Page 3 of You Are Cordially Invited

The room erupted with whoops and more banging on tables, and Gary flushed a bright red—a colour rarely seen on the serious man. He’d garnered a fair bit of attention from Carmen over the evening—she had a well-known taste for silver foxes—but it was all in good fun. Carmen’s own husband, Pete, was in the front row, wearing his usual indulgent smile while knowing he had zero to worry about. The flamboyant queen and the short, stocky, suburban, slightly balding, middle-aged guy were a legend in the gay community for their rock-solid if somewhat unexpected pairing.

Watching Gary splutter, I wondered if Carmen might have pushed things just a bit too far, but then to everyone’s delight, he blew Carmen a kiss and exposed his ankle seductively.

The crowd went wild, and Carmen looked momentarily lost for words. But she recovered quickly. “Well now—” She licked her lips. “—aren’t you just the saucy tart then?”

Gary flushed a deeper shade of scarlet, if that were even possible.

I glanced over to make sure the official party photographer had captured the moment, and he had. Awesome. Gary’s wife was gonna owe me big time. On occasion, she and I had bonded over shopping and noon-o’clock wines while our men did their endless training thing.

Having the wife of the All Black coach on speed dial was no mean thing in the macho world of rugby, especially for a sass-fuelled, card-carrying member of the fabulous-fem-so-fucking-get-over-it gay varietal.Yeah. I might’ve caused a few ripples in rugby’s testosterone-filled lake since Reuben had come out and arrived with me on his arm.

A lot of it was great—the fans, the letters from young gay kids, the chance to shatter some walls and watch a few jaws hit the floor. But the media attention and the crap from the bigoted homophobic bullshit brigade, not so much. Still, it went with the territory.

“On your knees, thirty-three. Open wide, boys.”

“Oh my god,” I choked out, scanning the room. She really was the worst.

“Line!” Ed shouted from behind, so loudly I nearly fell off my chair. I’d almost forgotten he was there. The man was one of the biggest introverts I’d ever met.

When Mark mentioned that he and Josh were going to be a little late to the party due to some burglary case they were working, I’d planted Ed at our table where he could observe all the fun and disappear into the wood panelling if he needed to.

“Look at you.” I high fived him. “But watch out for Carmen’s prizes. The last line winner got a blow-up dildo.”

“Awesome.” Ed’s eyes swam just a little. “You can never be too prepared.” He winked, and I almost choked on my Suck Bang and Blow cocktail.

“Who the hell are you and what are you drinking?” I nodded at his glass.

He grinned like a loon. “Sex on my Face.”

I snorted.Holy shit. Mark was going to have his work cut out for him when he finally got to the party. I’d only seen Ed drunk once before, but man, it had been epic.

I turned back around and almost tumbled off Reuben’s knee, grabbing his hand to steady myself. “I think I’d have less chance of falling if you held me... here.” I placed his palm over my zippered dick. It had enough alcohol roaming its veins to make sure any chance I had of wrecking Reuben’s arse when we got home sat somewhere between zero and zip, but hey, it still felt good.

“I think maybe you’re right.” He slid it between my thighs and—mmm. There was no way he’d get his fingers past that cock blocking waistband, but a fingernail under the balls? Oh boy, yep, that worked a treat.

I dropped my head back on his shoulder and blew one of his long blond waves off my face. “You have excellent ball-handling skills, Mr All Black.” I ran my tongue over my lower lip, which probably didn’t look as sexy as I thought it did upside down.

“You’re looking very contented there, Mr Charge Nurse.”

“The operative word being incharge,sweetheart.” I fired him a wink.

“Of course it is.”

“Sixty-nine, breakfast of champions,” Carmen called out.

“What are you wearing under these?” Reuben dropped his lips to my ear. “I missed watching you dress tonight.”

“Less talk, more nails,” I answered, widening my thighs to give him better access. “And to answer your question, I’m wearing that cute pink jockstrap you bought me last month. The one with the fringe around the top.”

He swallowed hard and bit my ear. “Fuck, I love that thing. How do you feel about a short interlude away from the crowd? Do you think anyone would notice?”

“Yes! They would,” Mathew barked from across the table.

I laughed and poked my tongue out at my brother, then whispered to Reuben, “I think that’s a hard yes to that question, babe, and can you, argh... just a little to the right... to the... mmm... damn, that feels good.”

Reuben chuckled. “You’re a wicked man, Cameron Wano.”

“That’s why you love me, but hey, it’s only two weeks till the wedding.” I turned so I could see those magnetic silver eyes. “Not too late to run, you know.”

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