“Still.” The heated look Joshua aimed at him made Benji’s pulse jump. “I’ll spring for it if they do. Doesn’t hurt to ask.”
“Go nuts then.”
Benji snatched his own phone off the bed so he could send a quick “we’re exclusive” text to Danielle, while Joshua called the front desk. She texted back with a series of celebrating emojis, followed quickly with: How long will you two be celebrating?
He laughed. No one’s naked. Come back whenever you need to.
She sent back a thumb’s up icon.
“Good news.” Joshua slipped his arms around Benji’s waist from behind. “One night cancellation. King bed. I’m going to run down to the front desk to get keys, okay?”
Benji’s belly wobbled. “That’s fantastic.”
“While I’m out, I’ll call Van and see if he wants to stay for the show.”
“Okay.”
He spun in Joshua’s arms to plant a long, sensual kiss on his boyfriend. A claiming kiss full of lips and teeth and tongues. He pulled away breathless, still hard, but okay with waiting a while to do something about it. Joshua had promised a reciprocal blow job after all, and now they had their own room. “Thank you,” Benji said.
“For what?”
“For today. For being completely honest with yourself and with me. Promise we will always be honest with each other from now on, about everything.”
Joshua grinned, his dark eyes crinkling at the corners. “I promise.”
SIX
Van wasn’tsure what to think when Joshua called him less than forty minutes after setting off to try and win back his boyfriend. Van had wandered down to the boardwalk and right into a juice bar for a snack and a few rounds of Candy Crush on his phone, and he was getting serious flirty looks from a redhead behind the counter. He was a sucker for gingers, and she had curves for days.
Maybe this trip won’t be a complete personal bust.
Kidnapping Joshua hadn’t been the most thought-through plan in his life, and he’d meant it when he told Joshua he was paying it forward. But the possibility of a quickie with a cutie would be an excellent reward for making friends.
He stared at Joshua’s name on his phone a long while before he answered. “Hollywood Phone Sex Line, how may I direct your call?”
Two bikini-clad teenagers at the next table turned to stare. Van winked.
Joshua’s laughter rumbled over the line. “Look at you, using my lines.”
“Seemed appropriate somehow. So? Did he kiss you or deck you?”
“Kissed me, and then some.”
Van gave a mental air punch, even as his fleeting hope for a chance to sample either man died a fast death. “Glad to hear it. So you two are solid again?”
“More than ever, and it’s all thanks to you. I mean it, man. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” He loved the joy in Joshua’s voice, so different from the man he’d spoken to this afternoon. “So are you two going to celebrate?”
“Something like that. Listen, Benji really wants to thank you in person for running interference on things.”
Van resisted the idea of being fussed over, but he also wanted a chance to see the pair together. He’d only ever seen them separately. “Sure. I can stop by the room when I get my car.”
“Actually, Benji wants you to come to the show tonight. It starts at eight-thirty.”
He had no idea where the club was located, but that’s what GPS was for. He also scrambled for some excuse not to go, but Joshua already knew he’d called out of Off Beat. Plus he liked Fading Daze, and he’d never heard Benji sing live. Melody would give him hell for not leaving complicated alone and coming home, but whatever.
“Okay, I’ll go,” Van replied.
