Knave of Broken Hearts (3 page)

Jim breathed deep. Had to make his heart stop hammering or he’d pass out. Who was this guy? The dude moved like he was having sex in a vertical position, and Jim knew just what that sex looked like because he’d seen it a thousand times. He could picture the guy’s ass, bare and hard, being penetrated by a long cock.
Oh shit.
Jim sucked in breaths and his heart beat double fast.

“Hey, baby.”

Jim jumped and crossed his hands in front of his crotch.

Peggy’s arm slid around his waist. She laughed. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you.” She gave him a kiss on the cheek, then followed his line of sight to the dance floor. “Jesus, who’s that?”

“Don’t know.” His mouth felt dry.

“He looks like a manga illustration come to life, but taller.”

He swallowed hard.

The music changed again to something slow. She grabbed his hand. “Come on, let’s dance.”

He stumbled again but followed and let her drag him into her arms. He started his boring dance—rock to the right, step, rock to the left, step.

She giggled against his neck as she snuggled close. “Oooh, is that a banana in your pocket, you horny devil?”

He forced a smile. “No, my hammer.”

“Sounds good to me.”

A solid bump against his back made him turn to find Billy and Shaz grinning at him. Billy punched his shoulder. “Finally got you on the dance floor.”

“Yep, I’m a regular Gene Kelly.”

The gorgeous Asian guy danced by in the arms of an older dude with silver hair and probably a lot of silver in his bank account, from the looks of him. Jim forced his eyes not to follow, but the guy’s beautiful ass still moved through his field of vision. Peggy bobbed her head meaningfully. “Who’s your dance competition?”

Shaz glanced. “Oh, that’s Ken, a guest of one of my clients. He’s in medicine or something. Gorgeous, isn’t he?”

“He looks like a manga doll.”

Shaz grinned. “Yaoi.”

Jim sucked in breath and got a look from Shaz. “You’re familiar with yaoi?”

“Everyone knows what yaoi is.”

“Not in my experience.”

Jim shrugged. “I read about it somewhere.”

Billy put a hand on Jim’s shoulder. “We should touch base before Shaz and I go running out of here.”

Shaz took Peggy’s arm. “Come on. Let’s leave these two to talk. Want some champagne?”

“Always.”

Billy stared after Shaz and Peggy. “She seems like a nice girl.”

“Yeah.”

“I haven’t seen her before. You been dating long?”

“A couple of months.”

“Serious?” He looked at Jim sideways.

Jim shrugged. “You know me. Not such a serious guy.”

“You’re plenty serious. Just not about women.”

Jim’s head snapped up.

Billy raised a hand. “Sorry. That came out wrong. I mean, you have as much trouble settling down as I used to.”

Jim stared at his shoes. Billy had been engaged to three women before he met and married—the right guy. “I just like playing the field.”

“Yeah, I was always crap at that.” Billy curved his sweet smile. “Let’s go out in the hall so we don’t bother the party animals.”

Jim followed Billy through one of the side entrances of the ballroom into a relatively quiet hall and grabbed a seat on a bench beside Billy. Jim smiled. “I haven’t really gotten to say congratulations. You two are gonna be good together for life. It’s inspiring.”

“Thanks, man.” He ducked his head. “I can’t tell you how much your support means to me.”

“Being your supervisor is a real opportunity for me.”

Billy glanced sideways at him. “I actually meant the way you took the fact that I’m gay.”

Jim smiled at his friend. “I liked you before I knew. Why would I feel different after?”

“A lot of people do—feel different, I mean. You influenced all the other guys on the crew.” He smiled. “Only a few of them hate me.”

Jim shrugged. “There’s a dumbass in every stable.”

“Yeah.” Billy fished in his inside pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. “Here’s the address of the doctor you need to see for the physical. It’s in the same building we’re doing the renos on, so it’s convenient.”

He took the paper, glanced at it, and tucked it in his pocket. “Thanks. For the chance.”

Billy patted Jim’s arm. “I’d never leave the job in somebody else’s hands. You’re making this honeymoon possible, and I really appreciate it.”

Jim shook his head. That was a lie, but he liked that Billy said it.

“I e-mailed you all the contact information for the building owners. The woman is a real pro. She approved all the plans for the tenant improvements, so everything should be clear sailing. She’ll probably come in to check on progress, but that’s all. If you have any trouble, call or text me. I’ll be a long way away but only three hours earlier, so you should be able to get me.”

“I’ll try hard not to bother you. Hell, a guy only gets one honeymoon.”

Billy laughed. “Until the second one. You know Shaz. He’s already planning where we’ll go next. But the business is my top priority right after my husband, so if you have any questions or worries at all, be sure to let me know, okay? If this goes well, we could get a lot more work from this client, plus we’ll have a good reference for other TI jobs.”

Jim smiled. He liked that word
we
. “Since I don’t have a husband, it’s my top priority, boss.”

Billy laughed and stretched. “Back to the dancing.”

Jim stood beside Billy.
Sound casual.
“That was some pair performing on the dance floor.”

Billy chuckled. “Hell, yeah. Amazing dancers. And I don’t often see men prettier than Shaz, but Ken’s gorgeous, and don’t tell my husband I said so.”

Jim laughed, but his heart did that racing thing as they walked back into the heat, noise, and happiness of the ballroom.

Billy looked at him. “I guess it’s about time for me and Shaz to make our getaway.” He leaned over and gave Jim a kind of awkward hug. “Thanks again for taking on the job.”

“My pleasure.” He sure as hell hoped that was the truth.

Billy turned and walked toward the dancers, where Shaz was boogying with two or three partners, both male and female.
What a handful that guy must be.
Billy rushed forward like he was heading for the gates of paradise with a bevy of vestal virgins waiting inside. Or maybe that was just Jim’s imagination.

Jim crossed the room to his table, where Raoul and his wife, Mercedes, and Charlie and his current girl, Angela, sat talking. No Peggy. He surveyed the dance floor and sure enough, she’d hooked up with some guy and was dancing her feet off. The woman loved to dance, and he was crap at it. Couldn’t fault her. He should have learned, even if it was tough admitting his mother had been right about anything. Besides, the little guy with the big muscles she was dancing with was probably gay. Jim flopped into his chair.

Raoul sipped his beer. “Say good-bye to Billy, man?”

“Yeah.”

“So are you on the new job?” He grinned.

Jim smiled back. “Yeah, I’m the supervisor.”

Charlie leaned over. “See, I told you. Congrats, man.”

Jim ducked his head. “Thanks. I’ve got some extra guys for demo. We gotta keep the noise and dust down, since people will be working in the building. We’ll start at 6:30 to get a jump on the day. We may have to pull some night hours later in the job.”

Angela shook her head. “Enough business talk, you two. I see Charlie little enough as it is.”

Jim took a pull on his flat ginger ale. The musicians paused, chatted among themselves, and then started a really sappy love song. The lead singer said into the microphone, “This is Chase and Billy’s last dance before the honeymoon, ladies and gentlemen, so line up for a short spin with them.”

Angela stood. “Come on, Merce, let’s go show those boys how it’s done.”

The two women joined Peggy, who’d already hopped into the line. A few men also queued up.

Jim jiggled his ice. “I’m going to get some ginger ale. Want anything?”

Raoul raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment on the lack of alcohol. He nodded. “Yeah, bring me a beer.”

“Charlie?”

“Yeah, sure.”

The line for the bars had shortened as people gathered to dance with the grooms, so Jim made it to the bartender pretty quick. He popped a couple of bucks into the tip jar and carried one soda bottle and two beers toward the table. Somebody catcalled, and he glanced up in time to see Shaz spin and dip some blond guy. He laughed along with most of the spectators.

Jim took one more step. His foot caught on the edge of the wood dance floor, the slippery shoe slid, and—
whoa!
He stumbled forward, his arms flailing. Beer sloshed in a big gold arc.
Shit, the tux!
He raised the bottles high in front of him to keep the beer away, slid into a half circle, and timbered toward the floor face-first. “Damn!”

Strong hands grabbed him from behind and he twirled into a tight, warm embrace, his feet tangling but his body upright. “Got you.”

“What? Jesus!” He tried to twist his feet back and lurched again, but the hands held. Finally Jim planted himself steadily and looked up into eyes so shiny black they practically reflected his face. Wide and almond-shaped. Yaoi man.
Hellfire.
About 100 percent more beautiful up close than from a distance. Skin like beige marble, hair like midnight. Eyes straight from his fantasy.

The guy smiled. “How fortuitous. I was just coming to ask you to dance.”

“What?”

Dimples popped out in places where lean hollows had been. “I’d love to dance with you.” Shit if he didn’t just start dancing, holding Jim’s hands, which in turn held the bottles. Dance or fall? That was his position, so he moved his feet.
Jesus.
He couldn’t resist without spilling the beer down the guy’s expensively dressed back, but every movement rubbed him in places that really needed rubbing and were getting a very embarrassing reaction.

Wake up.
“Uh, sorry. I’m, uh, I mean, I don’t normally dance with guys.”

Gorgeous smiled again, and it made Jim want to smile back. “You’re doing fine.”

Sweet Jesus, the guy smelled like something spicy. Grapefruit and cinnamon. Real subtle but sneaky. It kind of tiptoed in Jim’s nose and attacked—lower. “What?”

“The dancing. You’re doing fine.” He spun, holding Jim in his arms gracefully, and for a weird second Jim felt almost graceful too. That didn’t happen often. Between the smell and feel, Jim’s head spun and his heart hammered. His eyes closed on their own. He was floating like some gently moving leaf. Could move this way forever.

The silky voice whispered, “Want to deliver the beer to your friends and be hands free?”

Friends.
He dragged his eyes from the man and looked toward the table. Charlie and Raoul stared, full-on, no smiles, amazement written all over their faces. Behind them in line, the women stared too, but they were laughing. Except for Peggy. She looked half pissed. Hell, it was okay for her to dance with gay guys, but not him?
What the hell am I thinking?
He stopped moving and tried to take a step back out of this person’s arms. Every inch away felt cold.

Mr. Beautiful cocked his head and dimpled again. “Oh dear, he’s come to his senses. Why do all the gorgeous ones have to be straight?”

Gorgeous?
“Man, you’ve got some seriously bad taste.”

His face sobered just a little. “Quite the contrary. I’m known for my exceptional discernment.”

What the hell could he say to that? “Thanks for catching me.”

“Any time, dear. Any time.” Yaoi man turned and walked like some jungle cat back onto the dance floor, grabbing a handsome guy from the line as he went. By the time Jim’s heart started beating again, the guy was dancing and laughing with someone else.

Charlie and Raoul both rushed up. Charlie waved a hand toward the beautiful one. “What was that all about?”

Jim frowned. “The guy caught me when I nearly fell flat on my face.” He shoved the beer bottles at Charlie. “Here, take these.”

Raoul grabbed one of the beers. “Looked more like a tango to me, man.”

“Cut me a break. The guy was just joking around.”

Peggy’s voice came from behind him. “Oh, I don’t know. That dude is prettier than me.”

Jim turned and slipped his arm around her.
Don’t force me to agree.

Charlie stared out at the dance floor, where pretty-face rested his head against a handsome blond’s shoulder. “Looks like you don’t have to worry, Peg. That dude’s got a guy for every night.”

True, and Jim fucking wished he didn’t feel jealous.

T
HE
PRETTY
blond guy—
what was his name again?
—nuzzled Ken’s neck. “Aw, come on, baby. I live close by. We can have a quick drink, a good time, and you’ll go home tomorrow with a smile on your face.” He kept nibbling as he pulled on Ken’s arm to get him away from his car and across the parking lot.

Ken pressed his fingertips against the man’s forehead and pushed.
Nibbling? Seriously?
“Sorry, dear, but I have to be at work early tomorrow.”

“That’s okay. I’ll nudge you.”

“No. You’ll hop in your lovely car and take your cute butt home while I do the same.”

The guy’s hand wound its way down Ken’s back and grabbed a handful of ass. “And it’s such a gorgeous butt. I want some. Please.”

“Ken. Hey, where are you going?” The voice rang out across the parking lot, and three couples waiting on the valet looked up with interest.

Well, hell.
Gene stood on the porch of the club, waving.

Blondie looked over. “Who’s that?”

Ken sighed loudly. “The man who brought me.”

“But you have your car.”

“Yes, I drove. I arranged for a friend to take Gene home. So be a dear and run off before he thinks I’m ditching him for you.”

“But you want to, don’t you?”

Enough of this shit.
“As I said, I have to work.” He pulled his arm away.