Page 2 of The Mechanics of Lust

DONE.

Luke gave a resigned sigh. “Have it your way.” His gaze returned to Gil and Holden who had joined Holden’s mother, her new fiancé, and a few others slow dancing to an Adele song. He remained quiet for a long time until he finally huffed, “Jesus, look at them.”

Like I wasn’t already glued to the sight. The whole damn bar was.

Luke added almost wistfully, “They’re so in love it’s sickening.”

Now, that was something we could actually agree on.

“You know, I’m not sure Gil ever even looked at me in quite that same way,” Luke said almost too softly to catch. Then he fell quiet, and I stole a sideways glance to find his expression shuttered.

Fighting the urge to say something reassuring because... I didn’t even know why; I instead employed the time-honoured tradition of changing the subject. “I have to say I’m surprised to see you back this way so soon.” Luke had visited the station just a couple of weeks beforehand to help build a storage and holding pen extension on the woolshed. I was hardly going to forget a week of watching him wearing not much more than cut-off jeans and a tempting tan while I tried to come up with other things,anything, that needed my urgent attention and would take me out of close proximity.

Luke took a mouthful of beer, and I absolutely did not watch the way he swallowed it down. “Gil and Holden didn’t tell you then?”

I narrowed my eyes, my stomach sinking. “Tell me what?”

He caught my gaze. “I accepted a job with Wild Run. One of their regular helicopter pilots took a job in South Australia. I’ll be flying his schedule until they can find someone more permanent for the position. Three to six months. Heli-skiing, sightseeing, airport meet and greet, that sort of thing. I moved down a couple of days ago.”

I blinked as my brain did a fair impression of a hamster wheel before totally checking out. “What, here?” I practically squeaked, and heat blazed up my throat.

Luke bit back a smile. “I’ve always found it helpful to be in the same city or town as my job, so yes, here in Oakwood. I rented a house just off Main Street. It’s costing me about a quarter of what I was paying in Wellington.”

I dry swallowed, hard. Best mate or not, I was gonna kill Holden. Slowly. Very,veryslowly. I turned and waved the bartender over. “A shot of tequila, please.” I glanced sideways at Luke to find him watching me.

“That bad, huh?” His blue eyes danced merrily. “I can’t say I was expecting a standing ovation, but a solidcongrats on the new jobwouldn’t have gone amiss.”

I kept my eyes on the barman as he filled my order. “Yeah, well, congrats on the new job.”

“How kind of you.” He turned and put his drink on the bar, his arm pressed hot against mine. “But don’t worry. Autumn and winter are insanely busy with tourists, apparently, so you’ll hardly see enough of me to offend your delicate sensibilities.”

Yeah, I wasn’t buying that for a second. For some reason, Luke loved helping out at the station, and the team inexplicably loved him in return. But right when I was about to make some quip I would undoubtedly regret, the tequila shot arrived and I slammed it back and ordered another.

Luke’s eyes burned holes in the side of my face, but when I refused to meet them, he eventually shook his head and spun back to watch the couples on the tiny dance floor.

When the second shot arrived, I downed that one just as fast and then turned to go.

“Leaving already?” Luke studied me with the flicker of a smile that looked anything but real. “And here I was about to ask you to dance. I hope it’s nothing I said.”

Dance?I blinked, quashed the brief surge of excitement that rose traitorously in my belly, and kicked my brain back into gear. “Don’t flatter yourself. No, I’m not leaving. But as one of the official party planners, I think I should mingle.” It was a thin excuse at best and we both knew it.

“Did someone say dance?” Spencer Thompson sidled up to Luke, eyebrows waggling. The forty-something veterinarian was never far from the action, his easy charm and boyish good looks drawing plenty of attention from men and women alike. “I wouldn’t say no to a little action on the dancefloor.” He glanced between the two of us. “Ooh. Am I interrupting something perchance? Please say yes, because the idea of being the meat in this particular sandwich has hot as hell written all over it.”

I rolled my eyes. “Jesus, Spencer, do you ever take a night off? I’m surprised there’s any skin left on your dick.”

He grinned. “I can’t lie. The pressure is real.” Then he eyed me up and down. “You’re looking good tonight, Zach.” He nudged Luke. “What do you think?”

Luke’s gaze ran hot over my body, sending a thrill of electricity straight to my balls. Then he caught my gaze and held it for a long second. “Zach always looks good.”

Spencer cast another glance between us and a smile stole over his face. “Oh yes, this is going to be good.”

“Shut up, Spencer,” I grumbled, not sure which was worse—my dick doing a little happy dance in my jeans or the fire lighting up my cheeks. Not for the first time, I cursed my pale-skinned Irish genes.

Spencer’s face lit up with a shit-eating grin. “Well, well, well. It seems I hit a nerve.”

I fired him a withering glare and he raised both hands and backed up a step. “Fine, I’ll shut up. I was only kidding.”

Like hell he was. Ever since Spencer had found out I was gay and that my father had been a dick about it, he’d been determined to set me up with a boyfriend. I hadn’t wanted one. Still didn’t. I hadn’t even had sex with a man in almost a year, not since Holden and I... well, whatever it is you do when you’re fuck buddies and then stop because one of you went and fell in love and the other... didn’t. No points for guessing who was on which side of that.

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