Chapter 1
Ryan
“He’s gay, right?”
Scott snorted. I didn’t need to glance over at him to picture the frustrated look on his face. “He’s in a gay bar, wearing skintight jeans, a see-through shirt, and some stud who’s probably got a hot accent just bought him a drink. What do you think?”
I knew right off the bat how to drain the smug sound from his voice. “I have three words for you. Pizza. Delivery. Guy.”
It was like a balloon deflating. “Oh, okay…so he might be gay.”
And we were back to square one. “Doyouthink he’s gay?”
Scott took a moment to think it through, and I glanced over to see his wide shoulders shrug. “I really think the pizza guy was an anomaly. Who flirts with gay guys to get bigger tips?”
Evidently, we either tipped too much or were suckers.
Probably both.
Not wanting to rehash the pizza disaster, I glanced back toward the bar. “Do you think he’s just here because guys buy him drinks? Lisa over in accounting said when she and her husband were dating, she’d let him go to gay bars with his friends. She said it was a way for him to hang out with his buddies without other girls coming up to him.”
“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.” Setting his glass down on the small round table, he gave me a long look, not sure whether to believe me or not. “Is it actually true?”
She’d seemed genuine. “She said it was. She said he was military, so guys thought hehadto say he was straight. Then they’d still buy beers for him.”
“Sounds like she didn’t trust him at all.” Scott was big on trust and wouldn’t even date a guy who made him question their sincerity.
It was my turn to shrug. “They’re going through some kind of weird divorce, so maybe.”
“Weird?”
Nodding, I took a drink of my beer before answering. “Yeah…like screaming daytime talk show weird.”
He leaned against the back of the chair, clearly getting into it. “That’s not good. Did—”
I had a flashback to our last night out. “Nope. We’re not getting distracted. This is what happened last time we went out.”
Scott’s eyebrows pulled together, and he gave me a questioning look. “We had a good time listening to that band. What are you talking about?”
I had to chuckle. We’d had a good time that night, sure, but that wasn’t what I was pointing out. “We planned out your financial goals for the year while listening to the band. We were supposed to be picking up guys. Remember?”
Scott didn’t seem to think there was anything wrong with it. “Hey, we got a lot done. And there weren’t that many gay guys around.”
“Maybe we just didn’t see them because we weren’t looking at all.” I could never decide if Scott was easily distracted by things when we went out or if picking up guys made him nervous, so he just didn’t even attempt to do it.
Probably both.
“Well, I’m looking now, and I’m still not seeing anyone I want to talk to.”
“Talk to?” There were tons of people to chat with at the club, but that was part of the problem. It was crowded and overwhelming. Scott didn’t seem to mind, but I preferred the smaller bars we usually went to.
He barked out a laugh that was almost lost in the music blaring from the dance floor in the other room. “To start with. Got to at least say hello.”
I fought to keep a straight face. “And then ‘what’s your sign?’”
Scott groaned. “Don’t say that. I still have nightmares about that guy.”
I chuckled. “But he seemed so into you.”
