The blank look on Collin’s face was endearing, since it told Curtis the young man was still innocent enough to not get the meaning behind his diplomatically phrased meanness.
“What I want to say is that if you don’t want a customer to buy a certain piece, you have to carefully steer them toward something more suitable for them while at the same time giving them the feeling they’re doing this of their own free will. It’s another form of art, I’d say.”
Collin looked at him wide-eyed. “You mean like when Leeland or Dean want something, but they want Jonathan and Richard to think it was their idea to give it to them?”
Curtis grinned when he thought how easily their two friends were able to twist their Doms around their little fingers. “Yes, exactly like that. By offering them a commissioned piece, you distracted them wonderfully, though it would be preferable if you tried to get them to buy something you’ve already made next time.”
“I’ll try my best, Curtis, I promise. And if I’m unsure, I’ll just tell them to talk to you instead.” Collin looked at his almost empty plate. “Oh, what a shame! With all the talking, I didn’t even realize I’ve eaten all the delicious octopus. Eating and talking don’t go well together, don’t you think? You can only really concentrate on one, while the other falls by the wayside, which probably is why you’re not allowed to talk during mealtime in a monastery, or was that some Buddhist temple, I can’t remember, but they have a point, and sometimes I wonder what would happen if people stopped talking altogether, and a few days ago I heard a wonderful song by a band called Disturbed on the radio, it was called the ‘Sound of Silence,’ and it made me think if silence really has a sound and what color it would be, and now I have this great idea for a glass sculpture, but I think I need to talk to somebody who knows a bit about statics, because I want it to be high and broad and there’s going to be a lot of colors, and I have to get the swirls right, and do you think that nice woman would let me borrow her glassblower equipment again, and I’m going to need….”
Curtis kept listening to Collin’s monologue while he made a mental note to talk to Sara Stanton, the glassblower who had allowed Collin to use her equipment before, and signaled the waitress to bring them another round of melon drinks and a plate with samples of the restaurant’s seafood selection. After their meal, they decided to take a little walk in the neighborhood to enjoy the nice weather and walk some of the consumed calories off. When they headed onto Thirty-First Street, Collin suddenly started tugging on Curtis’s sleeve. “Look, Curtis, that store they were renovating has finally opened! Let’s see what’s in there now!”
They walked a little faster, Curtis infected by Collin’s excitement. When they stopped in front of the small shop, Collin clapped his hands wildly.
“Oh my God, it’s a bakery! We have to try it out and tell the others about it. Come on, let’s get in. We need to find out what they have.”
Curtis glanced at the sign above the shop, telling them they were about to have a “Sweet Break,” before he followed Collin inside.
Chapter 4
ANDREW LEFTthe kitchen when he heard the shop bell chime. It was half past two, the usual after-lunch lull in full swing. He normally used this time of quiet to get his kitchen in order for the next day, which saved him from doing it after hours. That way he could retreat to his apartment sooner and take care of unpacking the last boxes from his move. It never ceased to amaze him how much stuff he still had even after throwing half of it away during packing. His sister was right; he was kind of a hoarder. When he entered the salesroom, Andrew stopped dead in his tracks. The most perfect man in existence stood at his counter, dressed in light gray linen slacks, a short-sleeved, blue shirt, and with a gorgeous smile on his lips. His blue gaze was settled on his companion with an expression of loving exasperation. That man was a lot younger than the hot silver fox and glued to the glass of the counter, behind which the macarons were on display. Or at least what was left of them. Andrew was about to greet his two customers, when the young man looked up at him and said in a voice tinged with awe: “You have the rainbow in your counter.”
Again Andrew parted his lips, but the customer was faster. “That’s so cool! I didn’t know you could have the rainbow in sweets, or no, that’s not true, you can have the rainbow in the smells and then it’s in your mind, not for the eyes, and I just read a book about colors and did you know colors aren’t really there, only in your mind, and other creatures, like bees and cats and dogs see them differently, so perhaps it really is all in our mind and I’m not sure if that’s great or not, but I’ll take two of each color, and can you tell me how you made them?”
Andrew was so overwhelmed by this avalanche of words, he looked at the silver fox for help. The knowing smile on the man’s lips told him he was used to his companion’s antics.
“Collin, I’m not sure if the gentleman can tell you how he makes those macarons. It’s probably a secret. Otherwise, everybody could just bake their own.”
Andrew felt his lips part into a beaming smile. The silver fox’s voice was like liquid chocolate in his ears, all warm and soothing and with a distinct British accent that made his knees go weak. He only hoped the young man—Collin—wasn’t his boyfriend. Only one way to find out.
“Your boyfriend is right. How I make my macarons is a secret. It took me some time to get all the ingredients just right.”
Collin nodded his understanding, and then shook his head vigorously. “Oh no, Curtis isn’t my boyfriend; he’s my agent. Martin is my master and he keeps the bad people away from me. Curtis sees to it that people pay me for my work, which is nice, because now I have money to buy as many rainbow sweets as I want, look, I even have my own credit card, though Martin has put a limit on it, because sometimes I forget to keep track of what I bought, and nobody needs so many things, except for sweets, even though Martin pretends not to like them, but I know better, which is why I’m getting two of each.”
Collin beamed at Andrew, whose confused brain had managed to latch on to two important things: that Curtis wasnotCollin’s boyfriend and that Collin had a master, which meant Curtis at least knew about BDSM, which in turn eliminated the sometimes insurmountable hurdle of explaining to an outsider how a BDSM relationship worked. It could still be that Curtis wasn’t interested in that type of sex, but at least he would probably know what he would be getting into with Andrew. Now all Andrew had to do was find the guts to ask the hot silver fox out.
While he carefully arranged the macarons in the bright yellow paper box with Sweet Break’s logo on it, he wracked his brain for how to get the conversation with Curtis going again. He was nearing the last two types of macarons—purple and orange—and was getting desperate. Then, out of nowhere, inspiration hit him, and he closed the box before taking another pair of tongs to get two of the mini-éclairs that were his other specialty. He put them on a plate, which he offered to his two customers. “On the house.”
Collin’s eyes lit up and he grabbed both sweets, holding the slightly bigger one out to Curtis. When Curtis took it with a nod and a graceful “Thank you” in Andrew’s direction, Collin put his éclair in his mouth, closed his eyes, and groaned in utter delight. Curtis followed suit, and Andrew got the great pleasure of watching how those beautiful lips parted to let the sweet in. Unbidden, but definitely not unpleasant pictures of those lips closing around his cock flooded his mind and made his jeans a tight fit. The things he wanted to do to Curtis! It had been a long time since Andrew had felt so strongly for somebody and he felt the urge to come around the counter and just kiss Curtis senseless.
“Why are you staring at Curtis like that?” The question poured the proverbial bucket of ice water over his erotic daydreams that were getting hotter by the second. He stared into Collin’s eyes, which were of a stunning blue and filled with innocent curiosity. Andrew felt a flush creeping up from his neck. There was no plausible explanation for his behavior, but before he could come up with at least an attempt at veiling his true motives, Collin already went on, seemingly completely oblivious of Andrew’s discomfort and, as a quick glance toward Curtis showed, the silver fox’s widened eyes.
“He does look good, doesn’t he? I mean, I’ve already painted two portraits of him, but I had to destroy them again, because somehow I never manage to capture what I see in him, which is odd, because normally I’m good at that, but there’s something about Curtis, something mysterious, that evades the canvas every time, though I’m sure I’ll be able to do it one day, and what I mean is you don’t have to feel bad about looking at him, many people do that, especially Doms, but so far, he hasn’t chosen one, which I can totally understand, because finding the right man, the right Dom, is very difficult, because sometimes the chemistry is there, but then you like different things, which always sucks, and if you told Curtis what you liked in bed, perhaps you could ask him out and you could get to know each other and then Curtis could decide if he wanted to keep you, and wouldn’t that be nice?” Collin smiled happily. Andrew rushed around the counter to pat Curtis’s back. The man was chocking on his éclair, which Andrew could relate to, because he himself was having difficulty getting enough air into his lungs. When his hand touched Curtis, Andrew could feel his body’s warmth seeping through the shirt. It was so good, he let his hand linger a bit longer than strictly necessary, but Curtis didn’t seem to mind. He gave Andrew a grateful nod, accompanied by a small smile.
“Did I say something wrong, Curtis?” Collin sounded anxious, and Andrew realized the young man really didn’t seem to know what he had just done. Next to him, Curtis straightened with his hand on Andrew’s arm for support. He looked at Collin with a smile. “No, you didn’t do anything wrong. Andrew and I were just surprised, that’s all.”
The sheer relief flooding Collin’s face washed away the last tiny bits of animosity Andrew had felt toward him for exposing him so brutally. Since the cat was already out of the bag, he decided to go with the flow. “And you were right. I was staring at Curtis, because I think he’s a very attractive man and I was wondering how best to ask him out.”
Andrew felt Curtis’s eyes drilling a hole into him. “Is that so?”
He turned to look at the stunning man. “Yes.”
Curtis closed his eyes and for a moment, Andrew feared the worst, but when he opened them again, they were bright, and a smile was illuminating Curtis’s features. “I’m free on Friday. And it would be my pleasure to go out with you, stranger.”
The blood was pulsing so loudly in his ears over this victory, that Andrew almost didn’t get the hint. When he saw Curtis’s questioning glance, he hurried to introduce himself. “My name is Andrew. Andrew Granger. I’m the owner of Sweet Break.” He extended his hand. Curtis took it, and Andrew was glad to feel that Curtis’s hands trembled as badly as his own.
“I’m Curtis Morris. I have an art gallery here in Miami.”
“How fascinating. I’d like to hear more about it on Friday.” Andrew winked. “There’s this great restaurant close by, OLA. They have excellent food.”
