“Then enlighten me, Bradford. You seem to have all the answers. I don’t know shit and you know it all, right?” Dana fussed.
Ford mumbled what sounded like, “Damn, grow up, already,” and turned towards his front door. A clear sign that Ford was done with Dana’s unexpected, unwanted visit.
Fuck. What the hell am I doing so wrong? Dana pulled at his long hair on top of his head – feeling off-kilter – knowing it was probably sticking up all over the place. He felt like hell and he probably looked like it, too. He was tired and upset, but he recognized that was quickly becoming the norm when he was around Ford.
Ford opened his front door and turned to face Dana, nonverbally cuing him to leave.
“Really? Damn, Ford, it’s like that?” Dana took slow steps toward the door, trying to think of what he could say or do that would revive their once amicable friendship.
“Yeah, it’s like that when you’re stinking up my place.” Ford propped one boot up on the door frame waiting for Dana to move his ass.
Stinking? Shit. The perfume. He really didn’t smell it, but obviously, Ford and everyone else did. Was that why he was getting this shitty treatment? All the other guys hadn’t seemed to mind his scent today, or were able to ignore it… all except Ford. It felt like a lightbulb switched on in Dana’s head. Ford had to feel something for him, and even if it was confusion he was feeling, it was better than nothing or repulsion. Now he had to work out how to get on Ford’s good side. Needed to figure out how to let him know that Dana was interested but nervous also. He hadn’t been with a man in so long and he admitted to himself that he missed it terribly. Missed the warmth, the strength, the familiarity of being with a man. One thing he remembered when dealing with men was that they preferred action over lip-service. Dana could tell Ford all day long that he was burning a short fuse with his girl and soon they would no longer be an item, but talk was cheap. Dana had class, he wasn’t a bastard. He’d try his best not to hurt Jessica. For now, though, his focus was the man standing a few feet from him wearing an amazingly sexy and annoyed expression.
Dana held his head down and said a quick prayer that he was about to do the right thing, a safe thing. Looking up through his lashes, Dana slowly began to peel off his worn, black leather coat.
“That looks like the opposite of leaving,” Ford ground out, giving Dana’s chest a cold once over, but Dana could see heat behind that guarded look. Dana still had on his scented white t-shirt, and made a show of smelling the collar. Ford’s jaw clenched and his lip turned up into a fraction of a snarl.
Dana’s stomach dropped but he wasn’t going to turn back now. He walked closer until he was standing toe-to-toe with Ford. With both hands, he gripped the hem of his t-shirt and pulled it up and over his head, leaving on only his thin wife beater. He heard Ford’s sharp inhale before he barked, “What are you doing, kid?”
“Am I stinking up your place, Ford? Or is it this?” Dana gripped the offending shirt in his hand and tossed it out the front door. He didn’t see where it landed on Ford’s porch, choosing to keep his eyes on Ford’s uninterested expression. Dana inched in as close as he dared, still careful of Ford’s quick hands, and rumbled tiredly, “Now how do I smell?”
Ford stared at Dana like he was trying to gauge if he was serious. He saw those coal-dark eyes drift over his face, felt them easing over his features. Dana fought not to close his eyes and burrow into Ford’s masculinity, because damn, did he have it drifting off him, hot and visible, like steam rising off the Florida asphalt in June.
“I think you need to leave.”
“Whatever you say, Bradford. I’ll go. I just thought.” Dana was losing his bravado fast. He stepped back a couple feet and put his jacket back on, realizing he’d lost this round as well. “I thought maybe we could have a drink and talk about the surveillance we’re about to start.”
“We can talk about that at the office, kid.”
Dana bared his teeth like an insulted animal. “Enough with the ‘kid’ bullshit.”
Ford stepped aside and gripped the edge of his front door. “Then stop the kid bullshit.”
“How do I…? Damnit… I give up,” Dana mumbled on his way out the door. He held his head high until he got in his Chevy and fought not to peel rubber pulling away from the curb. He thought he’d rip his steering wheel off, he was fisting it so hard.