On a Roll by Beth Bolden (best historical biographies TXT) 📕

Maybe . . . what if this guy was a homophobe? Surely, he’d figured out that everyone here was queer in some way, shape, or form, but maybe he hadn’t? Maybe he was just discovering this now.

Sean tensed, but all Lennox said next was, “Tony asked me to check the lighting, to make sure things were bright enough. I guess we’ve found a spot where the lighting could be improved.”

“Tony asked you to do that tonight?” Gabe sounded surprised, and Sean was too. It was a party; didn’t Lennox know how to party? But then, considering the tense way he was always holding himself, maybe he didn’t. Maybe he’d never had a chance.

Well, if he kept hanging around here, he’d have to figure it out.

“No,” Lennox said. “But he mentioned it the other day, and I was here and . . .”

“I’m pretty sure Tony didn’t mean tonight,” Gabe said, reaching out and patting him awkwardly on the shoulder. “Come on, let’s go back to the party.”

“I don’t know. I’m here now,” Lennox said, and Sean looked closer and realized that he wasn’t just tense—he was awkward. He really didn’t know what to do with them, living in all their queer messiness.

“Seriously,” Sean said. “This is a party. Not a security check.” He reached out and didn’t miss how Lennox’s face flinched at the casual contact when Sean wrapped a loose hand around his forearm. “And if you want to take that hot jacket off, we can always stow it in my truck,” he added.

“No, thanks,” Lennox said. “I’m good.”

“Alright, well, it’s your loss, ’cause there’s gonna be dancing later, and you’re gonna be boiling in all that leather,” Sean said, and Gabriel nodded with him.

“I’ll be fine,” Lennox said.

Sean wasn’t sure that was true, but he wasn’t going to argue with such a statue anymore. Did the man ever give anything away? He hadn’t seen more than a hint of any kind of personality. Maybe Ash got off on all that mystery, but Sean preferred something a lot more obvious.

Like how shamelessly Gabriel had been humping his leg only a few minutes earlier. Internally, he sighed reluctantly. He guessed they wouldn’t be leaving the party early, after all. He’d just have to figure out how to cool down, and learn to wait.

Chapter Six

Gabriel knew that Sean thought he’d been being very sly, with the whole let’s go grab something in my truck charade, but he’d seen through it in a hot second.

But what was he going to do? Reject Sean’s attempts to seduce him? When they felt so sweet and Gabriel knew how good they could be together? He might be an asshole, but he wasn’t a stupid asshole.

“Hey, sorry we got . . . interrupted.” Sean glanced up at him, all coy eyes, tongue flicking out to lick his lips, and Gabe thought if he wanted to drag him back behind the truck again, he’d be down for that.

But they’d just left, pulling Lennox along with them, and there was something so odd about that guy, how mixed up he was, so awkward and cold and yet the way he kept staring at the crowd around the fire pit? There was a yearning there, a wanting to belong. Maybe even a belief he couldn’t ever.

And Gabriel might be an asshole, but this guy had bought a lot of meatball sandwiches off him in the last few months, and he also hated to see anyone who wanted something he couldn’t have.

It cut a little too close to home, because even though he was definitely, undeniably, getting Sean naked tonight, he still wasn’t getting what he really wanted, was he?

“It’s alright,” Gabriel said. “Will you have any unexpected visitors at your place?”

Sean’s forehead crinkled adorably, and he shot him the look that had made him want to kiss him, basically from the first time he’d ever directed it in Gabriel’s direction. The one that screamed, in neon flashing letters, what the fuck are you even talking about, buddy?

Maybe it shouldn’t have been so freaking cute, but it was. Every single damn time since the first time. That alone should have clued Gabriel in to his single-minded obsession with Sean, but he’d been in denial. How could two people who argued so much actually want each other enough to nearly rip their clothes off? It was a mystery, but it was one that Gabriel was one hundred and ten percent into exploring.

“No, nobody at my place. Just us,” Sean said.

“Then we won’t be interrupted later. That’s all I care about,” Gabriel said. “Because once I get you naked, there’s no going back.”

“I already knew that,” Sean said with a sniff, but Gabe could feel him trembling under his shirt. And Gabriel? He was trembling at the exact same frequency.

“Just making sure we’re on the same page,” Gabriel said as he steered them over to the bar where Jackson and Alexis had abandoned the bottles for cuddling on the same bench.

“You want a beer?” Sean said, turning to Lennox, who was trailing a few feet behind them. “I think there’s some other booze here, too, if you want something else.”

“I’m good with beer,” Lennox said stiffly.

“Three beers coming up,” Gabe said, pulling open the cooler, which still smelled vaguely like fish. Considering all the fresh catch that Wyatt and Tony stored in it, the fish smell would probably end up lingering forever.

“So, what do you do for work?” Sean said, turning towards Lennox. He’d obviously decided to adopt the guy, his feelings clearly similar to Gabe’s, and he’d have to be a lot colder to not find it sweet. Sean could be a super thoughtful, caring guy, and that was a part of his personality that Gabe had hoped he could explore more fully when they finally started hooking up.

But considering that Sean had claimed that it could only be sex and nothing else, Gabriel wasn’t sure that was going to happen