It was nice to be listened to once in a while. Oz wasn’t the kind of man who had a lot of friends, and none of them close enough to talk to about stuff like his job.
“It’s a very practical color,” Oz said.
“How’s the pay?” Seth asked.
“Keeps me in nice hats.” Oz grinned. He was starting to relax now. He knew he’d been sent over to talk to Seth because they were both gay, like he was at every other family event where there was another gay man present, but he was actually enjoying himself this time.
“What I’m hearing so far is that you’re both richandhandsome,” Seth said. He sounded more relaxed, too. Or at least more willing to talk to Oz.
“Gay, too,” Oz responded. “That’s why I was sent over here.”
“So this is the gay table now?” Seth asked.
“Looks like,” Oz agreed.
“I was instructed not to mention that I was gay to anyone,” Seth said. “By my sister.”
“Well, it was your sister who sent me over.” Oz shrugged again. “Maybe she’s mellowed.”
“She just thought it was better if I didn’t start a fight with her new in-laws. I was going along with it, because I figure it’s her wedding.”
“Yeah, well… they tolerate me, but don’t let them fool you into thinking they like it. There’s a reason Mason is being groomed to run the family empire and I’m a lawyer running a one-man show.”
“They want to be able to say you’re a lawyer, but they don’t want your gay hands touching their money,” Seth said. He was turning out to be surprisingly perceptive.
“Right. So if you were hoping to marry into all this yourself, you might wanna look elsewhere,” Oz said, indicating the ridiculous wedding venue. He hadn’t asked how much this had cost, and he really never wanted to know.
When he’d started his practice, his father had given him ten thousand dollars as start-up money. That sounded like a lot when he told people, but the family business was worth close to a billion. It had been an attempt to preserve appearances and get Oz to go away quietly.
He was glad he’d made it mostly on his own, but he wasn’t about to pretend that he wasn’t a little bitter about being forced to.
On the other hand, this way, he didn’t have to rely on his parents’ good will.
“I’m not a huge fan of weddings,” Seth said. “This one has been surprisingly okay. Weird, but okay.”
“Welcome to Texas, I guess.” Oz laughed. “So, what do you do? Emma didn’t say.”
Seth snorted. “I’m actually not sure what I do. I have a really nice office in a really nice office building in New York, but honestly, I work for my dad and I don’t think I have an actual job. I feel like every few weeks someone remembers I’m sitting around doing nothing and tries to find something for me. It’s usually, like, site tours or business lunches or something like that. Sorry, this is a long answer to a simple question.”
“Obviously not so simple for you,” Oz said. “You want another beer?”
“If you’re going for one, sure. I finished my last one almost an hour ago.”
Oz pushed his chair back and stood. “I’ll be back in a minute. Have you eaten? Because there’s a ton of food left.”
Seth wet his lips. “Well, if there are leftovers…”
“I’ll bring you a plate. You might as well benefit from being part of the family now as much as possible.”
“I like you already,” Seth said.
Oz smiled at him, pleased with himself, and went to grab more beer and food. If the way to a man’s heart was through his stomach…
Well, Oz didn’t necessarily want to get to hisheart. But Seth was cute, and he wouldn’t have hated getting to know him a little better.
Everyone else was getting laid tonight, why shouldn’t they?
“If you’re trying to impress me, it’s working,” Seth said as Oz got back to the table with two beers and a plate piled high with food.
