“Shit,” Dirk muttered as he moved away from me. He seemed a little embarrassed, bringing a hand up to his forehead. “Sorry, Harrison. I forgot about the whole gay thing.”
“The whole gay thing?”
“Look, I don’t think being gay is a big deal. I don’t care if you two are—or if you’re still in the closet—I’m not homophobic,” Dirk clarified. “And I’m sorry that there’s so much shitty stigma around two guys doing whatever they want. If you want to keep something like that to yourself, I understand why you’d want to keep it private—”
“I’m sleeping with Morgan.”
“What?!” Dirk shrieked. “But you just said you weren’t!”
“Right, but then you said that stuff about wanting to keep it private because of stigma,” I answered. “I don’t care if people know that I’m sleeping with a guy. We’re two consenting adults. We can do what we want.”
“Sure, except he’s your sister’s caterer!” Dirk shrieked again. “You know how much this means to Kimmie. If something blows up between you two, if Morgan doesn’t work this wedding, her day is going to be ruined—”
“I’m not going to ruin my sister’s wedding, Dirk,” I explained. “Besides, even if things blow up with Morgan, he wouldn’t take it out on a client. He’s nothing if not professional.”
“Fuck, fuck!” Dirk groaned. “Fuck, Harrison. You really did pick the perfect time to start experimenting with guys, you know? Why couldn’t you have gotten this out of your system in college like the rest of us?”
“Like the rest of us?” I quirked an eyebrow over at Dirk.
“Never mind! I don’t have time for this. I need to go check on Kimmie. This new bride diet makes her kind of woozy.” Dirk sighed. “Just… promise me that you’re going to be careful with this, Harrison? All right?”
“I promise.”
“Okay, good. Because you know if you shot this wedding to hell, then I’d have to kick your ass, right?” Dirk went on. “I wouldn’t want to kick your ass, but Kimmie would make me do it.”
“I know, Dirk.” I grinned. “And it’s really noble that you’d be willing to get your ass kicked on behalf of my sister. You must really love her a lot.”
“I do love her a lot.” Dirk smiled before he turned away from me, heading down the hallway. “And you should learn how to keep it in your pants!”
“I’ll try my best,” I murmured another lie as I finally moved away from the wall.
9
Morgan
I hadn’t been on a date in six months.
The last time I’d gone out with a guy was a total disaster. He’d shown up two hours late to pick me up, had obviously been drinking, and by the end of the night, he’d asked me if I wanted to get matching tattoos at a dive bar down the street.
After that, I’d put a moratorium on going out with anybody. When Harrison asked me out, a part of me wanted to automatically tell him no. I knew that I wasn’t ready to handle another disaster of a date, and going out with a straight guy was practically begging the universe for an awful misfire of a night.
But instead, I’d told him yes.
Why? I had no idea. I found that when it came to Harrison, things were starting to make less and less sense. I didn’t know why he’d brought me a Cuban for lunch. I didn’t know why he’d taken a bite out of that strawberry in my hand, even though I’d had every intention of passing the dessert over to him so he could eat it out of his own palm.
I didn’t know why I couldn’t stop thinking about him. I didn’t know why I was so happy to see him again this afternoon, despite having seen him mostly all of last night, and I didn’t know why I was so excited about seeing him tonight as if I hadn’t seen him earlier in the day.
Even with the lack of current logic, I was still getting ready for our date tonight. Harrison hadn’t given me even one hint about where he was taking me, so I was basically getting dressed in the dark. I knew that wherever we ended up, I wanted to look like I was someone worth being on his arm, someone who matched Harrison’s natural charm and was able to hold a candle to his gorgeous smile.
I decided to go with a loose, black blouse, one that revealed just enough of my chest while leaving most of my upper frame to the imagination. I paired it with fitted, black pants, wanting to emphasize my legs and ass, hoping they’d stand out as positive assets.
I was now working on my makeup for the evening. I’d always been a fan of the natural makeup look, never being interested in brightly colored palettes or eyeshadow that screamed at people before the person wearing it even walked into the room. I felt like I was almost finished as I cautiously dragged a brush down my cheek, successfully blending the color into my skin.
Just then, I heard a knock on my front door. I went to answer it, with my makeup brush still in my hand. And when I pulled open the door, Harrison was there.
I smiled up at him.
Harrison looked me up and down, with an unreadable expression on his face. His eyes then landed on the brush in my hand.
And I felt my heart sink down to my stomach.
Shit.
He didn’t like feminine guys. But Harrison knew I was a feminine guy, didn’t he? The first time we ever hung out was to show him where I bought my nail polish.
As Harrison continued to blankly stare at me, I came to a quick decision. I was going to call off the date. I was going to explain to Harrison that if he didn’t like feminine guys, that was fine, but it meant that there was no point in hanging out when we weren’t in the bedroom because he wasn’t going to like me any other way.
“Harrison—”
“Sorry.” Harrison finally broke his silence. “I was just—”
“Thinking about asking me to change into something that makes you more comfortable being seen with me in public?”
“What? No.” Harrison beamed. “Seeing you dressed up like that… I just didn’t think it was possible for you to be more beautiful. But it looks like you proved me wrong.”
“Wait. Really?” I was in a state of disbelief. “Are you sure?”
“Am I sure that you look gorgeous tonight?” Harrison lightly chuckled. “Yes. I’m sure.”
Harrison motioned for me to spin around for him.
And I happily obliged, turning around in a slow circle, giving him a good view of my entire outfit. When I was facing Harrison again, he pulled me close to his chest, wrapping his arms around my waist.
“Like a work of art,” he whispered before he pressed his lips against mine.
And at that moment, I realized that I really needed to call off the date.
I seriously, desperately needed to call off the date.
I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t pretend that the way Harrison was looking at me right now, like I was something wonderful, something worth staring at, wasn’t doing something to me. And even though I knew that whatever I had with Harrison was temporary, it didn’t stop the way my heart raced in my chest as Harrison leaned in for another kiss.
Fuck.