Chapter Six
Quinn
“ANDREJ?”
The adorable man stood up from where he was waiting for me at the restaurant.
“Hi, Quinn,” he said, smiling.
“I didn’t know it was you…”
“I thought I would surprise you.”
Smiling I slid into the seat across from him. “It is. I was thinking about you all week.”
“Me too,” he said.
I had been, that was not a lie. The more I ran our whole night and morning through my head, described it to Tara and then Ashley, and milled it over a little more in my head, I realized that despite the mess in the middle of the night, I’d had a great night.
A date in the middle of the week with one of the most boring gay men I had ever met made me think about Andrej even more.
The date was achingly boring, and he was a handsome man trying to win some clients for his expanding business.
I didn’t know what his business was, I just hoped it was expected to be boring.
The Friday night date was even worse. He was a misogynist, and it made my skin crawl.
Every single woman who passed us, waited on us, even looked in our direction was met with derision and disgust. How he could completely dismiss every woman in his vicinity was beyond me; he probably didn’t even think his mother was good for anything.
Or worse, total mama’s boy who would do anything for her. Might even be a bit of an Oedipal complex.
Ew. I didn’t need that thought.
He’d been so arrogant I was tempted to cut the date short and lose the money. That bad. I stuck it out and had Foxy make a note that he wasn’t an ideal client.
I didn’t have a clue that my Saturday date was Andrej again, and it was a nice surprise. He was smiling and clearly happy to see me.
“Do we have any particular place to be tonight?” I picked up the menu clearly left for me.
“Nope, just a dinner. I enjoyed your company and there’s no reason not to enjoy it again.”
“Sounds like a plan,” I answered. “How did your parents do with the sudden gay revelation?”
“They were fine with it, and really, the whole thing was both crazy and completely expected. I don’t know why I didn’t realize sooner.” He groaned. “Sofia hasn’t stopped crowing about guessing and getting it right. She’s really being insufferable.”
“That seems like her modus operandi, Andrej.”
The laugh-snort escaped him. “You are not wrong about that. She loves to be right and insufferable. But I love her. She’s a great person, and she’s always keeping my parents on their toes.”
“You probably do too,” I answered.
“I like to think so.”
I was surprised how easily we still chatted over the dinner.
We ping-ponged over the whole meal, talking about his sister, my sister, his parents, we avoided my parents.
We talked about the boat his family had, the boat I used to sail, about his summers in Vancouver about my days in the Hamptons.
We talked about wine and the best meal we ever had—his was a random seafood restaurant in San Francisco, mine was a restaurant in Chianti, Italy.
We talked and talked our way through appetizers, salads, soups, primi piatta, the entrée and dessert. And then it was nearly eleven at night and we were closing down the restaurant.
As soon as we realized they all wanted to go home, we scrambled to pay the bill and scurry out of the restaurant. We found ourselves standing on the curb, laughing our stupidity.
“Well, that’s the first time I’ve done that,” Andrej said. He looked at his watch. “It’s past your time. Do you have any plans?”
Glancing at my watch, I realized he was right. “I don’t, but I gotta keep an eye on those ferries. My sister worries.”
“Does she have therapy tomorrow?”
“No, we managed to get into the program, and she has twice-a-week sessions on weekdays.”
“Oh, good,” he said. “Because I was going to ask you if you needed a ride again tomorrow morning.”
“I can just take the ferry.”
The blush spread across his cheeks quickly, and I realized that he was actually inviting me to the boat again. My heart thudded against my ribs, for so many reasons.
Foxy had prohibitions on how much interaction a date should have. It was only supposed to last exactly as long as they paid for, and that was now at eleven at night. No violence ever from either party. And sex was not part of the contract.
But there were several of the others who worked for Foxy who didn’t have those kinds of scruples. They would happily hop in bed with all their dates, even though they could get in big trouble.
It wasn’t that I thought that I was going to hop in bed with Andrej, but there was clearly the implication that he was interested in exploring things.
Was I? My well had been dry and dusty for close to a year.
I had opted to go with Foxy to get myself used to being in the company of humans again since I had basically gone into hiding.
I hadn’t been able to bring myself to date and I’d been completely understanding of the women I had heard mumble, fuck men under their breath.
Fuck them, indeed. And not in the fun way.
Andrej was not those other men though. He was a cute sort of na?ve, and I had the feeling even the women he’d dated thought that about him. He was just cute and sweet, and you almost wanted to wrap him up and keep him safe.
And it was that precise quality that made me decide that I was going with him to the boat.
He kicked a rock on the curb. “You don’t have to take the ferry.”
“Oh? I don’t?”
“Not if you don’t want to.”
“I don’t need to be home early.”
“I can still take you home.”
“Tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow.”
“Grab a car.”
The grin spread across his face and he walked to the curb where the valet was already flagging down the next rideshare car waiting down the block.
As soon as it stopped, Andrej opened the door for me, and I slipped into the back seat and he followed me in.
The valet smiled at us and closed the door.
The Marina was just as quiet as it had been the week before, but I felt like there were more lights on this time. The Tahitian Moon was sitting there in all its gleaming glory, this time there were a few lights on inside.
A small laugh escaped me. “Did you come here earlier?”
“Maybe,” he said, climbing the stairs.
“As long as there’s water and snacks, I’m happy.”
“Food is the way to your heart.”
“Yep,” I laughed, tossing my legs over the edge of the boat and on to the deck.
Once again, Andrej punched in a code and we walked into the galley where there was a low, warm light on under the cabinets, illuminating the floor. I locked the door behind us and watched a suddenly nervous Andrej walk over to the fridge and open it up.
“Drink?”
I slid in behind him, wrapping my arms around him. “Grab two bottles of water. And don’t be nervous. This is your moment. You set the pace and parameters.”
“I don’t know what to do…” His voice was soft.
“Oh, I do, don’t you worry about that.” I pressed a kissed to his neck. “Just remember that the word no and the word stop will absolutely work.”
With two bottles in his hand, he turned in my arms and slammed the fridge at the same time. “I’m good with that.”
“Bunk. Below. Bring some more drinks and grab some snacks and a movie. We can always just stop and watch a silly show. There’s absolutely no obligation in this, and the only thing I need is for you to take me home tomorrow.”
I stepped back, and smiled at him, then turned and walked down the stairs to the room we’d slept in the week before. A few cabinets opened and closed the gallery, bags crinkled, and it was all accompanied by a few soft curses.
While he did that, I found the remote for the television and clicked it on. I pulled back the sheets on the bed, and undressed down to my boxers so I could slide in. I did just that and pulled the sheets up on my side after arranging the pillows for us.
Andrej appeared in the door and seemed shocked that I was in the bed.
“Snacks and water on the nightstands. Put the movie in and then get your butt over here after you take those clothes off.”
“I’m commando.”
The words just fell out of his mouth and was immediately followed by him blushing deeply. I smirked at him.
“That’s not a problem.” I patted the bed. “Come on. We’re just gonna start here with a cuddle and a movie. No and stop are the only words you can’t forget and use them when you feel like you need to.”
“You’re implying I’m going to forget my words?” He scurried around the room setting things up.
“It’s a challenge I’d like to rise to.”
“But we’re starting with cuddles?”
“And kissing.”
That stopped him dead, and he grinned. “I like kissing.”
“Me too, get in here.”
Displaying a bit of the cute naivete, he turned away from me to strip off his clothes.
I enjoyed his unintentional show—he had no idea that I loved the back side of a man.
The back, the waste, the ass, the legs. Nothing I could see was disappointing at all—he worked out just a little bit to sculpt. And that was my favorite.
He turned slowly and it all just showed me that I was right. He definitely worked out. He wasn’t too shabby in the cock department, either. Respectable, and on the thick side. I could work with that. Happily.
I patted the bed again. “Come on. Come here.” And finally, he crawled up the bed and plunked down on the sheets.
Opening my arms, I motioned for him to slide back and lean against my chest. He willingly complied and settled in there. He was warm and soft and dear God I had missed that feeling. I tucked up the sheets and leaned back.
“What did you pick out to watch?”
He turned and looked at me. “The Princess Bride.”
“Excellent choice,” I said. “But you know, for someone who didn’t know they were gay, you do have decidedly gay tastes.”
Pressing the play button, he tossed me a look. “What do you mean?”
“You were singing Hamilton last week, and now you’ve picked out The Princess Bride. ”
He pursed his lips. “Well, I didn’t realize that was gay?”