Jack almost choked on his beer, and Lorenzo raised an eyebrow. “Why?”
“Because…” Joey grinned at his friends’ shocked expressions. “As my dear buddy Chris loved to point out, I was a bit of a slut for a few years. Only, I wasn’t—well, not really.
I just couldn’t find the right guy.” He paused with a rueful sigh. “Even though I must have interviewed more than a hundred of them over the years.”
“
Interviewed
.” Jack laughed out loud. “
That’s
a new word for it.”
“Well, you know what I mean.” Joey sighed again, this time with a touch of the dramatic. “I’ve always been a sucker for a beautiful face and bod.”
“And how.” Jack gave him a mischievous leer. “Sucker is right.”
“Hey, I didn’t sign up for this abuse.” Joey attempted to look hurt. “Anyway, I thought I’d cool it for a while. I figured that if I stop looking, maybe Mr Right will drop out of the sky when I least expect it.” He grinned. “Yeah, I know, and pigs might fly.”
“West Hollywood is full of great looking guys,” Lorenzo remarked, his eyes straying across the bar.
“Yeah…” Joey snorted. “Guys with that ‘Sorry, you’re not hot enough for me’
attitude.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem for you,” Jack said, grinning. “You’re as cute as can be.
All those curls and flirty blue eyes.”
Joey hooted. “That made me sound very girly, Jack.”
“Well…?”
“Oh, come on.” Joey made a pretence of being offended. “I work out nearly every day.
Look at this.” He flexed his biceps. “What girl do you know that has this kind of muscle?”
“Have you seen Cindy recently?”
After more laughter Lorenzo leant closer to Joey. “Don’t look now, but I think your muscle flexing has really impressed the blond Adonis sitting in that booth over there. I’ve noticed he hasn’t taken his eyes off you since you sat down.”
“Where?” Joey turned in his seat to take a look at the ‘Adonis’.
“I said,
don’t look now
,” Lorenzo whined. “Oh jeez, too late. Now he knows I was talking about him.”
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Joey looked across the bar at the man Lorenzo had pointed out.
Oh, very nice
.
Better than nice—beautiful
.
A classically handsome face was topped by a mane of golden hair—
blond
didn’t really do it justice—pulled back into a long ponytail. Even though the man was seated, Joey could tell he was tall, his long, lean, jean-clad legs stretched out in front of him under the table. His shirt was unbuttoned enough to reveal a smooth sculpted chest, with just a trace more of that golden hair.
“Wow,” Joey breathed, wondering what colour the man’s eyes were. He couldn’t quite make them out at this distance. Anyway, what did it matter? He wasn’t interested in diving into the dating pool again.
Still, the guy is gorgeous
.
Feigning disinterest, he started to turn away when somewhere in his mind he heard the words whispered, “
Come to me
…”
Joey got to his feet.
“Where are you going?” Jack hissed.
“To talk to him.”
Jack leant back against the back of the booth, and rolled his eyes as Joey left their table.
“And he wasn’t into having another boyfriend. Going for celibate, he said.”
Lorenzo shook his head. “I would have given that decision at least a couple of days. He just broke his own record.”
The man smiled as Joey approached his table, indicating Joey should sit by his side. As Joey slid into the booth, the man moved towards him. Their thighs touched, and an electric tingle surged through Joey’s body giving him an instant hard-on. The man’s cool hand on his made Joey shiver with delight, and a certain apprehension.
“H-hi, I’m J-Joey,” he managed to stutter, hating himself for sounding like an immature adolescent.
“I’m very pleased to meet you.” The man’s full lips parted in another smile. “My name is Jared. Jared Lantos.”
“Oh, oh yeah. Joey Ryan.” Joey gazed into the man’s eyes. They were the darkest blue he’d ever seen, and strangely, for no reason he could quite fathom, they reminded him of Carlos’ eyes. Why? They were an entirely different colour, yet they held that same BLOOD LURE
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mysterious glow. Joey found he couldn’t tear his gaze from Jared’s. Didn’t
want
to was more like it.
He felt as though he could look at this man for hours and never tire of studying the pale, smooth planes of his face, the lush lips, and those dark enticing eyes. Joey had a sudden vision of himself wrapped in Jared’s arms, their lips locked in a kiss that filled Joey with such need he had to fight to silence the whimper that rose in his throat.
Wait, where had that ‘staying celibate’ resolution gone?
Now it seemed totally laughable…
“So, Jared…” Joey cleared his throat and shifted slightly on the leather seat, his hand giving what he hoped was a surreptitious tug at his crotch to relieve his painfully hard cock.
“I haven’t seen you in here before.”
The corner of Jared’s mouth lifted with amusement. “That’s because this is my first time here. I actually live in New York.”
“You don’t sound like a New Yorker.”
“Originally I am from Hungary.”
“Ah, that explains the, uh, accent.” Joey had been going to say ‘
sexy
accent’ but thought better of it at the last moment. “Are you on vacation?”
Jared nodded. “A working vacation and visiting friends. They are meeting me here. In fact,” he added, glancing at his watch, “they are a little late.”
“Oh, well…” Joey did his best to hide his disappointment. “I don’t want to interrupt anything.”
“You are not interrupting anything.”
Jared’s smile, along with that husky, sexy voice, only served to make Joey’s cock harder. “You are keeping me company until they arrive, when I will be only too happy to introduce you to them.”
He glanced over to where Jack and Lorenzo sat, trying unsuccessfully to appear disinterested.
“Perhaps your friends would like to join us?”
Not wanting to make a show of the fact he was sporting a raging hard-on, Joey didn’t stand up, just waved his friends over. “Hey, guys, come and meet Jared.”
Jack and Lorenzo ambled over, introductions were made, but Jack declined Jared’s invitation to sit. “Lorenzo has an early morning meeting,” he explained. “So we’ll head home. But it was nice meeting you, Jared.”
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Joey groaned inwardly as Jack winked at him.
Could he possibly be more obvious
?
Jared stood to shake their hands and Joey couldn’t resist a peek at the tall man’s crotch.
Oh yeah, just like the rest of him—a perfectly beautiful bulge
.
Jared chuckled as he sat down again. “Your friends were anxious to leave us alone.”
“They must have been getting my telepathic messages,” Joey said, grinning. “Go home, go
home
.”
“And it worked.” Jared moved closer, his gaze searching Joey’s face as if he were about to ask him something, then he suddenly turned away to look at the two tall men approaching their table.
Holy crap
, Joey thought,
did
someone sprinkle this place with even more beauty dust tonight
?
These guys are amazing!
Both men were dressed casually in jeans and polo shirts, yet there was an unmistakable air of elegance about them that immediately set them apart from the other men in the bar.
Except, perhaps, Jared, who wore his navy denim shirt and jeans with a graceful flair. Joey wished he’d dressed a little more carefully, but going to the movies on his own had only called for cargo shorts and a T-shirt.
“Jared,” one of the men said, his slightly accented voice deep and melodious, “so sorry we are late.” Green eyes flicked towards Joey. “But I see you’re being entertained without us.”
“Joey, these are my good friends, Marcus Verano and Joseph Meyer.” Jared stood again to give the men welcoming hugs. He turned to smile at Joey. “Marcus and Joseph, meet my new friend, Joey Ryan.”
The men each murmured a greeting and took Joey’s hand in firm grips, but he could sense a certain tension from them.
They’re probably wondering what Jared’s doing with someone as ordinary as me.
Joey figured he could pass for how Jack had described him, ‘cute’—and he’d had some of his past conquests even refer to him as ‘hot’—but there was no way he could compete with these guys. They, and Jared, were most definitely in a league of their own.
Marcus was endowed with that rare quality, a masculine beauty unflawed by any trace of weakness in his mouth or eyes—magnificent eyes, green as shining emeralds. The other, BLOOD LURE
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Joseph, had a quiet intensity about him that had Joey thinking perhaps behind those amazing silver grey eyes there lurked a wariness of strangers.
Now where on earth had that thought come from?
he wondered.
What is it about these men
that makes me sense I’m somehow a part of them? Is it simply their friendly attitude that makes me feel
so relaxed in their company—or is it something more?
He had to make a conscious effort to pay attention to what Jared was saying.
“Are Roger and Micah not joining us?”
Marcus’ lips twisted in a wry smile. “They wanted to see the new
vampire
movie that opened tonight.”
“Oh, was it
The Darkness
?” Joey asked, paying attention again. “I just saw that one.”
“That sounds right.” Joseph smiled at Joey. “I’m afraid their fondness for horror movies leaves Marcus and I cold.”
Joey chuckled. “It’s not very good. In fact, it’s probably the worst vampire movie I’ve ever seen.”
“You’ve seen many?”
“Just about every one ever made. I love vampires. Don’t you? My friend Chris and I…”
He paused, aware of the amused expressions on the men’s faces. “Sorry, I can tell you’re not into it.”
“No, no, go ahead.” Jared touched Joey’s hand lightly. “You were saying that you and your friend Chris…”
“Oh…yeah.” Joey tried to ignore the effect Jared’s touch had on him. His erection was positively aching. “Uh, he and I would take in every horror movie we could, but our favourites are vampire movies. Vampires are sexy, you know? Better than werewolves with that wet dog smell, or zombies with all that pus and drool.”
All three men laughed, then Jared asked, “And where is your friend, Chris, tonight?”
“Oh, he’s overseas right now with his boyfriend, Carlos, so I had to see this one on my own. Too bad, ‘cause he would’ve hooted as much as I did.”
Jared smiled, but Marcus stared at Joey intently. “Your friend Christopher—would that be Christopher Jeffries?”
“Why, yeah. You know him?”
“And his, uh,
boyfriend
is Carlos Galeano?”
“That’s right.”
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“What a coincidence.” Joseph glanced at the other men. “Carlos is an old friend of ours.”
“Wow, it is a small world, isn’t it?” Joey relaxed even more. “I’ve only met Carlos a couple of times, but he seems very nice, and loves my buddy a lot.”
Marcus nodded. “Yes, he does. They went through much hardship to be together.”
“There was what I thought of as a definite case of denial there for a time,” Joey said, agreeing. “At one point he wouldn’t acknowledge that he even knew Carlos. Kept telling me I was imagining it all.” He looked at the empty places on the table in front of Marcus and Joseph. “Hey, can I buy you guys a drink? And, Jared, looks like you’re almost finished with your wine.”
“That’s very sweet of you, Joey.” Marcus pushed his chair back and stood up. “But let us treat you. A martini is it?”
“Please, vodka.”
“Shaken, not stirred?” Joseph teased.
Joey grinned at him. “Any way it comes, with an olive.”
Marcus and Joseph walked over to the bar to order the drinks, while Jared moved closer to Joey again. “It seems we won’t have much time alone together tonight,” he murmured, his lips close to the shell of Joey’s ear, causing Joey’s cock to react shamefully by threatening to burst through the denim of his jeans. “I wondered if perhaps you would care to join me tomorrow night. I have two tickets for The Music of the Night concert at the Hollywood Bowl.”
Joey beamed at him. “That sounds great. I’d like that very much.” So much for his ‘no dating’ resolution, but he’d actually wanted to see that concert, and hadn’t been able to get tickets.
Besides
,
who in their right minds would turn this guy down?
“It’s a date then.” Jared was smiling that sultry smile at him, and once again Joey felt himself enthralled by simply gazing into Jared’s dark blue eyes. He couldn’t remember another guy having this almost instantaneous effect on his libido.
On a sudden impulse—or was it that he was being drawn in towards Jared?—he leant forward and kissed Jared on the mouth. The contact was like nothing he’d ever experienced before. As Jared’s soft, full lips met his, Joey felt as though he’d been zapped with a thousand volts of energy.
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His eyes flew open and he clutched at Jared’s shoulders for support. Jared drew him into an embrace that brought Joey to the brink of orgasm. The feel of the man’s hard, muscular body, his spicy scent, had Joey writhing against Jared, caught up in a welter of sexual ecstasy.
He almost didn’t hear the clearing of throats behind him, then the soft chuckles that followed.
“Sorry, we’re interrupting.” Marcus set the drinks on the table.
“No… Oh, gosh, sorry.” Joey felt flustered and embarrassed by his sudden move on Jared. What had he been saying earlier to Jack and Lorenzo about not really being a slut? Just as well Chris wasn’t here. He’d be rolling his eyes as if to say, ‘Haven’t changed, have you?’
Jared didn’t look at all embarrassed. He simply gave Joey another of his killer smiles, and ran his fingertips through Joey’s curly hair. “Joey has accepted my invitation to a concert tomorrow night,” he told Marcus.