened and greedily sucked Jeremy’s tongue, wanting more, needing the taste of Jeremy imprinted in his mouth and on his lips. Feeling more reckless than he ever had before, Blake slanted his mouth over Jeremy’s. He dug his fingers into Jeremy’s thick hair, and chest-to-chest, their cocks thrusting against each other, Blake molded himself to fit Jeremy’s hard dips and curves.
“Mmm.” Jeremy’s deep purr of satisfaction rumbled through Blake. Strong hands kneaded Blake’s back, then smoothed down the dip of his spine to cup his ass and pull him even closer.
Blake’s head spun and he sagged against Jeremy, finding it hard to take a breath. “Wait…stop.” He stepped back, needing space.
A bit wild-eyed, Jeremy let go of him and rubbed his swollen lips. “Are you okay? Did I hurt you?”
