Page 11 of Smoky Mountain Dreams
Jesse’s tongue darted out again, and his eyes slid down toChristopher’s mouth. Then he cleared his throat. “I’ll walk you out.”
In his admittedly limited experience, Christopher had neverbeen wrong about a guy wanting him, but this time he had to be. Unless JesseBirch was in the closet, or one of those men who cheated on his wife, or thekind of man who had never really let himself admit that he was gay. SomehowJesse didn’t strike Christopher as any of those things. He seemed far toocomfortable in his own skin, and the way he met Christopher’s eyes was free ofshame or guilt.
As Christopher stood to follow Jesse from the room, hepeeked at the picture again.Maybe those aren’t his kidsand his wife. Maybe they’re his niece and nephew, and maybe that’s his sister,or sister-in-law?
“I’ll see you Wednesday, unless Lash gets too drunk toperform,” Jesse said as they walked into the showroom again. He took the keysfrom Amanda, who held them out with a warm smile.
Christopher followed to the front door, his eyes strayingdown to Jesse’s ass, outlined nicely in his jeans.
“Okay, well…” Christopher wanted to linger and get away atthe same time.
Sometimes he wished people wore buttons declaringthemselves:straight and available, gay and up for grabs,bi and taken.But maybe even that would be too complicated. After all,there was also the possibility oftrans and straight,ortrans and gay, andtrans andbi, and what aboutasexual? It was mindboggling that people came in all combinations of sex and gender, almost none ofthem knowable at first glance, and yet the world in general made it so hard todiscover what combination any particular individual might be.
“See you Wednesday,” Jesse said again, opening the door.
A rush of fall air washed over Christopher’s face, imbuinghim with new beginnings, like the start of a school year, or the beginning offootball season. He didn’t budge—just let the crisp autumn light shine on himand Jesse, haloing Jesse’s hair and bringing out the gold flecks in his darkeyes.
“Wednesday,” Christopher finally parroted. “Thanks for yourtime.”
“No problem.” Jesse’s smile was warm and amused.
“Well then. Bye.”
“Bye,” Jesse said, still holding the door. The light seemedto fold around him, highlighting dust motes in the air, and Christopher’s heartclenched hard. He wanted to touch him, or touch the light, or both at once. Hewanted to make the moment stretch.
“Bye, Amanda,” Christopher called over his shoulder.
“Mr. Ryder,” she answered.
It was time to go, but his feet weren’t moving, and thelight wasn’t changing, and Jesse wasn’t any less beautiful to look at than hehad been seconds earlier.
“Do you want to, uh, maybe get some coffee?” The words hunglike the glowing dust motes and Christopher felt himself go scarlet as aprickle of sweat broke over his body.
“Now?” Jesse asked.
“Sure. I’ve got all day.” It was his day off. He’d plannedto drive down to Knoxville to visit Gran and take her out to enjoy thebeautiful weather, but he could cancel for a date with Jesse. “Or…maybe later?Tonight. Whenever.”
“I’d like to, but I can’t.” Jesse’s eyes shaded slightly,and he stepped out of the ring of light. “Ask again, though. On another day.”
Christopher’s cheeks burned but he smiled and shrugged. “Sure.Of course. Bye.”
Disappointment was almost as transporting as his dashedhope. When he stopped feeling as if he was half out of his body, Christopherfound that he’d gone the wrong direction down the parkway. He backtracked andfound a street that would lead him up to his home without passing Jesse’sstudio again.
“He was cute,” Amanda said, following Jesse back to hisoffice.
Jesse said nothing, choosing to ignore her innuendo-ladentone. The truth was Christopher’s green eyes and milky skin were gorgeous, andthe column of his neck begged to be kissed. Not to mention, he’d beendistracted during the meeting by the faint softness of Christopher’s slim bodyunder his clothes. That was a body type Jesse had always been drawn to in aguy. Thin but not too bony, not too large, and definitely not too muscled.Everything was just right, and offered up the possibility for hours ofcomfortable cuddling.
So yes, Christopher was cute. More than cute.
Amanda didn’t stop there though. “You don’t have anythingelse lined up today.”
Jesse shrugged. “Someone’s got to get Brigid and Will fromschool. Nova’s got a doctor’s appointment.”
Marcy’s doctor’s appointment actually. Yet another thatwould result in Nova and Tim wanting to talk with him about “the situation” and“releasing the burden.” As if the pressure from the ongoing mediation meetingswith Ronnie wasn’t bad enough.
“I could pick up the kids.”
“Yep, you could,” Jesse said, busying himself with tidyinghis desk, though there really wasn’t much to put away. “But I’m going to.”
