Free The Dangerous Seduction by A N Bond Page B

immediately summons the waitress over for drinks. They drink beers, eat burgers, and keep up a steady stream of conversation, thanks to the football game showing on the TV over the bar. Joseph shows a surprising and impressive familiarity with the NFL, and given his Texas roots, an unsurprising love for the Dallas Cowboys.
    “We used to have a fantasy league,” Joseph says, taking a pull on his beer. “I won three seasons in a row, so the bastards banned me. I was bad for competition apparently. So after I made partner and got my name on the door, I banned all fantasy sports leagues from the office.” He grins around an onion ring, sucking the grease off each finger. “I know, it was kinda shitty of me, but if I wasn’t allowed to take part then nobody was. So, how about you, you ever played in a fantasy league?”
    “Yeah, I was Bailor Hall champion two years in a row,” Ryan says.
    “Bailor Hall, that’s UTD, right?”
    “Uh-huh, that’s right.”
    “Been there a couple of times. Guy I was friendly with back in high school went there,” Joseph says.
    “But not you. ’Cause you went to Harvard.”
    Joseph raises his beer to his lips, cuts him a look. “You know all about me, huh?”
    “Of course, I did my research. I read the papers you published, and the profiles in the Harvard Law Review and the New York Sunday Times supplement. They were very flattering.”
    “They should be. I gave that Times photographer the blowjob of his life.”
    Ryan freezes with his bottle halfway to his mouth. “You… what… are you serious?”
    “I’m always serious about blowjobs.” Joseph’s voice is rich and low, amused, almost teasing.
    “So you… for real? With guys?”
    Joseph doesn’t answer at first, just regards Ryan with a steady kind of look that makes Ryan’s stomach flip over. Ryan swallows and lowers his bottle to the table. The glass clinks against the wood, the sound curiously loud while the noise of the bar around them seems to fade and retreat to the background.
    “Surely a smart guy like you already knows the answer to that, Ryan,” Joseph says. His gaze is as hot and heavy as a touch, and just as deliberate, thrilling in a way that makes it hard for Ryan to catch his breath.
    Joseph drains his beer and turns to beckon the waitress over, signaling for the check. She disappears behind the bar and Ryan watches helplessly as she sashays back toward them, the check on a small black saucer in the middle of her tray. She leans over to deposit it on the table between them, placing one hand lingeringly on Joseph’s forearm. She turns to go, throwing a look over her shoulder as she struts away. Joseph unfolds the check and smirks as he tosses it down on the table between them. There’s a phone number and a name scrawled on the bottom of it in blue ink. Joseph pulls a couple of bills out of his wallet and drops them on the table; then he slides off the stool and snatches up his coat.
    “Let’s go,” he says. He doesn’t take the number, and Ryan is shocked by how happy that makes him feel.
    They walk the two blocks back to the hotel in silence. Joseph smokes another cigarette while Ryan tries to think, attempting to figure out what the hell is going on here. He’s not imagining it; he knows that now. Joseph very deliberately let him know that he’s into guys, and that he might be (that he is ) into Ryan. He can’t fool himself anymore that the thought doesn’t do something to him, make his heart rate quicken and his skin prickle, creating a lurch in his belly that’s both terrifying and exhilarating. It’s the kind of sensation he’s never experienced with Daisy, no matter how much he loves and appreciates her.
    “Let’s have a nightcap,” Joseph says, and from the tone of his voice, Ryan knows that it’s not a suggestion.
    He tags along to the hotel bar. Joseph has a way of entering a room that makes everyone look up and notice him. Sure enough, the bartender and bored-looking waiter