Rolling over to face Hunter, he cupped his face gently. “I don’t want anyone being inside my body who isn’t you — you are all I need. Please don’t bring anyone into our bed.” He breathed a sigh of relief when Hunter smiled.
“I am so glad you said that. I was so afraid I wasn’t enough for you anymore. If you had wanted it, I would have done it for you.”
“I don’t want it. I never did.” Blushing he added, “I grabbed the dildo by accident; I thought it was the whip handle.”
Worry filled Hunter’s eyes and Clay didn’t like the look on his lover’s face. “You didn’t hurt me; I loved every minute of what we did. And one day soon I am sure we will do it again. Many more times.” Clay waggled his eyebrows. “But right now we need to have a nice long nap.”
Chapter Six
Damon was a little more than nervous as he and Hunter made their way to the Davenport estate. He had been here a few times but he always got the heebee-geebee’s when he came here. He was glad today he had Hunter with him. It wasn’t so much he was afraid of being in the house, but he always felt as though someone was watching him. It was the feeling of having their eyes burning into him that freaked him out so much.
“You seem a little nervous. Has Mr. Davenport changed his mind?”
“No, Arthur is all for this. He is the most open minded of his family. Well, there is only him and his brother left. Graham is okay, but he isn’t the same as Arthur. If I didn’t know better, then I would think the man was gay himself, Arthur is… well, you will see when you meet him.”
He watched Hunter’s expressions as they drove through the outskirts of the city and pulled up at the gates of the Davenport Estate. Damon gave him a grin as he leaned out the window and punched in the code for the gates. “Arthur hates all the hoopla, but Graham insists upon it. Graham is the older brother.”
“By the grimace on your face I take it you don’t really get on with Graham?” Hunter asked.
“It’s not that. Graham doesn’t have anything to do with Davenport Diners. He enjoys living the high life the money brings him. The diners are all Arthur. Every time I see Graham he has another nameless woman draped over him. What I don’t approve of is how he doesn’t want to put in the work of running the diners but he has no problem in putting Arthur down at every turn.”
Hunter chuckled and it made Damon blush. “It seems to me someone has a crush on their boss.”
“I do not,” Damon flustered. “I was only pointing out a fact.”
“I believe you but thousands wouldn’t.”
He knew Hunter was only teasing him, but he didn’t want Hunter believing something that wasn’t true. “Arthur may be a good guy, handsome even, and I am lucky to call him my friend. I like him a lot but he is definitely not my type.”
“What is your type?”
Damon was silent as he drove to the front of the house and pulled to a stop. It was time he either admitted out loud to someone other than Arthur, or he denied everything and pushed his preferences deep down inside him. He looked at the open interest on Hunter’s face and decided honesty was the best answer. “I prefer my men to be big and muscly, with lots of hair on their chest. I want someone to love me and not be afraid to let the world know he is with a man.”
Hunter turned in the seat to face him. “And how do you see yourself?”
“Look at me, I am a nerd. I might be brainy and good at my job. I don’t seem to have that special something though. I can’t even manage to dress right. The types of men I prefer don’t seem to be interested in men like me.” He indicated at the boring suit he was wearing.
“Can I say something? And I don’t want you getting all mad at me. If you want to change your style of clothing, get Marlowe and Clay to take you shopping. Marlowe really does have the knack of picking the right things to make a person look good. He does most of the clothes shopping for our house. Mind you, you will need to put aside a whole day as he makes you try everything on.”
“I can’t ask them to help me.”
Hunter shrugged. “Okay, but it is your loss. Marlowe and Clay love shopping.”
Damon thought about it as he climbed out of the car and waited for Hunter to join him. He could already feel the sensation of being watched. He shivered as they began the walk to the front door. Knocking he waited for it to be answered.
Arthur stood smiling just within the front door as they entered. “Please, come inside.” He chatted as he led them through the house to his office which was situated at the back of the house.
“Hello Damon, who is your friend?” Damon cringed as Graham spoke from the sitting room. He was already half soused and the woman lying across his lap giggled as she looked at them from upside down. Her breasts were close to popping out of the top of her very revealing dress. Pulling his gaze away from the pair, he began following Arthur again without even answering Graham. He couldn’t find the energy to waste his breath on Graham.
Taking a seat on the couch which lined the wall in Arthur’s office, he settled back as he waited for the engagement party discussion to begin.
Nervousness rushed through Hunter’s body as he faced Arthur Davenport. This was the first time he had actually come face to face with the owner of the Davenport Diner’s chain. What shocked him was how young and how good looking the man really was. He was only in his mid to late twenties. His blond hair was so white it was resembled the brightness of snow. His eyes were a pale blue, the lashes which framed them were jet black and made him look so innocent, and his lips had a slight pouty look. He wasn’t much bigger than Marlowe and Clay. It was no wonder Arthur wasn’t Damon’s type if Damon preferred muscled men.
“Now Hunter, may I call you Hunter?” Arthur asked as he sat in a winged back chair facing them both on the couch.
Hunter nodded. It seemed stupid to say no considering he had already called him that over the phone. “Hunter’s fine.”
Arthur smiled. “That’s good; I prefer meetings to be informal.”
“So do I.” Hunter relaxed.
“I am very interested in hosting your engagement party; it is a sideline I have recently been looking into starting. I am thinking once we have upgraded the diners, I could look at selling them off and opening some restaurants.”
The confession stunned Hunter and by the look on Damon’s face it had surprised him as well. “If you don’t mind me asking, why would you spend all this money to upgrade just to sell? Why not sell now and put all the money you saved by not upgrading into the restaurants you buy? It’s what I would do.”
Chuckling Arthur answered, “Do you always try and talk yourself out of a job you have already signed contracts for?”
“Honestly, even if you did what I suggested I believe my company can still be of great use to you.”
Damon sat forward. “Isn’t your best friend a chef? I met him the other night — Dextra’s fiancée?”
“Yes, Gene is a chef. He works for Louella’s Family Restaurant. Well he does for the moment. His boss is thinking of bringing in two of his nephews as partners and they are both chefs. He is getting prepared. Marlowe has already revamped his résumé, and has it ready for Gene to send out. If we had the money we would start our own restaurant, where he gets to control it all. He has some great ideas about how a kitchen should be set up.” He focused on Arthur, “If you are serious about getting into restaurants then Gene would be a great person to talk to about it all.”
Arthur’s eyes lit up. “Do you think he would be interested in talking to me about it all? I think I want to pick his brain about how things should be set up.”
“I will give him a call when I get home tonight and give him your number if you want.”
“Good, good.” Arthur clapped his hands. “Now let’s get back to discussing what you came here for.”
“Great,” Damon began. “I think we can do up the diner here in Toowoomba and get someone in to cater for it.”
“You could ask Gene who is a good caterer. It can’t
be Gene, as I am asking him to be my best man,” Hunter said. “Though, he would know who to ask for sure.”
“I have been looking into photographers and have narrowed it down to three different places. I am seeing what their quotes are.”
“What about videoing? See if they can add it into their quotes as well,” Arthur added. “So what are your plans for getting him to the diner, and do you think he will say yes?”
Hunter grinned. “Well I am hoping he says yes, as for how will I get him there I have organised something he will enjoy. I only have a couple of things left to complete.”
“Well are you going to tell us?” Arthur asked.
“If I tell you then you are both sworn to secrecy?”
“Our lips are sealed.” Arthur mimed keying his lips and tossing the imaginary key over his shoulder.
Hunter winked. “Well in that case I have bought many little gifts. On his birthday I am going to get him to go out for something. The person who hands it to him will send him somewhere else where he will receive another gift.”
Arthur beamed, “You’re sending him on a treasure hunt.”
Damon looked confused. “How do you plan on getting him out of the house on his birthday?”
Pointing a finger at Damon he grinned. “The conversation we had in the car has given me an idea. I have Marlowe taking him out for lunch. But for what I have planned he will need to leave the house earlier. I was thinking maybe you could ask Clay and Marlowe to take you clothes shopping.”
“What?”
“Please? You don’t even have to buy much. I need you to get him going all over town to collect his gifts.”
Arthur interrupted. “Won’t Clay expect you to spend the day with him?”
“I kinda fibbed to him a little. I told him I have to work.” He blushed. “I told him you have me meeting with some of the other contractors for the job and I would probably be tied up for most of the day.”
“I can make it a reality. What if we could get this Gene, your friend the chef, to come chat with us?”
“Gene will be there. He, Dextra, and Angelo have all promised to come and help me set up. Damon said we can spend the day rearranging the room to set up and decorate. As soon as we work out who is catering we should find out if they have their own table cloths and place settings et cetera, some companies prefer to use their own, if not we can hire some from the Kramer’s Party Planning.”
“We will have someone come in and remove all the tables we don’t need and set up what we do.” Arthur scratched his head. “I’m not sure if the diner is going to be big enough.”
“I only have four days left. We don’t have enough time to find anything else,” Hunter said.
“I can help you on that one. What if you had the party here? We have a pretty big entertaining room at the back of the house and we can also set up a netted marquee in the back yard off the entertaining room.” Standing up he gestured for them to follow him. “Come on, we can check it out to see if it will work.”
As he led them through house, they ran into Graham who was minus the woman from earlier. Arthur stopped and faced his brother. Hunter wasn’t sure if he cared for him or not — he seemed off. It could be because he was already pissed and it was only nine-thirty in the morning.
“Graham, I hope you don’t mind but I am hosting an engagement party on Valentine’s Day.”
Graham let his gaze wander up and down his brother’s body before chuckling, “I can’t believe you finally found a woman willing to use your body. You sure don’t have the looks to catch one.”
Arthur’s shoulders slumped and Hunter wanted to step in and punch the guy straight in the face for making his brother hurt.
“The party would be for me. Your brother has generously offered to host my engagement. And before you ask, no, I don’t have a woman willing to use my body. I have a man that allows me to love him.” He took a step closer to Graham who stepped back and held up his hands.
“Whoa, hold on He-Man. I was only funning with him,” Graham said with a drunken leer and Damon snorted behind him. “What are you laughing at, you glorified gopher?”
“That’s enough, Graham. I think you need to go and sleep off your drunk.”
“Who made you the boss of me?” Graham’s face flushed red with anger.
“You did,” Arthur replied. “When you forced me into becoming your agent.”
“I didn’t. The courts gave you the privilege after Father died,” Graham snarled.
“Because you couldn’t stay sober long enough to keep control of things yourself.”
Hunter was a little weirded out by witnessing the argument between Graham and Arthur, though he knew he wouldn’t be leaving until after he knew the situation was defused. He didn’t want to leave if there was any chance Graham would physically hurt his brother.
“Whatever,” Graham threw his hands up in the air and stumbled away. “I don’t need this crap. Have your stupid party, but don’t expect me to hang around and play nice.”
They stood and watched as Graham retreated up the stairs and out of sight. Hunter couldn’t believe siblings could act that way. He had always had a great relationship with his sisters. Dextra and Tondra might like to think they rule his life, but deep down he knew no matter what they had his back if he ever needed it. Tondra was even flying home for the engagement party. He studied the hurt and anger mingled on Arthur’s face. “Are you going to be okay? He won’t come back later and bother you will he?”
Arthur waved off his concern. “I may have to live with the ingrate, and call him family, but don’t worry, I have precautions in place to prevent him from actually hurting me. The moment he does anything to harm me, he goes to jail. I stood by him once because it was my father’s last wish. I no longer have Father’s request hanging over me. Graham fails to realise I am the sole heir to all things Davenport. Father may have wanted Graham taken care of, but he didn’t trust him with our legacy.”
“Do you think we should keep the party at the diner? I wouldn’t want to cause more conflict.”
Arthur shook his head. “No, if Graham says he won’t attend then he won’t. He will more than likely go out with one of his women.” He gestured for them to follow him. “Come on, we still have to check out the entertaining room.”
Chapter Seven
Clay woke up and didn’t feel like getting out of bed. It was his damn birthday as well as Valentine’s Day and Hunter was already up and gone. And to make matters worse, he had let Marlowe guilt him into finding Damon the perfect outfit for the hot date he was going on tonight. Okay, seriously, Damon needed all the help he could get in the dress department. But did it have to be today of all days? He was planning on wallowing in bed and drowning his misery with a truckload of chocolate.
“I’m getting up, damn it,” he snapped when someone began banging on the bedroom door.
Marlowe opened the door and stuck his head into the room. “Come on, you have to see this. Somebody really loves you.”
Curiosity got the better of him. He managed to pull on his boxer briefs and a t-shirt before following after Marlowe. He could hear him talking to someone in the kitchen and was surprised when he was wrapped up in his brother’s arms as soon as he entered the kitchen.
“Happy birthday big brother, how does it feel being the big two-three?”
Clay snorted. “It would have been a hell of a lot better if Hunter would have rearranged his meetings so he could have spent the day with me.”
“Don’t be a baby,” Jayden chastised. “Hunter has a business; he has a good reputation. Do you honestly expect him to drop everything and get a black mark against his name?”
“No!” Clay growled.
Marlowe slapped him on the shoulder. “Besides you have us. We can keep you company and cheer you up.”
“Don’t forget Damon,” Clay said. “Aren’t we taking him clothes shopping for his hot date today?”
“Hot date?” Jayden’s eyes lit up. “Can I help?
Are we getting him romance clothes or slutty clothes? Cause seriously the man needs all the help he can get.”
Clay burst out laughing and couldn’t stop as it was the exact same thing he had been thinking earlier. By the time he got himself back under control he saw the huge bunch of flowers sitting on the table with an envelope propped up against it with his name scrawled across the front. He would recognise Hunter’s handwriting anywhere. Opening it up he read,
Clay,
Happy birthday, love, and a very happy Valentine’s Day. Sorry I wasn’t able to be with you today — I promise to make it up to you tonight. I hate to say this, but I have had to make a side trip into Brisbane for a meeting. I grabbed my clothes for tonight in case I run late and I have to meet you at dinner. Don’t forget, I have the limo booked for seven, the driver already knows where to go. Baby, I need you to do me a favour when you are out and about today. I forgot to pick up the gear from Dick Smith. Can you please go in and pick it up for me? Give the person by the counter your name and you are picking up something for Digigraph. I have left money for Marlowe to take you out somewhere special for breaky. See you tonight.
Love you,
Hunter
Clay didn’t know whether to be happy Hunter had left him a huge bunch of flowers — granted they were his favourites, frangipani’s — or to be pissed Hunter expected him to run errands for him on today of all days. Okay, being touched was winning out because he knew he would have run errands for Hunter in a heartbeat. It was something you did for people when you were in a relationship. He couldn’t even count the times he had sent Hunter on some wayward mission.
Turning to Marlowe he said, “When we are out today we have to pick up a package for Hunter at Dick Smith, so don’t let me forget.”
Marlowe picked up his pad and paper. “I am adding it to the list. Damon should be here any second. He is going drive us all around, seeing as we are doing this for him. We will hit Grand Central first, since we need to go to Dick Smith, then we can take it from there. What do you think?”
Hunting for Clay Page 6