Page 45 of In the Nick of Time
“What did you think of Velvet Elvis?”
“Meh, he was alright.”
They’d almost reached the fountain and it must’ve been about to go off because about a thousand people were pressed up against the balustrade across the street. Nick did not want to be around people right now or see the majestic fountain spout and dance to music. He wanted to be back in the hotel room where it was quiet and have his shoes off. Everything was too loud.
And Doug, whether he admitted it or not, was acting oddly.
In their not-a-suite hotel room,Nick immediately kicked off his loafers and breathed a huge sigh of relief. On the other side of the room, Doug had toed off his shoes and was peeling off black socks.
“So, you don’t think anything weird happened at The Ace of Clubs?” Nick asked again.
Doug looked over at him and shook his head. “Not that I noticed.”
“You were awfully intent on that game.”
“As you would say, ‘duh.’”
“Something was going on. I can’t explain how I know or what it was, but something was wrong. And why was the dealer wearing earplugs? They all were, I checked.”
“Can’t say.”
While Doug had been ignoring him and walking, Nick had been thinking, going over what he’d seen while sitting there largely ignored by everyone.
“I think there’s something up with that Elvis.”
“Elvis,” Doug said with a smirk, “is dead. Even with my poor senior memory, I remember that.”
“Ha, ha, ha.” Getting to his poor, sad, sore feet, Nick stripped out of his suit and hung it back up. “This thing needs to be cleaned for real if you’re going to make me wear it again.”
“We’ll send it out tomorrow.”
Ugh. Tomorrow.
“Back to Elvis,” Nick began. “When we were at Nitti’s, I noticed that there were actually people asleep in their chairs. Yes, they were toddlers, but even with my limited experience with toddlers, they do not politely go to sleep in restaurants. They scream and yell and make their parents’ lives miserable.”
“I’m listening.”
“Tonight at the club, in that room.” Nick stopped, then started again. “When we first got there, people were playing like I’d seen before. They weren’t loud or anything, but, you know, there was chatter and stuff between hands.”
“Stuff,” Doug repeated with a sly and irritatingly sexy grin.
“Quit it.” He had to tell his cock to calm down or he’d never be able to communicate. “Just listen for a minute.”
“It’s hard to listen when you are lecturing me in your sexy boxers with your dress shirt unbuttoned like that.”
Nick looked down at himself and smirked. He’d kind of forgotten he’d been undressing. Was Doug melting toward him just a little?
“Look, Mr. Agent Man, focus on my words, not my hot body. Marvin-Elvis does something. When his act started, things got really quiet and it wasn’t because people were being polite.”
While Nick was talking, Doug continued undressing as well. He was down to his cotton boxers when Nick finished speaking. Boy oh boy, was Doug sexy. It was, in fact, very hard to concentrate when Doug was fully naked—he stripped down to nothing, and Nick’s train of thought left the station.
“I, uh, right.” Totally derailed.
Grinning, Doug fisted his erect cock and pumped it a few times. Nick’s rose to the occasion.
“Um, good idea. We should get some sleep and continue the conversation in the morning.”
Nick opened his eyes.Once again, he was wrapped around Doug Swanson like a honeysuckle. Or some kind of vine anyway. But this morning he wasn’t thinking about more sex—well, he had been, but he’d set the thought aside—he was still pondering what had happened last night.
