Page 5 of Leather and Longing
Aw, come on. At least we have Pride here now, right?That was definitely a step in the right direction.
“So you don’t even know what this Adam is like?” Sam asked.
“Apart from being a rude bastard, y’mean?” Paul took a long drink of his beer before continuing. He brought up an image of Adam in his mind. “Not that he looked once in my direction, you understand. But actually, from what I saw of him, Imightconsider him good looking.” Those black curls, fair, creamy complexion, the toned arms… Paul had found himself wanting to see the eyes behind those dark glasses.
“Oh, do I detect a hint of attraction?” Mark was smirking. “C’mon, you can tell us. Is he sexy?”
Paul nearly spluttered his beer all over the table. He coughed vigorously.
Sam grinned. “I think that’s a yes, love.” He leaned against Mark’s shoulder, his eyes dancing with amusement. Mark chuckled.
Paul wiped his mouth and watering eyes, and stared at them both, shaking his head. “Will you two stop it? I swear, you’re always trying to hook me up with someone.”
“That’s ’cause you need a man,” Sam told him in earnest. His fingers tightened around Mark’s. “And besides, it would make working for him all the more interesting if there was a little… spark between you.”
Paul regarded them with affection. He’d become friends with Mark when he’d come back to the island after college. He’d been looking for a decent hairdresser, and someone had recommended a new salon that had opened in Ryde, Make Your Mark. Paul had gone to investigate and had met one of the owners. At twenty-three, Mark Horrocks had seemed veryyoung to have his own salon, but once they’d got talking, all had become clear. The salon was a joint venture with another hairdresser, Sonia, and the business was doing well.
It hadn’t taken long during Paul’s first visit to work out Mark was gay, though the sight of Sam coming in at lunchtime and kissing Mark on the cheek might have had something to do with it. None of the customers batted an eyelid, and it quickly became evident that the ladies who frequented the salon were very fond of the couple. Then he’d learned Sam was a computer games designer and a very successful one.
And after a few visits, Paul and Mark had become good friends.
He sighed. “Not everyone is as lucky as you two, you know that, right?” He envied them. Sam and Mark were a good fit and obviously in love. “And as for making my job more interesting, I think I’m gonna have more than enough to cope with, without complicating things further.” He relayed what Adam’s sister had told him.
Mark’s eyes widened. “Whoa. Yousureyou want to work for this bloke? He sounds like he’s gonna go out of his way to make things difficult for you.”
“I’m with Mark,” Sam said, his voice soft, his brow creased. “And the way you were talking just now, you seem to have already accepted you’re going to fail at this.”
That gave him pause. “You’re right,” he said after a moment. “I’m letting him get the better of me before I’ve even begun.”
And that’s not like me.
“That’s better.” A note of satisfaction crept into Mark’s voice. “You need to go in there on Monday, determined to take all this guy can throw at you, andthensome.” He grinned. “You show this Adam what you’re made of.”
“Where is the house again?” Sam asked, taking a drink of his beer.
“You know Steephill Cove, right?”
They both chuckled. “We go there often,” Mark said. “Sam and I like to have lunch at the Beach Shack.”
Sam laughed. “Yeah, even if Andy complains that the café is overrun with gays.” When Paul quirked an eyebrow, he explained. “Well, there’s us, and then there’s Taylor and his hubby David. Ever since David wrote one of his gay romance novels set in Steephill, Andy says more and more gay couples are turning up.”
Paul had known Taylor Monroe and his tight-knit group of friends vaguely from high school, but he’d become close friends with the owner of Cove Kayaks when he’d started using its services a few summers ago. David Hannon, Taylor’s husband, was an American author who’d come on a visit to Steephill a couple of years ago. He’d fallen in love with the horseshoe bay—and with Taylor. Once he’d made the move permanently to the UK, it hadn’t taken long before he and Taylor had announced their plans to marry. Paul had been a guest at their wedding. They lived in the bay and Paul knew David liked to sit and write in the café.
Yet another loved-up couple. Must be something in the air.Or maybe in the cove itself.
Whatever it was, Paul seemed to have missed out on it. He shrugged off the thought.
Right now I don’t have time for romance.It looked as if Adam was going to take up all his time and attention.
“Does Adam live in the cove?” Mark asked.
“You know the big house up on the cliff that overlooks the bay?”
He frowned for a second or two and then his forehead smoothed out. “Yeah, Cliffside.” He snorted. “Nowthere’sa name that took some imagination to come up with.”
“It’s a lovely house,” Sam said with a sigh. “The views from up there must be spectacular.”
“Oh, they are,” Paul agreed. When both men gazed at him, he smiled. “That’s where Adam lives.”
