Page 13 of Scout

Currently, it was Scout’s turn, and he was in danger of losing his queen, so he studied the checkered board whenever he got a chance over the past thirty hours. He had a feeling he was screwed and would have to suck it up and make a move soon.

During several evenings at home, Scout entertained his new boyfriend by playing the piano. One night, he discovered Alex could sing beautifully. After finding out who his favorite artists were, Scout learned many of their songs so that he could listen to the man’s deep baritone voice as he sang along.

A knock on his office door drew his attention away from the advertising plans his marketing team haddevised for Paradox-North in Seattle. They were just waiting for his final approval before setting it all in motion.

Delilah strode in and shut the door behind her. Sitting back in his chair, Scout waited for her to take a seat. From her amused expression, something was on her mind. “So, are you going to tell me if the rumors are true, or do I have to guess?”

“What rumors?”

“About you and Alex.”

Scout groaned and rolled his eyes. He should’ve known someone would figure out Alex and he were dating, and once that happened, the rumor mill would run rampant. He wasn’t surprised his secretary didn’t beat around the bush and just asked him outright. Scout loved Delilah like an aunt, and she treated him like a nephew. And she had his back—always.

“You want to tell me exactly what the rumors are?”

“I’d rather you tell me the truth so I can collect the fifty-dollar bet I made with Sarah.”

“Ah.” He wasn’t shocked or insulted by the two women betting on his love life. Sarah Nichols, the head of Human Resources, had worked at Turner Continental since the beginning and helped Scout grow the company from the ground up.

If the rumor mill had figured things out, there was no reason to continue hiding the fact that he and Alex were dating. Actually, it was a given that the current gossip wasn’t a hundred percent accurate, so he mightas well set the record straight. Scout had told Alex that, eventually, their relationship would be exposed, and he had no intention of denying it if someone asked him about it. He never hid his sexuality from anyone since he came out of the closet shortly after graduating high school.

“Alex and I are dating. It just happened, and only recently.” When Delilah grinned at him, he added, “I like him, Dee. A lot. I never thought I’d find someone I wanted to spend my life with, but ...”

“But you did, and I’m so happy for you ... both of you. He’s good for you, Scout. You’ve been walking around for the past two weeks happier than I can ever remember seeing you.”

“I am happy. In fact, I want to introduce him to my folks next weekend.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “That fast?”

“That fast.”

“Damn. When you were dating that Michael idiot a few years ago, it was four or five months before you introduced him to your parents.”

“And a week later, we broke up.” Michael Davis, a lawyer, was one of only two boyfriends Scout had ever introduced to his family. He should’ve listened to his gut back then and put it off for a few more weeks. However, one of his sisters found out he was dating someone and insisted that Scout bring Michael to her engagement party. Six days afterward, Scout discovered Michael had cheated on him and told him to takea hike. The only other guy he brought home to meet his family was a guy he dated for a year in college. Things ended more amicably that time, but they’d still ended.

“Because it wasn’t meant to be. I told you then I didn’t think he was the right man for you.”

“My mom did, too, after I told her it was over.” He paused. “Do you think they’ll like Alex?”

“Of course they will. What’s not to like? He’s smart, polite, and has a great personality. It’s obvious you’re in love with him, and he’s in love with you. Well, at least it’s obvious to me. And it will be to them too. I say, go for it.”

Wow. That was the first time Delilah had ever given her stamp of approval about a man Scout dated. He was glad she had. With that, Scout made the final decision—he would take Alex to meet his parents next weekend. He’d have to check to see if his sisters could be there too.

When Alex and Scout walked into the Cock & Bull later that afternoon, many knowing smiles and looks were shot their way—especially from some of the Paradox employees. Yup, Delilah was right.

When Alex returned from running a few errands after lunch, Scout informed him the word was out about them being a couple. From the attention theygarnered at the bar, it was true. Part of Alex was glad they didn’t have to hide their feelings for each other anymore, but the other part was terrified about what others would think and say about the relationship. Scout had tried to assure him that the people who mattered to them would be happy for the couple. And if anyone else had a problem with the two men’s relationship, they could take their opinions and shove them up their own asses. Alex wanted to agree with him, but Scout wasn’t the one who’d be painted as a gold-digger by some people.

“Hey, guys. What can I get you?” Austin asked as they found seats at the bar. The place would be in full swing for happy hour in another fifteen or twenty minutes.

Scout glanced at Alex. “The usual?”

“Sounds good.”

As much as he tried to act normal, Alex couldn’t shake the butterflies in his gut. While he had a great time with Scout over the past two weeks, the one thing they hadn’t done yet was have sex. A lot of heavy make-out sessions? Yes. Blow-jobs and rutting with many an orgasm. Yup, those too. Full-on sex? Nope. But he had a feeling that would change sometime during the weekend. Yeah, he’d asked Scout if they could take things slowly, but he was ready to take the relationship to the next level and hoped Scout was too.

A half-hour later, Scout got up and headed to the men’s room as Alex talked with Gino, who had thenight off from bartending. The two of them had quickly fallen back into a friendship that was now stronger than it was in high school. Through Gino, Alex also reconnected with several others from back then, and he regretted not using social media more often over the years to stay in touch with more people he went to school with. Tomorrow night, a bunch of them would gather at the Cock & Bull for an impromptu reunion that seemed to grow larger by the hour as more and more old friends found out about it. Alex looked forward to seeing his old friends again and introducing Scout to them and vice versa.

The new couple were slowly getting to know each other’s friends but hadn’t had the opportunity to do the same with their families. Alex hadn’t even told his parents he was dating someone yet, but his sister, Amber, dragged it out of him one day while he talked to her on the phone and got distracted by Scout’s fine-looking ass.

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