Page 7 of Rico

Rex held his hand out, and Evan shook it. “It’s nice to meet you, Rex. Rico’s told me a lot about you.” He gestured to the large painting they stood next to. “You’re a very talented artist.”

“Thank you, Evan. Tell me—what do you think about this piece? Be honest.”

Evan gulped. Talk about being put on the spot. He tried to remember what Rico told him to say if anyone asked him about a painting. “Um. I like it a lot. Your ... um, your sense of composition is great.”

When Rico and Rex burst out laughing, embarrassment flooded Evan until he realized he was set up. Rico squeezed his hand in apology. “It’s ‘sense of balance.’”

Still chuckling, Rex shook his head. “I’m just busting your chops, Evan. Trust me, Rico doesn’t know what ‘sense of balance’ means any more than most of the people here do.”

“Don’t tell me you’re embarrassing the poor guy.” Scout sidled up to them with Alex by his side. “Give him a break.”

Alex grinned at Evan. “Don’t worry—they did that to me the first time I met Rex too. I don’t know a thing about art either. My go-to phrases now are ‘It’s a beautiful composition’ and ‘The contrast is remarkable.’ Anything beyond that, I defer to Scout.”

“He doesn’t know much more than that either, but he can fake it like the best of them,” Rex said as he shook hands with the two newcomers.

“From the sounds I hear coming from their apartment, I don’t think Scout is faking it.” Magnus Keller slapped Rex’s shoulder as he joined the little group.

Laughter bubbled up again, and Alex’s cheeks burned red while Scout rolled his eyes. “He can’t hear shit, baby. I made sure the insulation between our place and his was triple what was required for that reason alone. I don’t need to hear him with his flavor of the week.”

Magnus’s famous smile spread across his face before he noticed Evan. He held out his hand, and Evan hoped his palm wasn’t sweaty when he took it. “Hi, I’m Magnus Kell?—”

“I know!” Everyone chuckled while Evan dropped his chin in mortification. Taking a deep breath, he tried to fix his blunder. “Sorry about that. What I meant to say was, hi, I’m Evan Calhoun. It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Keller.”

“Good to meet you too, Evan, and it’s Mag, please.” He gestured to Rico and leaned toward Evan conspiratorially. “For the record, he’s a keeper.”

Beside Evan, Rico groaned. “Shut it, Mag.”

“What? It’s been ages since I’ve seen you out on a date. I’m happy for you.” He turned back to Evan. “What do you do for a living?”

“I’m a broadcast engineer for KCXN Sports Radio.”

“Really? I listen to them all the time when I’m in town. Don’t tell me you work with that asshole, Savage.”

“Yup, he does,” replied Rico. His gaze met Evan’s. “See, I’m not the only one who thinks he’s an ass.”

Mag put a hand on Evan’s shoulder and leaned down to look him in the eye. “Let me tell you what that dickhead did when I ran into him at ...” He filled Evan in on an incident in a luxury suite at Levi’s Stadium before a 49ers’ football game. Once again, someone proved what a jerk Dave Savage was. Evan never liked the guy, who was a homophobe, but he usually kept that to himself since Savage was the “talent.” If anyone lost their job over a skirmish between them, it would probably be Evan.

The rest of the night out was more comfortable than Evan had expected. Mag was a really nice guy and made Evan feel welcome in their group, as did the others. Rico never strayed more than a few steps away from Evan, except for a trip to the restroom. As the evening wore on, Evan felt as if he’d known Rico’s friends forever. They were a great bunch, joking and regaling Evan with funny stories of their times together. He learned a bit more about art from Rex until the man had to mingle with the other guests looking to purchase one of his pieces. A few times, Evan found himself deep in a conversation with Alex, finding the man was easy to talk to—he was someone Evan could see becoming a good friend.

Unfortunately, several friends and family members turned their backs on him after he came out of the closet—people he thought would stick by him through thick or thin. It hurt to realize how wrong he’d been about them. But now that he started rebuilding his life, he discovered how much he didn’t miss those people. This was who he was now—who he always should’ve been. The only reason he didn’t regret exploring his sexual attraction to men at an earlier age was his two sons. Eventhough he lived a lie for years, one look at Brian and Mark told him it was a mistake he would’ve done over again in a heartbeat.

As they talked and wandered around the gallery, Rico introduced Evan to a few other people he knew and constantly reminded Evan he was there on a date with him by touching him in subtle ways. Sometimes, it was a brush of his fingers against Evan’s or placing his splayed hand on Evan’s back. Then, there were a few PG-13 kisses when they occasionally found themselves alone. So far, it was everything Evan had hoped a date with Rico would be, but as they said their goodbyes to everyone, he was nervous about how the night would end. Would Rico invite him in for a nightcap? Or would he tell Evan he had a good time, but he’d see him around?

After they left the gallery, he got his answer when they reached his truck, and in a flash, Rico had him pinned to the side of it, smashing his mouth down on Evan’s. Rico’s hands held Evan’s head in place, and he positioned one of his legs between Evan’s. There was no mistaking Rico’s hard-on rubbing against Evan’s hip, just shy of his own erection.

Evan moaned as his arms encircled Rico’s waist, pulling him closer as if that was even possible. They were chest to chest, pelvis to pelvis, in the middle of a municipal parking lot around the corner from the gallery. Rico inhaled him as his tongue plunged into Evan’s mouth.

“Get a room,” someone said with a chuckle from nearby as they walked past.

Rico eased his mouth from Evan’s before barking, “Fuck you, Scout.”

“Not in this lifetime, my friend. Have a good night.” The amusement in the man’s voice was hard to miss.

Evan tried to catch his breath as his heart pounded in his chest. He stared into Rico’s passion-heavy eyes. Rico gentlyrubbed a thumb over Evan’s swollen mouth and whispered, “Come home with me.”

There was no question about his response.

Four

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