Ingenue's Choice (6 page)

‘get my man,’ gay or not.”

Patryk frowned and didn’t want to touch that one with a vaulting pole.

“So, now you,” Zara said.

“Me what?”

“What’s your sob story?”

“Nothing that could ever touch yours.”

“This isn’t a contest. We’re just sharing war stories.”

“Look, I understand you have a job to do, but don’t count on me to make it easier for you just because you shared a little.”

“And here I thought you were such a nice guy.”

“I am nice. Just don’t take my kindness for weakness.”

“Sheesh, someone really did a number on you, didn’t he?”

Yeah, she could say that, but he wouldn’t, at least he wouldn’t admit it out loud. “Do you mind?”

“Mind what?”

42

Gracie C. McKeever

“Hello!” Patryk motioned to the shower and his half-naked state. “I’d like to freshen up before the date you so dutifully set me up on.”

“As long as you’re not thinking of backing out.”

“And have you drag me all the way to Central Park by my ear? No thanks.”

“Glad you know who the boss is.” Zara chuckled as she turned and left.

Patryk closed the door behind her, turned on the shower, and adjusted the spray until it was nice and hot the way he liked it. He toyed with the idea of a cold shower or at the very least getting his shit off so that he wouldn’t be so on edge and turned on when he met up with Keir.

He slid his hand down to grip his hard shaft, had just thumbed the pearl of liquid from the slit of his cock when Zara popped into the shower and scared the crap out of him. “Holy shit!”

“Sorry, didn’t mean to surprise you.”

“I’ll bet.” He smirked then gaped when he noticed she wasn’t getting wet even though she was standing right in front of him.

“Perks of the job.” She smiled.

“Think you could give a guy a little privacy?”

“Sure, just one thing. I was thinking that you could take the edge off and, well…you know…do what you guys do…to take the edge off before you go meet Keir.”

Patryk smiled, thinking he never would have seen an angel blush. But then, he had never met an angel before Zara. She was kind of growing on him, especially her very human reactions. “I do know what to do to, as you put it, ‘take the edge off.’ I’ve been getting off since I was twelve. As a matter of fact, I was about to do it before you so rudely interrupted me.”

“Oh, well, uh…I was just trying to help.”

“Thanks, but I think I can handle it from here.”

“Right. I’ll get out of your way then. Carry on.” She popped out again but left a “You know where to find me if you need me” in her wake.

Yeah, he knew where to find her, right under his freaking nose and in his freaking hair.

Ingenue’s Choice

43

* * * *

Keir stood just to the left of the bandshell watching several skaters grind, tweak, and perform other tricks, entertaining the gathered crowds out enjoying the sun and the sights.

He leaned against a wall, arms folded across his chest, and tried to look as nonchalant as possible when in truth he was anything but.

It got worse as soon as he spotted Patryk approaching from twenty yards ahead.

Clad in a pair of brown leather sandals, maroon plaid Bermuda shorts, and a matching polo shirt, Patryk looked cool and refreshing, good enough to lick.

Keir closed his eyes for a moment, savoring the idea of going down on him, could already taste Patryk’s sweet tanginess on his tongue. He was glad he had on baggy cargo shorts because his cock was suddenly hard and erect at the mere image of touching Patryk with his mouth.

Keir tried to focus on something else, anything else, and play it cool for as long as he could before he opened his eyes, pushed up off of the wall and went to meet Patryk halfway between the throngs of tourists and skaters and the bandshell.

In that one unguarded second between Patryk recognizing Keir and veering in his direction, Keir caught his smile and got a hint of what his own paradise could be.

“You beat me here,” were the first words out of Patryk’s mouth when he paused in front of Keir, and he said it like he was shocked Keir had arrived fifteen minutes early.

Keir smiled, his teasing mood from earlier in full effect as he put an arm around Patryk’s shoulder and drew him close. “Thought I was on BF time?”

Patryk frowned and fell into step with Keir. “BF time?”

“Black Folk. Or some would say CP for Colored People. Either one works.”

“I would never think that!”

44

Gracie C. McKeever

Keir broke out laughing at Patryk’s appalled expression, impulsively leaned in, and kissed him on the lips. He couldn’t help himself. He had a moment of contrition when he heard Patryk’s gasp, but only a moment. “Do you know how adorable you are?”

“You make me sound like a stuffed toy.”

“Wishful thinking,” Keir murmured, and when Patryk looked at him totally confused, Keir knew his innuendo had gone completely over his head and laughed again. “Damn, I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone over fourteen as innocent as you.”

“I told you I’m not very good at this.”

“You’re a natural. Like the way you knocked back that drink without any real directions. That sort of thing can’t be taught.” Keir watched as his words sank in, and Patryk blushed from his throat to the tip of his ears, his sculpted face turning the same color as his shirt.

“You certainly know how to keep a guy on his toes,” Patryk said.

“I know how to do a few other things with a guy, too.”

“Yeah, I’m sure.”

Keir looked at Patryk, noticing how he had put a couple of feet between them while still keeping even since Keir had released him several steps back.

Time to put a stop to the distance.

He caught Patryk’s hand, drew him closer, and twined his fingers with his as they walked. He held Patryk’s look, silently daring him to make a scene, but got nothing after the initial stiffening of Patryk’s fingers and body, which Patryk ramrod straight. “You don’t like holding hands, do you?” Keir asked.

“I’m, uh, not used to public displays of affection.”

“No?” Keir arched a brow, both charmed and alarmed at the man’s naked honesty. He heard the pain in Patryk’s voice and wanted to sock in the eye whoever was responsible for putting it there and stifling such a beautiful creature’s natural friendliness. He’d grown up in a demonstrative household, couldn’t imagine a holiday dinner or any given Sunday going by without the prerequisite hugs and kisses exchanged between him and his parents and brothers.

“You should get used to PDA if you’re going to hang around me.”

“Who says I’m going to hang around you?”

Ingenue’s Choice

45

Keir smiled, stopped, and turned to face Patryk head-on. “I do.”

“Anybody ever tell you, you take a lot for granted?”

“All the time.” Keir tightened his grip just enough for Patryk to feel it, but not enough to hurt him, and felt Patryk tighten his grip in response.

He had to be smaller than Keir’s six-foot-four by half a foot and lighter than Keir’s two-hundred pounds by at least twenty-five pounds, but Patryk didn’t back down and Keir liked that, expected it. Shy and naïve was one thing, but he didn’t want a total doormat who couldn’t or wouldn’t speak up for himself. He didn’t want someone who couldn’t give as good as he got.

Patryk held his look, unflinching. “Are you trying to intimidate me?”

“That’s the last thing I’m trying to do.”

“Good because it’s not going to work.”

“Glad to hear it.” Damn he wanted this guy under him, begging and squirming for mercy right before Keir drove his cock into him hard and deep!

Keir didn’t have time to explore the fantasy much further before three skaters barreled toward them. He had an instant to gawk, pull Patryk out of the way, and tuck him between his body and a nearby tree before the teens sped by, executing several death-defying stunts and spins before braking to a stop several yards away.

“Thanks. That could have gotten rough.”

Keir pressed closer, reveling in the firm feel of Patryk beneath him, bent his head, and whispered, “And we don’t want anyone getting rough with this body besides me.”

Patryk blushed, averting his eyes and glancing over at the skaters.

Keir followed his gaze, shaking his head. “I don’t know whether it’s daring or stupidity.”

“Probably both, but you’ve got to love their athleticism and talent. They’re magnificent to watch, that’s for sure.”

“You think so?”

“Sure. Look at them.”

46

Gracie C. McKeever

Keir pulled Patryk back against him, feeling all of a sudden jealous and possessive and wanting Patryk to look at and talk about him the way he was looking at and talking about the skaters. “I’d rather you look at me,” he said.

Patryk tilted back his head to stare into Keir’s eyes. “Okay, I’m looking.”

“Not to brag, but I can grind and do some radical stair bashing with the best of them.”

“Well, since you’ve got the lexicon down pat, I’m pretty sure you can.”

Keir laughed at Patryk’s sarcastic tone. “You really are a little Doubting Thomas, aren’t you?” He pinched Patryk’s nose before leaning in to nibble his generous lower lip.

Patryk gasped and pulled back.

“I caught you off guard again, didn’t I?”

“You like doing it, too.”

“Can’t help myself. I like seeing the traumatized expression on your face.”

“I’m not traumatized.”

“Mmm-hmm…” He caught Patryk’s wrists and pinned them to his sides, imprisoning him as he leaned in for a more thorough taste of his mouth.

Patryk’s eyes widened like a furry woodland creature’s, and Keir could feel him trembling when he lowered his mouth to take his. He slid his tongue across the seam of Patryk’s lips until he opened up to him with a low groan.

Keir immediately slipped in his tongue and slid a hand up his body before burying it in the soft wavy hair at Patryk’s nape.

Patryk briefly squirmed against him before pulling away after several seconds, panting as he stared at Keir. “I can’t believe you just did that!”

“Kissed you or kissed you in public?”

“Both!”

Keir chuckled. “Are you going to slap me?”

“Of course not, but…but…”

“Don’t be so worried. We’re just two guys enjoying each other’s company. Nobody even noticed.”

Ingenue’s Choice

47

“That’s not the point.”

“What is? Oh wait, let me guess. That was a really public display of affection?”

“Don’t make fun. Some people just find it unseemly to…show affection like that.”

“Don’t worry about some people. Worry about me.”

“But…”

Keir put a finger to Patryk’s lips, bent his head, and gently kissed his furrowed brow. “You worry too much.” He traced Patryk’s forehead with a thumb as if he could smooth the furrows with the simple act, then leaned in and kissed Patryk’s cheek.

Patryk tensed like a man under fire or like one enduring something torturous and unpleasant instead of enjoying the kisses of a would-be lover who was so hard he was about to bust at the seams for him.

Poor guy. Someone had really done a job on him, and Keir knew it was going to take some doing to get Patryk over his touching-in-public phobia. But he had already decided from their first meeting at the bar that Patryk was worth the effort, and
he
was the one to pull him out of his shell.

48

Gracie C. McKeever

“He’s got your number, Pat.”

“Mind your business.”

Zara laughed as she plopped down on the bench where Patryk sat to wait for Keir while Keir jogged over to a hotdog stand to grab them something to eat.

He gritted his teeth and tried not to give himself away any further by entertaining the angel and her keen, smart-aleck observations.

Damn her.

“Been there, done that,” Zara said in a singsongy voice.

“Yeah, well, could you scram before he gets back? I’d like to deal with him on my own, if you don’t mind.”

“I thought I’d stick around for moral support.”

“I don’t need any.”

“Sheesh, you are such grouch. You and Micah would get along really well.”

“I don’t even want to know.”

“Don’t want to know what?”

Patryk pressed his lips together and closed his eyes before he turned from Zara, who had already, conveniently, disappeared, to face Keir who was standing beside the bench holding two hot sausages and two cans of grape soda.

Keir handed one of each to Patryk as he took a seat beside Patryk.

“Thanks.”

Ingenue’s Choice

49

“You know, you don’t look like a hotdog- or sausage-and-soda kind of guy.”

“I’m not touching that one.”

Keir laughed, and the deep masculine sound sent shivers down Patryk’s spine, breathing life into his instantly hard cock.

He didn’t think he’d ever tire of that sound, thought he might like hearing it for the rest of his life, and that maybe he wanted Keir to be around him for that long too. Not because he wanted to get into his shorts—though he decided it would be a nice place to be—but because he admired Keir’s confident attitude and nonchalant outlook on life.

Was it wishful thinking to believe each might rub off on him?

“Now who’s making little innuendos?” Keir asked.

“You started it.”

“I’d like to finish it too…with you.”

Patryk didn’t respond, instead bit into his sausage, slowly chewed, and swallowed before asking, “What kind of guy do I seem like anyway?”

“Hmmm…” Keir pulled back to stare at him appraisingly, putting his soda on the bench beside him and rubbing his chin with a finger for good measure.

“You are such a comedian.”

“That’s what my mama says.” Keir chuckled and slid closer. “And in answer to your question, you seem like a Polo-Restaurant, 21-Club, Gramercy-Tavern kind of guy, or basically any of those sophisticated establishments where you have to book a table months in advance and need a jacket and tie to be served.”

Patryk laughed at the mere thought that Keir saw him as “sophisticated.”