Ryan flushed and his eyes took on a certain sparkle. “What did it tell you?”
Art put his half-finished cup of tea back on the tray and leaned so close to Ryan that he could have bent down and had his face in the man’s crotch. “It told me that we’re both horny enough to take this somewhere that would make us both happy, and that you’re hung up on Mr. Graeme Dallen.”
“What?” Ryan laughed, tense as a tiger. “You’re reading too much into things.”
“Which part?” Art asked, teasing his fingers closer to the stiffening bulge in Ryan’s jeans. “The part about gagging for it or about wanting to get it from Graeme?”
“Neither,” Ryan said, bristling and grinning at the same time.
“Liar,” Art said, lowering his head just enough to make seductive eyes at Ryan. “For one thing, my hand is still in your crotch and you haven’t even tried to tell me no means no.”
Ryan cleared his throat, grabbed Art’s wrist with two fingers, like he was picking up a dirty tissue, and moved it away from his person.
“You don’t mean that,” Art said with a wink.
Ryan sucked in a breath, then said, “So what if I am horny? We both know how these things go. And sure, I’d let you go down on me if you really wanted to.”
“Or vice versa,” Art interrupted his train of thought.
He could see by the flare of heat in Ryan’s eyes that he went both ways.
“But leave poor Graeme out of this,” Ryan said, back to speaking in his low voice, like Graeme was sitting just behind them, listening in.
“He’s gay, I tell you,” Art insisted, sitting straighter and speaking for all the world to hear, though not shouting. “If I had to guess, I’d say he’s known for ages, married a woman to try to avoid the truth, and then something happened last year that meant he couldn’t deny it anymore. Ooh!” He sat even straighter. “I bet there was a man involved.”
“There’s always a man involved,” Ryan said, borderline camp, rolling his eyes.
Art suddenly found himself wondering what man in Ryan’s life had screwed him over that would put that look on his face.
Hawthorne House was filled with exciting and tempting things to uncover.
“So what do you say?” Art asked in his sultriest tone. “You and me, a bottle of lube, and a walk down by the lake, where there are some excellent fallen tree stumps at just the right height for perfect leverage? I’m on PrEP.”
Ryan laughed so loudly Art was certain Graeme could hear them from the other side of the brick wall. “You’re something else,” he said.
“Yes, I am,” Art said with a broad smile. “And I’ve never seen any point in denying that.”
“I guess not.”
“But just because I’m a shameless hussy who never met a sausage he didn’t want to roll doesn’t mean you don’t like it.”
Ryan continued laughing and shaking his head. “God help me, but I am tempted.”
“So why not skive off work for a little play?” Art asked.
“Because—” Ryan didn’t finish, but he still laughed. “Graeme is straight,” he said at last.
“Nope,” Art said. “You can invite him to join us, if you’d like. I love a good threesome.”
“Listen to you,” Ryan said. Art couldn’t tell if he didn’t take his words seriously or if he was trying to brush the whole thing off because he was intrigued.
Whatever the case, Ryan stood, picking up the tray as he went. “We all have to get back to work,” he said.
“All three of us,” Art agreed, standing as well. He arched one eyebrow at Ryan before he turned to go. “Remember, my door is always open.”
“Yeah, your back door,” Ryan chuckled.
“Exactly,” Art said cheerily. “And wouldn’t you like to come inside?”
