In a Fix (Torus Intercession 2)

“Who was he?”

“Oh yeah, that’s the best part. Dallas doesn’t even remember his name.”

Her eyes widened in surprise as she looked back at me.

It happened a lot. If we were on the Strip, or near it, men and women stopped him all the time. Dallas had not been choosy about his fuck buddies. He’d been open for business, come one, come all. There were doctors, lawyers, card dealers, valets, dancers, a magician, a guy who dressed like Batman, several baristas, a variety of salesmen, one of the gondoliers at the Venetian, and a photographer who ran out of his own gallery opening to stop Dallas and ask for his number, because he desperately wanted to photograph him.

We’d talked about it, and Dallas was always gracious. The first time it happened, he didn’t know what to do, so he ended up squeezing my hand really tight and, I could tell, was about to unload on the guy. That’s when I stepped in and apologized, and said that Dallas and I were living together.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I—”

“It’s okay,” I told the man, who couldn’t keep his eyes on me, instead casting longing looks at Dallas. “You didn’t know.”

He left then, and Dallas led me to a moderately low-traffic hallway near the lobby of the Wynn and shoved me up against the wall and stood close.

“Croy,” he rasped, clearly pained. “You know I don’t give a crap about—”

“Yes, I do know,” I assured him, smiling. “But all these terribly beautiful men keep accosting you for repeated sexual escapades, and I’m wondering, did you top all of them?”

“You know I did,” he growled, taking a step back.

I cleared my throat. “Are you certain that you’re not at all missing that?”

He glared at me. “You don’t think if I wanted your ass, I would tell you? Are we not a hundred percent honest with each other?”

“Are we?”

“Yes,” he snapped, crowding into me, kissing up the side of my neck to my jaw, hands on my hips, making sure I couldn’t move. “Always.”

It felt heavenly, his lips on my skin and his warm breath and the smell of him, like being outside on a lazy summer day, all languid and sun dappled. This was my life now, with this man, and I wouldn’t change it for the world.

“Don’t second-guess me,” he said before he kissed me.

I threw an arm around his neck to keep him there, put the other on his face, and kissed him back until I felt him wobble against me.

“Listen,” I murmured, our foreheads pressed together, sharing breath as I spoke. “I just want to make sure you’re not missing out on something you want or need. I will bottom for you anytime you––”

“And I promise to tell you if what I want changes,” he said, and I felt the shiver go through him when I pressed my thigh between his. “But right now, all I want is—God.”

I understood; I didn’t need any more words than that. When I got him home, I held him down in bed and rimmed him until he was begging, and later my name tumbled out of him in gasps and whimpers as he came apart. As he lay there, snuggled close, so content that there was humming, I didn’t worry about other men, or women, and truly never had. There was no guile in Dallas Bauer. He didn’t hide things, and he didn’t lie. If he ever wanted anyone else, he would tell me. The fact that I was the only thing he saw didn’t bode well for others, and since it was the exact same for me, I didn’t worry about us.

“Croy?”

Brought back to the present, I refocused on Cate. “Sorry,” I apologized. “So Lawrence and Evan are doing what now?”

“Having a screaming match in the kitchen.”

“And what is your father doing?”

“Watching basketball.”

I chuckled, because given the choice, the TV would be on, with some sort of sporting event, at all times. “What’s your mother doing?”

“Trying to help, of course.”

“Gina?”

“Gina’s snacking on veggies and watching them like it’s a movie.”

Callum chuckled over that.

I turned to him. “You’re going to be a wonderful father, because you have a wonderful father, so you know what it’s supposed to look like.”

He nodded.

“And you’re a man who loves your wife, and I know you’ll read way too many books on childbirth and childcare and child rearing, and when your brain explodes, Dallas and I will babysit so you can have some alone time with your wife.”

“Okay,” he said, taking a breath before he guzzled the glass of water and walked back across the patio, around the pool, to the back door, and then inside. There was immediate yelling.

Cate let out a squeak and ran into the house. I got comfortable on the chaise, the weather beautiful now. Sixty-eight degrees and a slight breeze was the perfect weather for lying under the stars. I was so content.