Tim grinned and raised his glass. Andrew followed his example, taking a generous sip of the slightly bitter beer. “So he had a great car and that intimidated you. I can understand that up to a certain point. What happened next?”
Andrew decided to let the “up to a certain point” slip for now. “We went to this restaurant in my neighborhood, OLA. He looked gorgeous, he made perfect small talk, and everything was fine. I thought I could impress him with the food there, but as it turned out, he’s a regular at the place. I mean, when I asked him to go out with me, he did mention that he had just come from OLA, but I thought that was even better, because he seemed to like the restaurant. Long story short, the staff treated him like a prince. They knew all his preferences, and he basically selected our wine and food.”
Hearing it out loud, Andrew couldn’t decide if he sounded like a whiny brat or if his complaints were valid. Tim raised a brow. “You’re aware that you sound like a white, heterosexual man from the fifties who’s offended because some woman has more money than him, aren’t you?”
Whiny brat it was. Andrew took another sip from his beer. At this rate, he was going to need another shot. “I know. But please, keep the context in mind. I already knew he’s a sub, and I wanted to make a good impression, not only as a potential boyfriend but also as a potential Dom for him. Instead, he showed me how utterly inept I am at taking care of him.”
Tim hummed at these words. “I can see the dilemma. Being a Dom is usually tied to a certain image, which contains us providing for the sub and taking the lead in everything. You do know that’s just a cliché, don’t you?”
“Intellectually, yes. But in reality, it felt humiliating. Here was the man I was already fantasizing about having on his knees in front of me, my cock in his mouth, handling our orders and pretasting the wine. Which should have been my job, since the reservation was in my name. I felt—uprooted. Not in my element.”
Tim thought about this for a moment. “Since you were already having naughty fantasies about him, didn’t it make you even hotter imagining having such a capable man at your feet? Or is that not your thing?”
Andrew sighed. “Not really. First of all, it would feel wrong for me to subjugate Curtis because of his social standing. To me, submission is all about free will and explicit consent. If I played with him, I’d never know if I didn’t do certain things just because of my own hang-ups.”
Tim steepled his fingers. “What I get from what you’re saying is that a), you’re an incredibly responsible Dom, which almost certainly rules out you abusing Curtis or his trust in you about something as petty as your different standing, and b), that you’ve been giving this a lot of thought, which means he’s gotten under your skin.”
“That he has. Though I’m pretty sure he won’t want to see me ever again. He was furious when he ended the date.”
“What did you say to him?”
Andrew squirmed. He needed more beer for this, so he signaled the waitress for another round. She came quickly to put two more glasses in front of them. Once she was gone, Andrew started talking again.
“We talked about BDSM. About what we like, and then I asked him where the good clubs are in Miami. He told me he only ever goes to Whisper.”
“Ouch.” Tim shook his head. “I can see how that threw you off.”
“It wasn’t the worst, though. I told him the two of us wanted to check out Eros today and asked him to come along. He told me he had a video night with his friends.”
“Was that an excuse?”
“I don’t think so. He suggested we could go out some other night, but at this point, I was already too pissed and hurt to take him up on his offer. I kind of didn’t speak to him while we ate, and when we were done, he paid and left.”
Tim’s eyes had widened. “How can you ‘kind of not speak to somebody’?”
“Well, he made small talk, and I—I basically answered with yes and no. I left him hanging.”
Andrew lowered his head. If he thought about it, he’d been a colossal ass. Tim just shook his head. “So there was a guy who was willing to go out with you on sight alone, who, according to your own words, is hot, kind, and generally good to be around, and you blew it because he happens to have more money than you do?”
“It sounds awful when you phrase it like this!”
“Man, itisawful! I’ve had more than my fair share of disastrous dates, given that I’m too loud and unpolished for polite company, but you certainly take the crown. The fact alone that he agreed to the date should tell you a lot. The rest, you should have tried to figure out over the course of several follow-up dates, during which you would have gotten to know him. I hate to tell you this, man, but I don’t see a big chance of you convincing him to give it another try.”
“Who says I want another try?”
Tim just raised his eyebrow, and Andrew deflated as quickly as he had gotten his hackles up. “Fine. I would like to see him again, but as you so eloquently put it, he probably has had enough of me. Now let’s get drunk. I need to forget this epic failure.”
Tim stopped him with a shake of his head. “Oh no, my friend. We can’t make a solid plan when we’re drunk. And that’s what you need to get back into Curtis’s good graces. A plan.”
Tim smiled so broadly, Andrew feared for a moment his face would split in half. “What do you suggest?”
“First of all, we need to find out more about him. He’s a gallery owner, you said. Get your cell out. We have some research to do.”
Energized by Tim’s determination, Andrew did as he was told.
Chapter 7
ON HISway over to Emilio’s, Curtis picked up Peyton. He still wasn’t sure if he should tell his friends about the date from hell, but Collin would probably implode if he didn’t say anything, and that would just be cruel. Besides, he could do with some cuddling from his friends.
