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.Sky coughed after the first mouthful.“Whew.That packs a punch.Are you trying to get me drunk so you can take advantage of me?”Emmett froze in panic.Was he attracted to Sky? Well, yeah, he wasn’t that much of a monk that he couldn’t recognize his interest.But how could he want a guy whose standards were low enough to go home with Terry?“Okay, wow,” Sky said, taking in Emmett’s alarmed expression.“I can see we’re going to have to start at the beginning.That was called flirting.”Emmett scowled.“I know what flirting is.I’m just out of practice.”Sky hooked his arm around Emmett’s neck and steered him into the living room.“Come and sit down, Emmett.Your virtue is safe with me.”With drinks in hand, they sat in front of the fire while dinner cooked and Nat King Cole tried to coax them into holiday cheer.The condo filled with the delectable aroma of roasting turkey, and Emmett’s stomach rumbled eagerly, reminding him that he hadn’t eaten since yesterday.A pleasant buzz from the eggnog began to fill his head, and he was suddenly very glad he had company.“You know,” Emmett started casually, “if you wanted to stick around for a while, that would be okay.” Sky’s ear-to-ear grin transformed his face.“Oh, I didn’t mean….I’m not trying to get you into bed, I swear.It’s just… you seem like a cool guy, and maybe we could hang out while I’m here.” Stop talking, Emmett, he ordered himself.You sound like a nervous teenager.“I’d love to, Emmett, I really would.” The smile faded, and Emmett felt his own hopes sink.“But my ticket is nonrefundable.I promised Lindsay I’d be home for Christmas dinner, and I hate to break promises.” He appeared genuinely conflicted.“Lindsay?”“My ex.Lindsay’s taking care of Molly while I’m gone, and I don’t want to impose longer than I have to.”“I get it.You’re still friends.That’s good.” Emmett ignored the way his stomach curdled in jealousy.“Yeah, our split was a mutual thing.No hard feelings.” Emmett nodded, feeling stupid for even suggesting Sky should stay.Of course he had a life to get back to.“Hey.” Sky’s knee tapped his, drawing back Emmett’s attention.“I would if I could.”“No big deal.” Emmett chugged back his glass of eggnog.“Refill?”“Still working on mine,” Sky said, holding up his still-full glass.Emmett hopped up and made himself another drink, ignoring Sky’s look of concern.When he returned he felt more relaxed.He tried to sip more slowly this time, so he wouldn’t appear like such a lush.Beside him on the sofa, Sky seemed unusually tense and quiet, and when he checked, the other man was staring forlornly down at his glass.“Hey, I’m sorry about the way Terry treated you,” Emmett said.“He doesn’t really think about other people sometimes.”Sky waved off his apology.“Don’t be.It happens more often than you think.”“Really?”“Yeah, folks change their mind all the time.I don’t take it personally.”Emmett’s eyes widened at Sky’s cavalier attitude.Maybe he was an old man after all.He still equated sex with love, or at least some sort of affection.“Well, that’s still no excuse.You shouldn’t let people take advantage of you like that.You deserve better.”“Maybe we both deserve better,” Sky said, his voice thick with something Emmett couldn’t quite identify.DINNER WAS remarkably pleasant given their limited means.It wasn’t the organic heritage turkey Emmett was used to, but in fact, he was well into his second slice of store-bought pie before he realized he hadn’t missed Chicago or his old life once in the past few hours.Of course, that could be due to the increasingly bourbon-heavy eggnog, but Emmett thought the company was at least partly responsible.Sky was a talker, full of quirky stories of small-town Iowa that should have been deadly dull but made Emmett laugh.The younger man’s cheeks were flushed, and Emmett thought he might be a little tipsy from the spiked ’nog, but that only made him more endearing.There was a certain appeal to Sky’s unsophisticated conversation, and as they lingered over dessert, Emmett found himself drawing it out and wishing the night would never end.Maybe it was the newness of it all—the fact that he hadn’t heard Sky’s stories a million times before—or maybe it was the man himself, so animated and guileless that you couldn’t help but like him.He was that rarest of creatures—an honest-to-goodness nice guy.The more time Emmett spent with him, the more he wondered why Sky had ever hooked up with Terry [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.Sky coughed after the first mouthful.“Whew.That packs a punch.Are you trying to get me drunk so you can take advantage of me?”Emmett froze in panic.Was he attracted to Sky? Well, yeah, he wasn’t that much of a monk that he couldn’t recognize his interest.But how could he want a guy whose standards were low enough to go home with Terry?“Okay, wow,” Sky said, taking in Emmett’s alarmed expression.“I can see we’re going to have to start at the beginning.That was called flirting.”Emmett scowled.“I know what flirting is.I’m just out of practice.”Sky hooked his arm around Emmett’s neck and steered him into the living room.“Come and sit down, Emmett.Your virtue is safe with me.”With drinks in hand, they sat in front of the fire while dinner cooked and Nat King Cole tried to coax them into holiday cheer.The condo filled with the delectable aroma of roasting turkey, and Emmett’s stomach rumbled eagerly, reminding him that he hadn’t eaten since yesterday.A pleasant buzz from the eggnog began to fill his head, and he was suddenly very glad he had company.“You know,” Emmett started casually, “if you wanted to stick around for a while, that would be okay.” Sky’s ear-to-ear grin transformed his face.“Oh, I didn’t mean….I’m not trying to get you into bed, I swear.It’s just… you seem like a cool guy, and maybe we could hang out while I’m here.” Stop talking, Emmett, he ordered himself.You sound like a nervous teenager.“I’d love to, Emmett, I really would.” The smile faded, and Emmett felt his own hopes sink.“But my ticket is nonrefundable.I promised Lindsay I’d be home for Christmas dinner, and I hate to break promises.” He appeared genuinely conflicted.“Lindsay?”“My ex.Lindsay’s taking care of Molly while I’m gone, and I don’t want to impose longer than I have to.”“I get it.You’re still friends.That’s good.” Emmett ignored the way his stomach curdled in jealousy.“Yeah, our split was a mutual thing.No hard feelings.” Emmett nodded, feeling stupid for even suggesting Sky should stay.Of course he had a life to get back to.“Hey.” Sky’s knee tapped his, drawing back Emmett’s attention.“I would if I could.”“No big deal.” Emmett chugged back his glass of eggnog.“Refill?”“Still working on mine,” Sky said, holding up his still-full glass.Emmett hopped up and made himself another drink, ignoring Sky’s look of concern.When he returned he felt more relaxed.He tried to sip more slowly this time, so he wouldn’t appear like such a lush.Beside him on the sofa, Sky seemed unusually tense and quiet, and when he checked, the other man was staring forlornly down at his glass.“Hey, I’m sorry about the way Terry treated you,” Emmett said.“He doesn’t really think about other people sometimes.”Sky waved off his apology.“Don’t be.It happens more often than you think.”“Really?”“Yeah, folks change their mind all the time.I don’t take it personally.”Emmett’s eyes widened at Sky’s cavalier attitude.Maybe he was an old man after all.He still equated sex with love, or at least some sort of affection.“Well, that’s still no excuse.You shouldn’t let people take advantage of you like that.You deserve better.”“Maybe we both deserve better,” Sky said, his voice thick with something Emmett couldn’t quite identify.DINNER WAS remarkably pleasant given their limited means.It wasn’t the organic heritage turkey Emmett was used to, but in fact, he was well into his second slice of store-bought pie before he realized he hadn’t missed Chicago or his old life once in the past few hours.Of course, that could be due to the increasingly bourbon-heavy eggnog, but Emmett thought the company was at least partly responsible.Sky was a talker, full of quirky stories of small-town Iowa that should have been deadly dull but made Emmett laugh.The younger man’s cheeks were flushed, and Emmett thought he might be a little tipsy from the spiked ’nog, but that only made him more endearing.There was a certain appeal to Sky’s unsophisticated conversation, and as they lingered over dessert, Emmett found himself drawing it out and wishing the night would never end.Maybe it was the newness of it all—the fact that he hadn’t heard Sky’s stories a million times before—or maybe it was the man himself, so animated and guileless that you couldn’t help but like him.He was that rarest of creatures—an honest-to-goodness nice guy.The more time Emmett spent with him, the more he wondered why Sky had ever hooked up with Terry [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]