Page 54 of Her Dom's Secret Past

“You said he’s your friend as well as an employee?”

“Yes, very much so. He and his partner Justin, plus a married couple Becky and Cass, they’re my best friends. You’ll like them all, I think.”

“Charlie’s gay?” He sounded rather shocked.

“Yes. Is that a problem?”

I was worried. I loved Charlie like a brother. If John was homophobic then I wasn’t sure what would happen.

“Hell no. I’m very surprised. He didn’t give out any vibes.”

“A lot of people are stunned when they discover. For some reason, they think if you’re gay you should fit the stereotype. Mind you, Charlie can pull it off to a ‘T’ but what you saw is the real Charlie. Oh, and don’t get him talking about motor bikes, he’ll never shut up.”

“Bikes? He likes bikes? That’s fantastic. I do too.”

I groaned. I could imagine the two of them now, poring over cars and bikes leaving Justin and me to twiddle our thumbs.

“Does he have a bike?”

“Yes, he and Justin both have Harleys.”

“What sort?”

“Eh? A Harley.”

John shook his head and kissed my forehead. “Don’t worry, I’ll ask Charlie.”

John had cleared up from dinner and we were now relaxing on the settee. It was quiet and very peaceful. It was easy to see how wonderful it would be to live here, close enough to the busy world but just far enough away to shut the door on it. Somehow, we ended up in bed with John making love to me as if I were the most precious thing in the world. I fell asleep wrapped in the protection of his arms.

****

The next day was devoted to shopping.

I’d never hadcarte blanchebefore and it was fun. We worked our way down John’s list, stopping for coffee in the morning and then lunch. By then, John was limping rather badly and I was all for calling it a day, but he wanted to at least get the outdoor furniture crossed off the list.

“John, you can barely walk. It will wait.”

“No, please one more shop. I really want the outdoor stuff.”

I rolled my eyes at that point. Mind you, we’d done a lot. We’d crossed off almost everything on the list, including a huge television, a DVD player, and a stereo system. Thankfully he’d found a magnificent dining table and chairs for twelve with a sideboard and buffet to match, all in natural wood.

He’d ordered some recliner couches for the media room. They would take a few weeks to make. Beautiful soft leather in a light tan—two doubles and two singles.

Despite my “nagging”, we called into an outdoor furniture place and John almost bought everything he saw. He got a gorgeous settee—a four seater in wicker with wheat-colored cushions, and then he found a table and ten chairs to match. That got added to the list. Because there were actually two decks that wrapped around three sides of the house, he decided he needed more. So two double sun lounges in the same design were added for the area off the master bedroom.

Of course that meant another a small table and chairs for that area. Oh, and two more sun lounges and another four seater, as well as umbrellas, tables, and chairs for beside the pool.

My God, the man was a shopaholic!

As we headed to the cash register, he saw barbecues. As soon as he spied them I knew exactly what would happen. Yep—he bought one of those. Mind you, not a simple six burner. Oh no. He had to buy an entire outdoor kitchen!

Six burners, benches, a fridge, drawers, storage, a sink, and a pizza oven!

Oh yes—plus all the tools to match. He arranged for someone to deliver it and install it all together for him as well. It could be fitted to the natural gas he had in the house and to the water. Made me realize this man didn’t do things by halves. I had no idea how much he ended up spending on the day. I did know the barbecue had a price tag of seven thousand before he added in the pizza oven and the installation!

By the time we arrived home, he was almost dragging his leg. I made him get out of the car at the top of the house alongside the carport. There was no way he would make it up the three flights of stairs to the main living area. Then I got to drive the car down to the garage. I was in love. It drove like a dream. I wondered if I could coax him into letting me take it for a proper spin. When I got back inside, he was lying on the couch, his face ashen.

“Do you have anything stronger than aspirin,hun?”

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