Stephanie squeezed my hand. “Do you want to dance with Lachlan, Taryn, or me?” Note that not dancing wasn’t an option.
“Who wants to dance with me is the better question.”
She offered me a megawatt smile. “All of us, of course.”
Taryn nodded enthusiastically. I remembered her as being shyer. Being with Stephanie had really drawn her out of her shell.
Lachlan nudged me. “If we dance, then it’s easier to swap partners. Is he your date?”
“Uh…something like that?” I certainly wasn’t going to say that Ulysses had been my half-a-night stand.
“Great.” Lachlan nudged me. A lot of that going on tonight. Everybody was all very familiar. Truthfully, I enjoyed it. I was an easygoing kind of guy who loved being around people.
From the little I’d seen, I didn’t peg Ulysses as such.
I scooted out of the booth and allowed Lachlan to grab my hand. We made our way to the dance floor as another slow song started. “Is this Jann Arden?”
Lachlan shrugged as he pulled me flush against him. “I don’t see howI Would Die for Youis necessarily romantic, but I do remember it. Well, sort of. And yeah, I love Jann Arden.”
“Okay,” I wrapped my arms around his neck and ducked a little to rest my head against his shoulder. He was familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. I’d danced with tons of guys over the years. So generically familiar. Lachlan was an unknown person to me in this way. Definitely unfamiliar.
Every time we made a rotation, I caught sight of Ulysses and Cooper. They weren’t plastered together.That’s likely Ulysses’s doing—I can totally see Cooper leaving no space between the two of them to make me jealous. More fool him.
Yeah.
Except I was kind of jealous. I did want to be back in Ulysses’ arms. To have him holding me tight. Something about that made my heart accelerate.
“We can trade partners anytime.” Lachlan chuckled.
Even as he said the words, Cooper and Ulysses stepped back from each other. With Cooper holding Ulysses’s hand, they made their way over to me. Cooper tapped my back. “I miss my husband.” He said the words in a very whiny tone.
Lachlan chuckled again. “My husband is quite a character.” He pecked my cheek. “Good luck.” He whispered words into my ear as he released me and stepped into Cooper’s arms. They sort of floated away.
Ulysses eyed me. “I don’t particularly like to be manipulated.”
I smiled as I grasped his hand and tugged him into my arms.
He came more or less willingly.
More or less.
Quickly, though, he wrapped me inhisarms. Clearly he wasn’t going to be led anywhere.
To my surprise, another ballad played. Jeff Healey. Damn, I wasn’t going to cry. He’d been one of my favorites growing up, andAngel Eyeswas the ultimate song. No way anyone could know this about me, of course. Just some random choice. Especially since it was a very het song.
That said, I replacedgirlwith guy and thought about Ulysses. And although the song was about love, there was also the element of why he chose me. When he’d pulled up beside me at that intersection, how had he known that I was gay? That I was interested? And if he’d kept going instead of nearly being in an accident, what would that have meant? As the editor of the paper, we should be encountering each other regularly.
Which led me to the question of why he was clearly involved in other aspects of the community but never any time he might encounter me over the last three months.Because he’s not looking for a repeat.Yet even as I had the thought, his very erect cock brushed my hip.
Well okay, then. Maybe things are going to change.
Yeah…but don’t make it too easy for him.
Right. I wouldn’t. Bruised ego and all that. I was going to make him work for it.
Chapter Three
Ulysses
