Oof. Six fucking seven.Fabian had never been with a man anywhere near that tall. What would it be like? Was kissing even possible? He would dearly love to find out.
Not that he was going to be hooking up with Ryan Price. For so many reasons.
“Come sit.” Fabian gestured at the empty table next to them. Sitting would at least remove the distraction of Ryan’s height. And of how well he filled out that suit.
Once they were seated, Fabian propped an elbow on the table, leaned forward, and rested his chin on his fist. “Tell me all about yourself, Ryan Price.”
His tone was probably a tad too flirtatious, because Ryan laughed nervously and looked away. “Not much to tell.”
“Do you live in the neighborhood? The Village, I mean?”
“Uh, sort of. Like, not right here, but a few blocks south. Near the drugstore there, where you work.”
“So...yes, then? You live in the Village?” Fabian couldn’t help his teasing smile, but it seemed to put Ryan at ease. He smiled back at him.
“Yes. Sorry. Long answer to a simple question.”
Fabian had to push this. He was burning with curiosity. “Did youknowyou were moving into the queer neighborhood?”
Ryan’s brow furrowed, as if he was trying to decide how to answer the yes-or-no question. “Yeah. I knew.”
No further information was offered, so Fabian backed off. He was intrigued, though.
They sat in silence for a moment, Fabian looking toward the bar as if he was extremely interested in the progress of their drink orders. He decided he would let Ryan ask the next question.
Instead, Ryan broke the silence by suddenly blurting out, “I’m gay.”
Even though Fabian had kind of guessed this might be the case, hearing Ryan say the words was... “Holy shit.”
“Surprise,” Ryan said with a shrug.
“Are hockey players evenallowedto be gay?”
Ryan laughed. “It’s only a five-minute major now.”
Fabian looked at him blankly.
“Sorry,” Ryan said. “Hockey joke. Abadhockey joke. Yes, there are gay hockey players.”
Fabian considered this. “I guess there’s that guy in New York. The hot one.”
“Scott Hunter. Yeah. I’m the other one. The not-hot one.” Ryan smiled at his self-deprecating comment.
Fabian wasn’t so sure aboutthatassessment, but he ignored it for now. “So why have I heard about the New York guy being gay, but not you?”
Ryan snorted. “Because I’m not a superstar. And I didn’t kiss my boyfriend on live television after winning the Stanley Cup.”
Ryan saying the wordskiss my boyfriendmade Fabian’s head spin a little. Did Ryanhavea boyfriend? Ryan datedmen. Ryankissedmen. Ryan played hockey and he alsokissed men.
“I also don’t talk about it much,” Ryan continued. “Being gay, I mean. Or anything, really.”
Well that was certainly true. Ryan didn’t seem to be any chattier now than he had been as an awkward teenager. “Your teammates don’t know?”
“Some of them do. Did. I get traded a lot, like I said.”
“Are they dicks about it?”
Ryan shrugged. “Most of them don’t seem to care. Or maybe it just helps that I’m big. I dunno.”
