I wasn’t sure about the idea of school since I’d never been very comfortable in class, but James seemed to put a high value on it for business reasons. Maybe I should give it more consideration than I had in the past. Being in the same city as James was definitely appealing, regardless of what I did with my time, and school was as good as anything if it would help me in the future.
“I guess I would have enough money to rent a place for a while,” I mused, starting to get excited about the idea.
James threaded his fingers through mine. “Or you could move in with me.”
The look in his eyes took my breath away. “Are you sure?”
He turned to face me. “Our last morning together I woke up in your arms and thought to myself, this man is my future. So yes, I’m sure.”
I stared at him. “Future?” It was too good to be true. I’d daydreamed about having a good man to stand by my side, to share life’s ups and downs with me and settle down with me one day to maybe even start a family. We hadn’t talked about it much, but I’d gotten the feeling that Richard had been the opposite of what James had truly wanted. He’d been a free spirit, flitting from party to party, whereas James seemed to be more like me. He’d rather hang out on the beach at sunset or a small neighborhood pub with a beer or glass of wine than be in the center of a large crowd or a club packed with bodies.
Lights from the street and headlights outside the car window flashed across his smiling face. He looked relaxed and happy which helped me calm down. I was nervous about this black-tie event. It wasn’t the kind of thing I’d ever gone to or even thought about attending in my life. The only other time I’d worn a tux was at my high school prom when Clark Rohan had ditched me for a threesome with Luis Soto and Megan Anderson.
James leaned in to speak softly against my ear. “Yes, future. My future and your future tangled together the way By Lane and Main Way crisscross so many times in McBride, they might as well be the same damned street.”
I laughed and spent the rest of the drive with a stupid grin on my face, imagining my life with James. Living in the city would be a big change. I was a small-town boy at heart, and living in Manhattan would certainly be a huge adjustment, but it would also mean opportunities. Karlie had spent the winter before playing the soundtrack to Hamilton on repeat, and now maybe I’d have the chance to actually see the show in person. There would be hundreds of restaurants James and I could go to on dates, with all kinds of new cuisines that I’d never tried because they didn’t exist anywhere near McBride. And on the weekends, we could find a farmer’s market and I’d dig out my grandmother’s old cookbook and whip up homemade brunches for James and our new friends.
By the time we arrived at the Guggenheim and stepped out of the car, I felt like I was walking on clouds and that without James’s arm through mine, I might just float away. The feeling lasted until the moment we entered the crush of people milling about in the rotunda of the museum. Almost immediately, a tall, young man with stylishly disheveled sandy-brown hair noticed James from across the room and started toward us. As he approached, a slow smile spread over his face, and his eyelids dropped slightly, giving him bedroom eyes that made even my knees twinge a bit with weakness. Though he was completely dressed in an elegantly cut tuxedo, the way the man moved made it impossible not to imagine him naked, everything about him oozing sensuality.
When he neared, his lower lip pushed out in a petulant frown as he reached out a finger, trailing it down James’s chest. “I missed you at dinner, and after promising me Bruno’s and everything. How are you going to make it up to me?”
James stiffened, his eyes darting toward me. He cleared his throat. “Richard, uh, hi.”
My stomach plummeted. This was Richard? As in ex-boyfriend Richard? Though the way he was so obviously mentally devouring James, he clearly didn’t consider himself too much of an ex. I eyed the man, searching for some sort of flaw but finding none—not in his perfectly smooth skin, or his perfectly highlighted hair, or even his perfectly polished shoes. I glanced at my own shoes—rentals that looked cheap and tacky by comparison.
In fact, suddenly I became aware of how ill-fitting my own tux was. The shoulders were a little too narrow, the cuffs a tad too short, the hem on the pants hastily tacked and slightly uneven. By any measure it was fine, but as measured against Richard? There was no comparison.
Without realizing it, I shuffled back a step, wishing I could just be absorbed by the group behind me and disappear. Before I could make my escape, however, James’s arm slid through mine, holding me in place. “Yeah, sorry about dinner,” he said, pulling me closer to his side. “My boyfriend came into town to surprise me, and as you can imagine, he can be quite the distraction.” As he said it, he shot me a wink, bumping his shoulder against mine.
I couldn’t stop the stupid grin that spread across my face at his use of the word boyfriend. I felt giddy inside, suddenly not caring about the fit of my tux or that my hair was a touch too long to be considered fashionable.
Richard’s attention swiveled toward me, his head tilting to the side as he looked me over. It was clear he’d noticed James’s use of the word boyfriend as well. “I didn’t know you were dating anyone,” he said to James, though his eyes were still on me.
I didn’t quite feel like being talked about as though I wasn’t there, so I held out a hand. “Hi, I’m Sawyer Gilley.”
Richard’s forehead twitched as he took my hand in his. “Gilley… How do I know that name?” He tapped a long, perfectly manicured finger against his lips. Then he snapped his fingers. “Right, Gilley was the family that owned the Cape property that you just closed that deal on, wasn’t it, James?”
James tensed, and I felt like I’d somehow wandered into enemy territory. Early on in our relationship, James had mentioned something about the complications of him sleeping with someone he was negotiating with, but when he hadn’t let it stop him, I figured it wasn’t a problem. Now I worried that it might have been and I’d somehow made it worse.
“With Sawyer’s uncles, yes,” James said, which was true but also sidestepped any thorny issues that may have existed in our relationship.
Richard’s expression turned knowing. “Well, you always have been quite the negotiator, always finding an edge and pressing it.”
My jaw dropped and indignation caused my cheeks to heat. Was he suggesting that James was only fucking me to gain an advantage in negotiating with my uncles?
James’s eyes turned cold. “Richard.” His cutting tone was a clear warning.
Richard waved a hand. “Oh, I’m teasing, you know that.” He leaned toward me, speaking out of the side of his mouth as though sharing a secret but loud enough for James to hear. “These Gen-Xers, always so serious, am I right?”
James crossed his arms, frowning.
“See,” Richard added with a chuckle. “My point exactly.” He straightened, then stepped toward James. “Anyway, don’t forget that Daddy dearest has his heart set on seeing us together tonight, so you might want to keep the new boy toy on the DL when he arrives.” And with a wink, he disappeared into the crowd.
James watched him retreat for a moment before letting out a deep breath, his jaw visibly unclenching. He turned to face me, his eyes searching mine as he cupped a hand against my cheek. “I’m sorry, he’s an asshole. You okay?”