A tiny smile appeared on her face. “Like you want to rip Connor’s throat out—I mean Alan.” Her eyes fell closed and her features twisted in dismay. “Alan’s throat.”
“His name is Connor?” I barked out a harsh laugh. “Unbelievable.” Lifting my legs out of the water, I stood up.
Gabi grabbed on to my wrist before I could walk away. “You do not get to be mad at him about this,” she insisted, glaring up at me. “He’s only trying to protect himself.”
“By lying to me over and over again?” I asked, incredulous. “Enough. I’m done playing the fool.”
With a heavy sigh, she let go. “What are you going to do?”
I turned narrowed eyes back to the two men, only to find Sean had gotten up to say goodbye to some of the guests, leaving hisboyfriendalone. “Their relationship isn’t going anywhere,” I told Gabi. “I think it’s time they break up.” Making my way around the pool, I said a quick goodbye to the departing guests, before heading for my true target: Connor.
He’d moved to stretch out on my favourite sun lounge, his bare chest and long, toned legs on conspicuous display. I pulled another lounge up beside his and folded myself into it, so my body faced him.
His head lolled my way, bringing our faces closer together. “Dante,” he drawled in a low, sensual voice. Then, he pulled off his sunglasses to bombard me with those sky-blue eyes.
Snorting at the familiarity of his technique, I offered him my sexiest smirk. “Tell me something, Alan.” I propped an elbow on the arm of the lounge between us, resting my chin on my hand. “How did you and Sean meet?”
A brief silence followed, while Connor appeared to come up with an appropriate story. “He was doing some photography for a local newspaper and they wrote a story on one of my projects.”
“Another council project?” I asked, pretending to buy into the bullshit.
“Exactly.” Connor nodded. “I asked him for his phone number before he left, and we met up that night.” His eyes lifted over my shoulder to where Sean was still occupied somewhere behind me. “You can guess what happened next.”
I gave a slow chuckle. “I understand completely. Sean has a way of seducing men with those lenses of his.” I leaned forward, on the brink of invading his personal space. “It worked on me, too.”
Connor’s mouth twisted in amusement. He knew what I was doing. Granted, he’d have to be stupid not to, I was hardly being discreet, but that wasn’t the point. Sean had been jealous when I fired off a few rounds of charm at the journalist who’d interviewed me. Now, I wanted to see how he’d react to me dealing a full-frontal assault to hisboyfriend.
“What’s going on here?” Sean appeared beside us on cue, hands on his hips.
I relaxed back into my chair, raking my gaze over him. “Your boyfriend and I are getting better acquainted,” I told him, my tone heavy with meaning. “Isn’t that right, Alan?”
Connor didn’t bother hiding his eye roll before glancing around. “Everyone’s gone?”
“All except Gabi.” Sean lifted a thumb over his shoulder in the direction of his flat. “She’s gone to take a quick shower.”
For a second, I wondered if Gabi had ratted me out, but the nervous glances Sean divided between me and Connor told me she hadn’t.
“Come take a seat, honey.” Connor sat up in the sun lounge, lowering one foot to the ground and patting the long seat between his parted thighs. My eyes narrowed at Sean, who awkwardly lowered himself into the space provided. Connor leaned forward, resting his arms across his knees to bracket Sean’s body. “That’s better,” he murmured, dropping a kiss on Sean’s bare shoulder before turning his head back towards me with smug satisfaction.
I added Connor’s oh-so-pretty mouth to the list of body parts I wanted to break. “What kind of music do you like, Alan?”
“He’s a fan of Broadway,” Sean blurted out.
The widening of Connor’s eyes said he was suddenly less impressed with the role he’d been forced to play. There was a brief, jaw-clenching pause and I fought the urge to laugh out loud. “I am,” Connor told me. “I’ve never cared for rock music, no offence.”
I smirked. “None taken.”
“All that screaming and growling has never done anything for me,” he continued. “I mean, how hard can it be to growl on stage? There’s no real skill there.”
“True enough,” I said with a nod, “if you don’t mind destroying your voice in the first set. But when you have to do it for hours each night, and for weeks at a time,” I added a casual shrug, “then it’s all about good vocal technique.”
Giving a low laugh, Connor asked, “And how’s your technique, Dante?” My name was sex on his tongue and Sean stiffened.
I held Connor’s gaze as I replied, “I’ve got stamina like you wouldn’t believe.”
“For fuck’s sake,” Sean cried, throwing his hands in the air. “Give it a rest, will you?”
My eyes shifted to his with a droll smile. “Problem?”
