Page 6 of Summer Catch

An even uglier truth.

What do you think of Landry Banks?

Kieran told himself he was secretly glad Jon had changed the subject.

Shouldn’t you be telling ME what YOU think of Landry Banks?

I already know what I think of him. I want to know what you think.

Kieran considered what he knew of Landry Banks, tight end for the Buffalo Bills. He typed the first thing that came to mind, screw the consequences. He blamed the arousal still persistently fizzing through his system, the kind of arousal no amount of ugly truths seemed to kill.

I think he’s hot. Good football player, too.

I see your priorities. That your type, then? Big and muscley and built like Thor?

Kieran wanted to tell Jon that no, his type most recently had been running to fit, flirty football coaches, but there was no way that wouldn’t scare him off.

And damnit, he liked the guy too much to do that, now. Even if it would make everything easier.

Not usually, no. Jealous?

Kieran told himself he shouldn’t have gone there. But he was attracted, damnit.

A little, actually. Have you seen that guy? Anyone would want to look like that.

Kieran let out an unsteady breath when Jon’s response came in. Easy, breezy, with no hint that Kieran’s words had made him uncomfortable.

Right?

He did consider adding more. Something along the lines of, you’ve got nothing to worry about, trust me, but he didn’t. He manfully resisted and was proud of himself.

So you think he’s a good guy, yeah?

Kieran realized then what Jon was really worried about: if Landry Banks was a good guy.

You’d know better than me. I’m sure you’ve actually met him. I haven’t. Not yet anyway. So tell me, do YOU think Landry Banks is a good guy?

Yeah. Yeah, I do.

Then you gotta trust your instincts. You’ve got good ones.

You think so?

And that was the easiest question in the world, which probably should have made Kieran more worried than it did. Yeah, he said. I really do.

Then, because it was true, he added: Well, I gotta get up and supervise the cleaning crew at the bar post-Disco Night. Guess you missed all the Donna Summer again.

He hadn’t been really pushing for Jon to show up, but well . . .maybe he had, a little. How could he stop himself?

Guess I did. Too bad. Tell me, what’s the worst thing the cleaning crew’s found at the bar?

Kieran laughed as he pushed himself out of bed, groaning a little. He was still hard, and trying to pretend he didn’t know the reason why.

Trust me, you don’t want to know.

I asked, didn’t I?

It was true, he had asked.

---