Page 70 of The Boyfriend Gamble

Of course he’d bring his husband.

So why couldn’t I bring over a new acquaintance?

You’re too obsessed with appearances. You’ve always worried about being perceived as gay. Perhaps a little too obsessed. Did it never cross your mind you might like men too?

Nope. Because I hadn’t gone there. From the day Kade had come out, I’d known I wasn’t like him and therefore that made me straight. End of story.

I rose.

Jasper did as well.

We headed for the door. I disabled the alarm on my SUV as Jasper unlocked his car.

The thing had definitely seen better days.

“I’ll follow you.” He waved. “See you soon.”

And just like that, we were on our way.

Twelve minutes later, with me still in a bit of a daze, we parked side by side in my garage. Once we’d both killed our engines, I hit the button to close the garage door. We both exited our cars.

“These are so cute.” Jasper grinned. “I’ve never been up here. Well, I haven’t been hardly anywhere in Mission City. I should plan a tour or something. There’s a tourist map, right? Or something like that?”

“Something like that.” I echoed his words, even as my nerves ratcheted up. I’d left my most of my drink behind, so I couldn’t blame the caffeine. I snagged my gym bag, then disarmed the alarm and led Jasper inside my house.

He toed off his shoes in the entranceway. “Okay, so will you give me the tour of your house? From the outside, it looks super interesting.”

I wouldn’t have saidsuper interesting, but I could admit to having made some design choices. “Sure, follow me.” I led him to the front room. I gestured toward my desk. “I don’t spend much time here, but I do my bookkeeping and paperwork here.”

He stepped toward the massive windows. “What a great view.”

I squinted. “Of my front yard?”

“It’s so cute. Oh God, there’s a dog.” He pointed excitedly.

I rolled my eyes. Still, working on the assumption he wanted to meet the dog, I headed toward the front door. I unlocked and swung it open. “Hey, Rayne, Everett.” I waved.

Rayne grinned. “Look, Champ. It’s Cameron.”

The German shepherd’s ears perked.

Everett waved. “How’s it going?”

“I don’t suppose you could wait until we put on shoes? My, uh, friend would like to meet Champ. Oh, or you could come in.”Right. Because that’s safe.

The men exchanged a look, and Everett shrugged. “We don’t have anywhere to be. We were just giving Champ a good walk. I’ve been super busy at work on a case.” Even as he said the words, he opened my gate. The two men and the dog stepped in, and then he closed the gate.

Champ, previously placid, became more excited.

I’d known my neighbor Everett for a while before he’d very suddenly, one random day, had a new live-in boyfriend and a rescue dog. Almost a year later, and they were as happy as could be.

Champ, previously nervous around strangers, now thrived when around others—especially children.

“Oh, awesome.” Jasper nearly vibrated with excitement. He backed up as the two rather tall men and the dog stepped into my small foyer.

“Jasper and I will go upstairs and put on a pot of coffee. We can do proper introductions then.”

“And a hot chocolate?” Rayne batted his lashes over the most stunning eyes I’d ever seen.

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