Rialto (Unbreakable Bonds 8)

“True. I haven’t found anything on Ginger yet, but I’m looking.” He looked down at his husband and stroked his hands over the silky curve of Ian’s back. He gently tugged Ian so their faces lined up, and he kissed him. Ian’s lips were so soft and warm, and he slid his tongue into his mouth. Ian was his home. His everything. Every single day, he thanked the universe for putting this man in his path.

Ian kissed him back, his hands coming up to frame Hollis’s face. “Mmm. We keep this up, and I’ll be ready for round two.”

“As intriguing as that sounds, I think you should rest.”

Ian sighed and snuggled down onto his chest. “As long as you lie here with me, too.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

He held his husband long into the night, relishing his weight on him, his scent, and the soft brushes of his breath over Hollis’s skin. He didn’t sleep for a long time, too wound up and worried.Chapter TenOver the next four days, Ian felt like he was going to crawl out of his skin. The constant worry made his muscles ache and nausea creep through his stomach. The physical toll this was taking surprised him, but the emotional toll was worse. He still couldn’t believe someone had attacked him in his home and whether he liked it or not, Hollis was checking in with him a lot more often than usual. So were his friends.

It did warm his heart that he had so many people who loved him.

But he couldn’t kick the worry over Rialto, couldn’t stop wondering who it was and what exactly they were after other than destroying his livelihood. Why they’d physically attacked him. Ian wracked his brain constantly, trying to come up with who it could be and kept hitting a blank.

He spent those days at the restaurant, reassuring his employees, and keeping an eye on the foot traffic, which still hadn’t lessened. Either people weren’t paying attention to the reviews or they just didn’t care. As of right then, it seemed his business might weather the storm. But he couldn’t ditch the bad feeling that followed him around like an evil shadow.

When Rowe called a meeting Monday afternoon at Ward Security, Ian and Hollis drove there together. Ian frowned at the trash in the back seat of his husband’s blue Chevelle as he got into the vehicle. He gave Hollis a look.

Hollis glanced at him as he pulled the car out of their driveway and smirked. “Hey now, this is my space and I keep it the way I like.”

“You like having all this junk in your car?” Ian picked up a bag that had come from a fast-food restaurant. “And are we going to have to talk about your diet when I’m not around?”

Hollis’s grin was wide. “No, it doesn’t bother me to have this stuff in the car. It gets cleaned out eventually. As for my diet, you know it’s mostly good, but every now and then a guy just wants a Big Mac.”

Ian rolled his eyes and tossed the bag into the back seat as Hollis laughed.

“I hope they’ve found something,” Ian said as he watched the city scenery go by.

Hollis reached across the seat to touch his hand. That little contact helped to settle the swarm of butterflies trying to escape his stomach.

They arrived at Ward Security and walked inside the building to find a self-defense class going on. Noise filled the big, open space, and Ian had to wonder if a lot of the men and women in the class joined it because it was being run by Sven. The man was a beautiful giant with his long blond hair and massive, muscular form. Ian loved his much smaller boyfriend, Geoffrey. Ian glanced around to see if Geoffrey was hanging around and spotted him off to the side, talking to a group of people.

Geoffrey saw him and jogged over, his blond hair flopping over his eyes. He threw his arms around Ian’s neck. They’d become friends over the years, so he was no longer surprised by the blond man’s effervescence. Or the stuff that sometimes came out of his mouth. Geoffrey lacked a filter and as usual, he didn’t disappoint.

“If it isn’t the famous Chef Banner. I saw that magazine spread of yours and was wicked jealous. Mine wasn’t nearly that big. My spread, that is.” He winked. “I haven’t yet had the chance to explore how we rate in other areas.”

Ian shook his head. He knew Geoffrey was one hundred percent faithful to his boyfriend, so the man was just fucking with him. “I saw the article about you and your big sale. How’s the new app doing?”

“It’s in the final stages now and just awaits a launch.”

Ian waved toward Sven, who was demonstrating how to break out of a hold. It was with a very small woman, so he was being obviously gentle. “You come to all his classes?”