Chapter One
Isaac settled back in the comfy chair he’d snagged earlier in the night, closing his eyes and letting the sounds of the bar wash over him. Three drinks in, he was happy, and floaty, and the future seemed manageable. Bright, even.
“Am I boring you?” the guy who’d bought his last drink for him asked.
Isaac opened his eyes again, shaking his head. “No, not at all.”
Honestly, he wasn’t. He’d recognized Isaac, sure, and sometimes that led to an uncomfortable conversation with a fan, but this guy… hadn’t really seemed to care who Isaac was, except that he was familiar.
They’d been chatting about entirely normal things for about half an hour now. He was a lawyer, apparently, in town for some high-profile case or other.
He definitely dressed like it, well-groomed from head to toe. Isaac knew how to take care of himself, but he felt outright scruffy next to this guy.
Tim? Yeah, that sounded right. He suddenly wished he was better with names.
“Good.” Tim shuffled a little closer to him, leaning back as well, his shoulder brushing against Isaac’s. A glance at his phone told Isaac it was a little after two a.m.
Time for good boys to be in bed.
He’d never been accused of being a good boy, though.
“So you live around here?” Tim asked.
“Yeah,” Isaac said. He wouldn’t normally have admitted to a stranger where he lived, even that broadly, but Tim seemed harmless. Charming, soft-spoken, but smart, too. He’d been good company.
“Beautiful neighborhood. It’s not Chicago, but…”
“Hey, it’s New York. Most magical place on Earth,” Isaac argued, turning to look at Tim.
He was close enough to see the flecks of amber in his hazel eyes, even in the low light.
Tim smiled a warm, bright smile at him. “You’re thinking of Disneyland,” he said, laughing at his own joke.
Isaac laughed, too. Not because it was all that funny, but because laughter was infectious.
He liked this. He felt warm and fuzzy, comfortable with this guy who kept smiling at him and laughing at his jokes. It’d been too long since he felt like this, since he’d reallytalkedto anyone.
Even though he was a stranger, Isaac liked him. Liked being near, liked the subtle scent of his cologne and even the whiskey on his breath.
Which he was suddenly… really close to?
It took Isaac several heartbeats too long to realize what was happening as Tim leaned in, and then his lips were pressed against Isaac’s, his hand curling around Isaac’s neck to hold him in place.
With his heart pounding in his chest, Isaac couldn’t react at first. Tim was kissing him.
That was… new.
Isaac felt as though his thoughts were wading through molasses, slow and heavy. He should have been objecting. Pushing this guy away, breaking it to him gently that he wasn’t gay, wasn’t interested.
He would have, too, if not for the warmth and fuzziness of being just tipsy enough not to care so much, and for the heat coiling in the pit of his stomach.
This wasn’t nearly as uncomfortable as it should have been. Isaac had expected kissing a man to beweird, but Tim’s lips were soft, and his mouth was warm, and...
He snapped back to himself as he felt Tim’s lips part, his tongue swiping along the seam of Isaac’s.
Isaac pulled away, pulse rushing in his ears. His lungs burned as he heaved for breath, his brain still struggling to catch up with what was going on.
“I’m not, uh…” he began, struggling to get his thoughts in order. “Not gay. Not, umm, interested like that. Sorry.”
