Alex grinned. “I don’t think that even you could have closed down a restaurant to cover for a misstep. Your guess is as good asmine.”
While he spoke, Alex looked his date over from head to foot, not bothering to hide his wandering eye. He let his gaze linger where it wanted, taking in the way Mr. Ephemeral’s suit pants fit his legs and how his jacket framed his torso. The shoulders fell right, and his tie was tasteful while still detailed enough to draw interest. Even if the suit wasn’t designer, it was fitted and a good match for his body shape. Alex hadn’t had time to remark uponthatat theexhibition.
Hello,Daddy.
“Well.” Alex cleared his throat. “Our date’s been canned, unless you can get them to open the doors. Do you have any suggestions on where we could go? Or should we just call it off and try some other time, when the universe hates us a littleless?”
“I’d hate for you to come out just to have to turn around and go home again,” Mr. Ephemeral said. He sounded so sincere that Alex’s heart fluttered, and the sickly yellow that had crept into the corners of his vision transformed to purple. “Why don’t we take a walk and see what’s around here? Is there someplace you were going to? I noticed you heading down thestreet.”
“No. I was just walking for the sake of walking. You didn’t answer my message,so…”
“That was my mistake. I turned my phoneoff.”
“Oh?” Alex quirked a brow. He found himself genuinely grinning. “I wonder why thatis.”
“Your guess is as good as mine.” His date grinned back. “Now, do you want to get walking, or should we stand around here allnight?”
“I’m afraid there is a small problem.” Alex tucked his hands behind his back, folding them together so they rested on the hollow just above his ass. “My mother taught me from a very early age not to go walking with strangers, so you’re going to have to fess up and tell me who you really are. Mr. Ephemeral isn’t going to cut it for too muchlonger.”
Mr. Ephemeral laughed, and Alex found himself smiling again. He did his best to wipe the expression from his face, but it was hard when every little thing Mr. Ephemeral did made him see such pretty shades ofpurple.
“I’m Laurence Gwynn,” Mr. No-Longer-Ephemeral said. “It’s a pleasure to officially meet you, AlexH.”
“Just Alex is fine.” With a deliberately dramatic flourish, Alex held out his hand. “You’re welcome to call me Alexander if you feel like I’m beingnaughty.”
“Oh, so you mean all the time?” Laurence took his hand and bowed low in response to Alex’s flourish. “Well, Alexander, it’s a pleasure to officially meet you,too.”
Alex couldn’t help but feel pleased. He held back a smile and stood a little straighter, taking his hand back from Laurence once it was polite to do so. Laurence’s touch lingered with him, and he ran his thumb along his palm to take advantage of the tender way his skin felt. There were still dried flecks of paint on his skin that roughened his otherwise smooth hands, and he made a mental note to make sure they were scrubbed away before the next time theymet.
The next time they met? Alex cringed internally. He was getting ahead of himself. Laurence was a canvas, plain and simple. He didn’t reuse canvases. Twice was already once toomany.
When there was silence, Laurence took initiative. He started to walk, and Alex fell into place naturally at his side. “Let’s see what trouble we can get into tonight,” Laurence said. “There’s a whole city waiting for us. It’s up to us to figure out where we want tobe.”
Heavy downtown traffic passed them by. It was vibrant and chaotic, energetic in a way that spoke to Alex’s tastes. His spirits soared. The color of the evening hadn’t turned out quite the way he’d wanted it to, but despite it, they would leave theirmark.
One more brushstroke in a world painted by experience. Tonight, they would make it theirown.
7
Laurence
The night wascool enough that Laurence was glad he had his suit jacket. He tucked his hands into his pockets and walked at an easy pace, eyes set ahead of him as he wandered with Alex through the city streets. There was silence between them, but the city more than made up for it, and Laurence didn’t feel like it made what they shared uncomfortable. He checked on Alex out of the corner of his eye to find Alexsmiling.
It wasn’t the kind of night he’d imagined, but that didn’t stop it from being off to a greatstart.
“Do you come into the city often?” Laurence asked. He kept his eyes ahead of him, but every now and then, he caught a flash of gray from Alex’s suit. “The gallery your exhibition was at wasn’t too far from here, wasit?”
“Good memory. It’s probably a twenty-minute walk from here, in a quieter part of the city. Rental spaces around here are ridiculous. I make an okay living, but I’m no van Gogh. My art’s only started to take off in the last fewyears.”
“How does that happen?” Laurence asked. All he knew about art was that he wasn’t good atit.
“Networking, unfortunately. You get in with the right people by being in the right place at the right time, and they introduce you to the people you need to know, and it snowballs from there. It’s… well, in the end, thereissome skill necessary, but I’ve seen pieces of art that have sold for ridiculous amounts of money because the artist is a fantastic marketer. It’s disheartening, in a way… but inspiring in others. If you’re truly passionate enough to persevere, you can make it. I keep reminding myself of that whenever I feel down about where I am in mycareer.”
“So this is your full-timejob.”
Alex glanced in his direction, and Laurence allowed himself to return his gaze. He knew right away he’d said something wrong. Alex’s lips were pinched and his eyes despondent. “Well, yeah. It’s not a traditional job, but I make a living at it, and I intend to devote my life to it. Painting isn’t just a hobby… it’s…” He trailed off and shook his head. “It’s stupid to bring it up.Sorry.”
This wasn’t the Alex that Laurence had met in the gallery—the one who exuded charismatic charm and who’d enchanted Laurence with a single smile. With one question, Laurence had taken a pin to the brilliant young man who’d seduced him so easily and deflated him into something that he wasn’t. Laurence ached to think that he’d been so insensitive. “No, it’s not stupid atall.”
