Page 26 of Boy Issues

Silver pinched the cut closed then quickly pasted the bandage over it, Donovan yelping out a protest.

“Jesus, Silver. Do you get off on hurting people?”

Silver went about cleaning up the mess he’d made. “Not like that, no.” He pointed to Donovan’s half-filled bottle. “Drink the rest of your water.”

His gut tightened at how quickly Donovan complied, and as much as he wanted to find a good reason to toss Donovan back out into the wilds of LA, he couldn’t. Oh, he knew any delusions he might be entertaining that Donovan would make a good boy would likely be a huge fail. Yet, he couldn’t stop himself.

Having a boy like Donovan would mean exercising a lot of patience. The push-pull, especially in the beginning, would be intense. Donovan would never advance beyond brat, but that in and of itself wasn’t a bad thing. If only Silver understood more of what Donovan was dealing with, what the man was hiding beneath the layers of sarcasm and self-loathing, he was sure he could be just the Papi Donovan needed.

Silver scratched the back of his head, chuckling to himself. As if that was something Donovan would ever agree to. The self-entitled crowd didn’t tend to want to give up power—especially to someone like Silver.

Or at least, whatever his pre-conceived notions of me are.

“What is it?” Donovan had drained the rest of his water. “You’re staring at me like you always do.”

Silver drew his eyebrows together then extended his hand for the empty bottle. “Not staring. Analyzing.”

Donovan relinquished the plastic container. “Like the shrink I went to once before my father found out and had a fit? Mustn’t cast doubt on the respectable Fonterra name!”

After tossing the bottle into the recycling bin, Silver pulled his chair right next to Donovan’s. He leaned into his personal space, resting his elbow on the chair arm alongside Donovan’s. The man’s discomfort was palpable. Silver imagined if the move had been a sexual one, Donovan would’ve been on board in a second.

“When I said that, it wasn’t from the standpoint of judging or being critical of you, Donovan. You said you’d like to know more about me? Well, I feel the same about you. Do you think that’s possible, that you can show me who you really are?”

Donovan licked his lips as he held Silver’s gaze, but again, the action wasn’t a provocative one. What radiated from Donovan’s eyes was nothing short of terror, like that moment when the deer in the headlights knows it can’t be saved, that no matter what it does, it won’t survive.

“I’d like to think it’s still possible. I’ll do my best, Silver. That’s all I can promise.”

“That’s all anyone can promise, mijo.”

They held each other’s gaze for a bit longer than Silver had intended, so he broke the contact and rose. Affection and other romantic feelings needed to be put on hold until he had a better idea of what he was getting himself into. The night before, he’d never wanted to see the pendejo again. Now he was viewing Donovan as potential boy material.

That was a helluva leap in less than a day.

Silver ran both hands across the top of his head as he pondered his next move. He’d only ever played with a few boys, but they’d already been in the lifestyle, and that had been a few years back. Maybe having enough cash put away to provide for a boy had been part of the reason for staying single. But the other part had been waiting for the right one. This time, Silver wasn’t playing.

Take care of business. That comes first.

“Give me your keys so I can pull your car into the garage. Then I want you to come upstairs with me and lie down.” Silver held out his hand, palm up.

Donovan reached into his jacket pocket then froze.

“You want me to what now?”

Silver gestured with his fingers for Donovan to relinquish the keys. “You’ll be coming with me up the stairs to my apartment. The lying down part you’ll be doing by yourself.”

Donovan dropped the keys onto Silver’s palm. “Bummer. But you had me going there for a sec.”

Silver snorted. If Donovan could manage to communicate once in a while without all the joking and not hide, then Silver thought they might stand a small chance of making something happen.

Might.

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