“You went to culinary school?” Ryan asked.
“Le Cordon Bleu, Las Vegas campus. After that I did a year and a half internship at the Mandalay Bay under the top culinary expert, Chef Christophe Bellanger.”
“Isn’t he that judge from that cake competition on the food channel?”
“One in the same.”
“So, you really are a pastry chef then?”
“What? Did you think I concocted this big ruse just to get you alone at your office since you and Darren left without even saying good-bye?”
“I don’t know, did you?” Ryan asked.
“Well if I did than I must be psychic as well,” Michael said sarcastically.
“How so?”
“Well, seeing as how I’ve been in talks with your company well over four months now, long before I ever even met you. Not to mention, that night at the bar I wasn’t even supposed to be working. My last night was the day before, but my boss called me in a lurch after someone didn’t show and I worked one last shift.”
“So, you and I…Shit, I mean we might not even have met that night?” Ryan questioned him.
“Yep.”
“I see.”
Michael was growing even more impatient with his future boss not treating him with the amount of respect he’d most likely give any other person.
“If you’re satisfied with my credentials now, can I come in and sit down so we can go over things?”
“Oh.” Ryan stepped aside and motioned for him to step inside. “Sorry, come on in and have a seat.”
“Thanks.” Michael sneered.
Ryan closed the office door and walked around to his chair. Before sitting down, he handed Michael a water, which was politely declined. He then sat in his chair and took a deep breath.
“Look, I’m sorry about that. I guess my behavior wasn’t very…”
“Professional? Is that the word you’re looking for?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s fine. Let’s just forget about it.”
“All right. I guess we don’t have much of a choice since we’re going to be working with one another.”
“That’s right,” Michael told him. “So let’s get started.”
He pulled out the menus that he’d gone over with the head guys down in San Antonio. His purpose for the meeting with the Dallas area manager for the restaurant chain was only supposed to be for a meet and greet and not much more.
He would be on and off site from time to time, training each restaurant’s staff of bakers and pastry chefs, but other than occasionally running into one another Michael knew he and Ryan would rarely see one another.
So, why was he sitting here going over a menu that he didn’t need to go over with him and discussing details that were decided upon over a month ago?
After thirty minutes of chitchat disguised as necessary business talk, Michael was running out of things to say and could swear that Ryan’s eyes were boring a hole right through him with the intensity of his stare. He could almost feel them smoldering.
All it did was remind him that much more of how hot their night had been together. Ryan and Darren had been Michael’s first and only three-way. Not to mention the first sex he’d had in a very long time after spending years focusing on nothing but his career.
“Well.” Michael closed his file folder and sat back in his chair. “I think that’s everything. Your bosses and I worked out pretty much all of the details a while back. They just wanted me to meet with all the district and general managers.”
“Oh, of course.” Ryan agreed. “Have you already met with Rico?”
“Rico?” Michael asked.
“Salvatore. The general manager here at the chop house.”
“Oh. He’s on my list, but I was told he was away on vacation and wouldn’t be back until next week.”
“Oh right.” Ryan nodded. “Don’t know how I forgot about that. He runs a tight ship around here, so even with him gone you’d never know it.”
“Sounds like a good chef,” Michael stated.
“He is.”
They each sat there, staring at one another, the awkwardness of the moment growing by the second.
“So…I guess that’s it then,” Michael said before standing up.
“Oh. Okay.” Ryan stood up and came around to the other side of the desk. “Well, I’m sorry for the way I greeted you. I was just…surprised.”
He nodded. “Yeah. I was surprised, too. Just a little bit more pleasantly than you were.”
Michael turned away, not wanting Ryan to see the disappointment on his face. He may have fallen hard for the two mysterious strangers who seduced him a month earlier, but it was obvious the moment and that night had been fleeting.
“I really am sorry,” Ryan told him before he left.
Michael turned. “For what?”
“I just didn’t expect to see you standing there when I opened that door.”
He shrugged. “I guess not all surprises are good ones.”
Ryan hung his head and expelled a deep breath of part exhaustion and part shame. “I’m sorry. It’s not you.”
“That might be more believable if you could even look at me,” Michael told him.
Ryan looked up at him and said the words again, only quieter this time. “It’s not you.”
“You may say that, but…it sure feels like me.”
Michael turned away. His ego that had been swollen with pride and satisfaction after that one night was slowly deflating into a limp pile of nothingness.
Ryan came up behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Wait. Don’t go like this. I don’t want you to think…”
“What?” Michael turned his head back to face him.
“I know I treated you horribly when I first opened that door, but I swear to you I’m telling the truth now. It’s not you.”
“Then why does it feel like it is?”
“Probably because I’m a jackass.”
Michael turned completely around and placed his hand on the side of Ryan’s face. He reacted by closing his eyes and leaning into his touch.
“Don’t do this,” Ryan whispered.
“Don’t do what?” Michael asked. “Touch you?”
Ryan’s eyes opened. They looked tortured and confused. “You don’t understand.”
“You keep saying that, but you won’t explain why or how.”
Ryan lifted his hand and covered Michael’s hand with his own. “I know how you must feel, but please—”
“Trust me. You have no idea what I’m feeling right now.”
“You’re right.” Ryan said, “I don’t know how you’re feeling. And I can only imagine how pissed you were by the way I treated you when you got here. But, you have to know that I really am sorry. I was just surprised. I never thought I’d see you again. Neither of us did.”
“Is that why you both left me there in your room without so much as saying good-bye?”
“What do you mean?”
“Is it that you didn’t expect to see me again, or hoped you never would?” Michael asked directly.
“I don’t have an answer to that.”
“Who would? If not you, then who? Darren?”
Ryan shook his head. “I don’t know. We haven’t really been…It doesn’t matter. I just don’t know. All I know is we didn’t plan on that night happening. And once it did. It was like—”
“It changed everything?”
Ryan nodded. “Yes. It did.”
“I think something happened to us all that night, Ryan.”
“I know, but that doesn’t mean it can happen again.”
Michael was stunned and hurt by Ryan’s blunt rejection. He pulled his hand away and turned to leave. “I see.”
“Don’t. Please,” Ryan pleaded with him.
“Don’t what?”
“Act disappointed,” he answered.
“Sorry, I can’t do that. That night I shared with you and Darren was incredible. I’m not going
to lie to you and say that I’m glad it will never happen again. I want it again. I want you again. But, apparently the feeling isn’t mutual. So it is what it is.”
“I never said that.”
“Umm…yeah, you just did,” Michael reminded him.
“No. I said it couldn’t happen again. I never said it wasn’t amazing. And I certainly never said I didn’t want…” Ryan ran his hands through his hair. “It doesn’t matter what I want.”
“Ryan? Look at me.”
“I never wanted this to happen.”
Michael ran his fingers along Ryan’s jawline and brushed his thumb across his chin. “You never wanted what to happen? That night? Or this?”
Michael didn’t give Ryan a chance to answer. He leaned in and pressed his lips softly against Ryan’s. It wasn’t greedy or desperate, it was gentle and full of invitation, but Michael refused to push him any further than he was willing to go.
They both lingered there, their mouths fused together as the heat between them began to rise. After a minute Ryan pulled away and dropped his forehead against Michael’s. “Jesus.”
“Jesus, good? Or Jesus, bad?” Michael asked.
“Please don’t ask me that.”
“Too late. I already did.”
“The truth?” Ryan’s voice sunk low and husky with each heavy breath that he took. “It was so good.”
Michael looked up at his eyes, a mere whisper away from his own, and forced himself to bottle up the relief he felt from Ryan’s admission. His deep and hypnotic green eyes stared back at him. The anger that filled his words when he had first arrived was no longer there. Only desperation remained, and Michael wanted desperately to tap into that neediness he saw staring back at him.
“Where do we go from here?” Michael asked.
“I don’t know. I never expected to see you again. I thought…Does it even matter? You’re here now.”
“I am.”
Ryan lifted his arms and cupped the sides of Michael’s face in his hands. “I shouldn’t want you like this.”
“But you do. And so do I.”
Ryan closed his eyes and whispered. “I don’t know what to do.”
“What do you want to do?”
“Everything.” He opened his eyes. “God help me. Everything.”
Every ounce of strength Michael had was quickly dwindling away into nothing but a memory. He never expected to see Michael again either. But here he was and he had to imagine that Darren was somewhere close by. As taboo as it may be for some, Michael wanted them both. He wanted to feel their naked bodies, touch their hot skin, and feel their tongues against his cock while they fucked until the morning light.
Michael crushed his lips against Ryan’s for a second time, but this time it was more demanding and filled with intent. He swallowed any words he might have wanted to say and stole Ryan’s breath. He needed this kiss to prove to himself there was a chance to have more with him, with Darren. The two of them had flooded his dreams, both awake and asleep for week now. He wasn’t going to take this opportunity for granted for a second.
After a long while Ryan pulled away breathlessly. “Wait. I can’t do this right now. That night was incredible, but I’m with Darren. I need some time. To talk to him and…sort some things out.”
“Of course. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. It’s just a lot to take in right now.”
The two of them stood silently together, staring into one another’s eyes for what seemed like an eternity. Michael forced himself to step away, knowing full well that his libido would kick into overdrive if he stayed for even a second longer.
Ryan didn’t say anything as Michael turned and walked out the office door. He took his steps purposely slow, hoping and waiting for Ryan to say anything to keep him from leaving, but the words never came.
Michael walked down the hall toward the service elevator and stepped inside. Once the metal doors closed and he felt the distance between them become even greater, he sank against the side of the car and allowed his heart to start beating again.
He didn’t know how it was possible, but somehow between one drunken night and over twelve hundred miles he finally found what he had always wanted. The fact that it was two men instead of just one was of little consequence to him. He couldn’t dictate what he wanted any more than he could change the color of his skin. He wanted Ryan and Darren, and he would do whatever he had to in order to make them both his.
Chapter Seven
Ryan walked into his house, annoyed and frustrated with how complicated his life had become. Here he’d considered calling Darren just as Ian had suggested. Then he’d been dealt that twist of fate with coming face-to-face with Michael, and suddenly he couldn’t find a single word to say to Darren.
He needed to take a shower and wash away some of the stress of his day. The ride home in rush hour traffic had taken much longer than normal thanks to a three-car pileup, and even with the air conditioning blowing on him, that didn’t alleviate the hot sun beating down on his dark slacks through his non-tinted windows.
While he walked toward his bedroom he took his clothes off along the way. His normal obsessive-compulsive housekeeping seemed less important the past few days. He hadn’t even washed a dish since last weekend.
After turning on the water, he purposely jumped in immediately, knowing full well it took a few seconds before the warm water kicked in. He didn’t mind the jolt of icy water against his skin. He hoped it would provide some relief to his discombobulated emotions.
He wasn’t sure if he was angry, sad, or glad. For the past few weeks he had been chiding himself over that night with Michael. He told himself countless times that he would have done anything to undo what they did. Now, after seeing Michael again, he couldn’t help but want him just as much as he had that night. The idea of it all was crazy. He was in love with Darren. There was no one else in the world for him but Darren. At least, that was what he used to think.
“Damn it!” His voice echoed in the empty room.
He fucking missed Darren. His cock ached for him constantly, and he was becoming sick and tired of jerking off. Ryan wanted to feel him again, but damn it if he wasn’t now picturing Michael in the mix as well.
All the liquor in the world didn’t take away from what he felt that night. His memories were not vivid. They were real, and full in his mind.
Ryan dropped his head back against the tile and recalled the sight of Darren and Michael, both of them naked, hard and desperate for him. What he wouldn’t give to be able to suck Darren’s cock while Michael was fucking him from behind. He missed the way Darren’s thick dick felt against his tongue. And he loved the way Michael’s dick filled him, so thick and heavy, swollen with his cum.
He allowed his whole body to slink against the wall. His body was drained. Emotionally he felt like he’d been put through the ringer and yet he somehow felt like there was more to come.
The cool water was beginning to warm up. The combination of the steam and his wandering thoughts were doing nothing to assuage his neglected libido. He was in agony over what was happening to his relationship to Darren. And now that Michael was here, in Texas, back in Ryan’s life, he had no idea what the hell he was going to do. There was no describing their connection with one another. Today in his office had proven that.
For weeks he’d been worrying over the possibility that he may have lost Darren. That possibility hurt him more than he could even comprehend. Yet in spite of having that on his mind, he couldn’t help but allow his mind to go back to that kiss he’d shared with Michael just hours before.
As wrong as it may be, Ryan would give anything for just one more night with Darren and Michael. Just like they were that night. Hot, naked, and writhing for one another as if tomorrow didn’t even exist. That’s what he wanted. God help him. That was what he needed.
The more he thought about it, the more his mind got sucked into the memory of how incredible it had been. They were sucking and fuckin
g one another, taking turns, making sure that they prolonged the pleasure for one another.
Even though they didn’t know Michael, he already knew what to do with them, just like they knew what to do with him. No words were needed, only their bodies and minds.
The pleasure they brought one another seemed unreal, like the kind that no one before them had ever experienced and no one after them would feel again.
His shower was filled with steam. Droplets of liquid heat dripped down his body until it covered his cock. Beads of steamy moisture slid down his length and licked at his balls. His hand moved down, joining the wet seduction that was making his dick hard.
He closed his fist around his shaft, stroking slowly, wishing that it was anything other than his hand which enveloped his hardness.
Fuck, but he wanted Darren. He could almost taste the memory of his cum. There was so much he wanted to do, and yet so much that he wasn’t sure if he was still entitled to taking.
He continued working his hand up and down, stroking and trying to swallow the giant lump in his throat. His body was on fire, but his heart fucking hurt. He wanted Darren back. Not just his body, but who they used to be when they were together.
An eerie feeling came over him, and the hairs on the back of his neck prickled up at attention. He turned his head, looking toward the bathroom door and through the steam saw a piece of his dream coming true.
Darren stood just inside the room, his eyes locked on Ryan’s cock as he said, “Don’t stop.”
Ryan did as he was asked. He kept his cock fisted in his grasp and moved it up and down in a painfully slow motion as Darren began to walk toward him. With every step that he took, Darren removed more of his clothes. First his T-shirt, then his jeans, and finally his undergarments.
The shower door opened and Darren stepped inside. Ryan looked down and saw one of the very things he was desperately wishing for. Darren’s cock was thick and hard, standing up at attention and just as beautiful as Ryan remembered it to be. Possibly even more so.
Ryan forgot about their debacle of a dinner date the night before. He forgot about the weeks they’d spent together but virtually apart. He forgot about it all and focused only on what was right in front of him.
What Happens in Vegas (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting ManLove) Page 5