The Losing Game (30 page)
Dante couldn’t even tell Lucas he was sorry for trying to stop him from seeing Shaw. He’d only wanted to protect him and his feelings.
Lucas pulled a sad face. “Party pooper. I know something that will cheer you up.”
“Oh?”
“I have access to Fred Bradley-Jefferson’s personnel files. I can find out where he lives. And I can find out when he’s away on business, or on holiday.”
“You’re not suggesting…?”
Lucas laughed. Dante’s attempt to appear mortified had failed.
“Why not? He got a six-figure bonus last year at the same time as he laid off half his team and made the ones who were left pick up the slack. The chiefs love all that. They’re a bunch of arseholes, the lot of them.” Lucas’s grin was sly. “You could be like Robin Hood. Steal from the rich and, somehow, give it back to the poor.”
“I’m not a thief. And even if I were able to get the job done, I don’t have a fence. I don’t have any contacts in that business anymore.”
Lucas pushed off Dante’s lap and paced in front of the window. Hand on hip, lips pursed, he nodded seriously. “That’s a problem. It’s also a technicality. In
theory
, you could plan the theft. It’s not like you’ve ever really given it up.”
“What do you mean? Of course I have.”
“Think about it. Lois told me about the practical jokes, the bets. Then there was everything that happened with me. What you did, following me, and telling me to call the ambulance, got me out of a whole pile of shit. You did that. You’re like a… a mastermind. No, a crimesmith.”
“A crimesmith?”
“Yes. Like a pickpocket is a fingersmith. You know how to plan, but you also know how to react. You know how to craft a crime, Dante, and how to get away with it. How brilliant is that?”
“I don’t know about brilliant. It’s certainly one way of looking at things.”
An interesting and dangerously appealing way of looking at things.
“But you wouldn’t want me to get back into that game, surely?”
“No. It was just a thought.”
Dante didn’t believe Lucas. He saw the spark. He recognized it.
Lucas returned to Dante’s lap. From that position he could ask for anything he wanted, and Dante would oblige. Dante hoped Lucas hadn’t worked that out yet. He was running out of defenses.
“All right. Robbing Fred is ridiculous. But how about this? I’ve always wanted to see Asia. Just for a holiday. Have you been before?”
“No.” Dante had barely traveled anywhere. He hadn’t cared to for most of his life.
“You could come with me. I mean, I’d like it if you would come with me.”
“To Asia?”
“Yes. Thailand, Malaysia, Japan. All over.”
“When?”
“February or March. I’d have to ask for leave from work, or maybe I’ll quit and look for something else when we get back. I’d like to go for a month, maybe two. I know that seems like a long trip and we don’t know each other that well yet, but we don’t have to do everything together.”
Doing everything with Lucas wasn’t the part that concerned Dante. He’d never been away from home, or from Lois and Kit, for more than a week. He’d never been so far away from everything familiar. And yet, Dante warmed to the idea more with each passing second. It would be good to have time to think. To reassess. To put his mind to challenges that didn’t involve how to sell off last year’s crotchless panties.
February. Before then, there would be so many things to do. To organize. To plan. Dante wouldn’t have a minute to lose. His mind raced, recalling the books he’d read—books he stocked in Le Plaisir—documenting the sexual and cultural traditions in those far-off countries. Such as Japan, the home of kinbaku. Then there was the food and the weather. Neither he nor Lucas liked the cold.
“A trip to Asia, with you. That would be some adventure.” Dante’s pulse sped. A real adventure. “If we’re going all that way, we should go for two months.”
“You’d come with me? You’d leave the shop?”
Dante shrugged. “I have excellent staff.”
“I never thought you’d go for it.” With his one good arm, Lucas crushed Dante with his hug. “I don’t care what the requisite time is before it’s okay for me to say this, but I love you, Dante.”
With his mouth, Dante found Lucas’s jaw, then his lips. He held the back of Lucas’s head in place and kissed him with everything he felt, with everything he couldn’t yet say, with the promise that he would try harder to be the man Lucas deserved.
He said, “I don’t have a passport. Can you believe that?”
“No way.” Lucas’s mouth was kissed raw, his hair a mess, and his face alight with amusement. “I thought you were a man of the world.”
“My world has been small. Too small. It’s time to expand my horizons.”
Lucas splayed his palm over Dante’s heart and rested his head against Dante’s temple, sighing contentedly. “Me too.”
And perhaps, while Dante sat on a long-haul flight, or on a long-distance train, he might contemplate the possibility of sketching out plans for burgling Frederick Bradley-Jefferson. He could gift them to Lucas, for Valentine’s Day, or for his birthday in March.
Where would be the harm in that?
Amateur photographer Josh Thornton is out but not so proud. He’s estranged from his family, his boyfriend dumped him, and his job at an estate agency is in jeopardy—especially after he crashes his boss’s car in the middle of nowhere on his way to Hartley Manor.
Callum Black works at the English country estate and lives there in an isolated cottage. Left mute by a childhood accident, he’s more comfortable in the company of animals than people. But when Josh—literally—crashes into his life with his camera and his friendship, Callum realizes his peaceful solitude has been more than a little lonely.
Josh’s affection for Callum deepens even as he’s consumed by doubts over Callum’s sexuality and whether Callum could ever love him. And Callum is haunted by the secret that stole his voice—a secret that keeps him tethered to Hartley Manor. When the past comes hurtling painfully back into the present, Josh and Callum have to overcome their fears and breathe life back into their dormant hearts in order to have a chance at their own picture-perfect future.
“This was a wonderful story. I was sucked in from the very beginning, and I couldn’t put it down until I read the very last sentence.”
—Joyfully Jay
“
Dormant Heart
was a sweet and captivating love story with incredibly written characters and simply beautiful words. I
loved
this story so very, very much.”
—Prism Book Alliance
“This was such a sweet story. It was about growing up, accepting yourself, accepting your surroundings, love and accepting what you cannot change.”
—Inked Rainbow Reads
“What a beautiful story…
Dormant Heart
is a novel that unfolds with the pace and depth of a walk in the woods. It’s one in which each move forward should be treasured.”
—Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words
“Lane Swift has a gift with words and an ability to evoke emotion that is remarkable. There were so many passages in this somewhat simple romance that read like poetry.”
—Open Skye Book Reviews
LANE SWIFT
is a fiction writer, mainly of contemporary romance, sometimes featuring a mild dash of paranormal. She lives by the sea in Hampshire, England, between the sea and the South Downs, with her husband, two children, and two guinea pigs. She can often be found running the roads and trails in her local area, or at her beach hut, imbibing coffee and dreaming up happy-ever-afters for her heroes and heroines.
Over the years, she’s worked as a waitress, a lab technician, a science teacher, and a telecommunications consultant. She’s also played rugby, climbed one mountain, and run one marathon (soon to be two), but has never managed to learn how to whistle.
Twitter: @LaneSwift
Facebook: www.facebook.com/lane.swift.9
Dormant Heart
The Losing Game
Random Acts of Kindness (Dreamspinner Anthology)
Published by
DREAMSPINNER PRESS
www.dreamspinnerpress.com
Published by
DREAMSPINNER PRESS
5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886 USA
www.dreamspinnerpress.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of author imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
The Losing Game
© 2016 Lane Swift.
Cover Art
© 2016 Anna Sikorska.
Cover content is for illustrative purposes only and any person depicted on the cover is a model.
All rights reserved. This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of international copyright law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines, and/or imprisonment. Any eBook format cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact Dreamspinner Press, 5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886, USA, or www.dreamspinnerpress.com.
ISBN: 978-1-63477-598-4
Digital ISBN: 978-1-63477-599-1
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016907097
Published August 2016
v. 1.0
Printed in the United States of America