Page 30 of The Prodigal Son

“So your work doesn’t mind you taking so much time off?” he asks.

As he leans against the counter next to the fridge, I step closer so there is only a couple of feet between us.

“I’m sort of the boss,” I reply.

“Oh, nice,” he says. Then there’s silence between us again.

I can’t take my eyes off him. He has such a glow to him, like the sun itself is in the room I’m standing in. And just like the sun, his gravitational pull draws me closer.

But I don’t move. I won’t risk it. Instead, I stare at his blue eyes, his full lips, and the scruff of hair on his face.

“So…forgive me for asking this,” he says, grinning with the bottle near his lips. “But how old are you?”

“Forty,” I reply with a wince. I’ve never looked it up. But I’m willing to bet that Theo is still in his twenties, which means I might be too old for him, as a friend, even.

Instead of grimacing at my answer, he nods. “I’m twenty-eight.”

“And you still want to hang out with an old guy like me?”

He rolls his eyes with a smirk. “You are not an old guy.”

“I feel like it sometimes.”

He takes another drink. “So, no spouse? No kids?”

“Nope. Just never really happened for me. Never found the right person,” I reply vaguely. It’s true. Although, deep down, I knew I was never getting married. I’d never find the right person.

“And what does the right person look like?” he asks, and my heart starts to hammer wildly in my chest.

“Sorry,” he stammers while glancing downward. “That was too personal. I’m not really much into dating either.” Then hisgaze lifts until we’re staring at each other. “It’s hard to do for guys like us.”

“Like us,” I reply, not exactly in the form of a question.

“Yeah, guys who…work too much. You clearly own a nonprofit, and I’m on tour.”

Nodding along, I stare into his eyes, noticing the way he dances around the topic we both are so desperate to bring up. He’s thinking the same thing I am. We’re both afraid of reading the situation wrong and won’t make the first move.

“I’m not here to talk about work,” I say with a casual smirk on my face.

“Then why are you here?” he murmurs without looking into my eyes. There’s a hint of fear in his voice, and it makes me step a little closer.

For a brief moment, I see Theo Virgil for what he is—a man. A young man with fears and feelings and loneliness like the rest of us.

I’d like to wrap him up in my arms and make all of that go away.

“To see you,” I say softly. Maybe too softly. My voice is nothing more than a raspy whisper, and it’s definitely not something two friends would say to each other. That much is true.

Theo looks at me with expectation. So, I take another step forward.

“My new friend,” I add.

Reaching toward him, I place my beer on the counter behind him, but it brings our bodies closer. So close I can feel his breath on my cheek. So close I can smell his cologne and feel the heat radiating from his body.

Theo isn’t the first man I’ve lusted after and he won’t be the first man I’ve slept with if it gets to that point. I have my secrets and my ways of hooking up and keeping it discreet. I keep mysecrets buried so deep no one would ever know the truth. But Theo is the first man I’ve ever wantedthisbadly.

Our eyes bore into one another’s. “Friend,” he replies in a daze.

I wait for the moment when our lips will brush, wondering if we’re moving too fast. If I kiss him now, will we have sex later? Will that be all? Just a dirty one-night stand, and then he’ll move on to the next guy on his tour?

---