by DHP Authors
“Hot.”
“Yeah, I got that, but it’s not much to go on. Could you give me a little more than that?”
“Okay. Okay. He was tall with black hair and green eyes with gold flecks and his eyes sparkled.”
I snorted. “His eyes sparkled?”
“Yeah, you know, like he was teasing you, or knew a secret or something.”
“Did he say what he wanted? Was he selling something?” By this time, I had unlocked the door, and we were inside the building, our footsteps echoing on the old hardwood floor.
“He said that he needed to speak to the owner, and that he needed some help with some research.”
“And? God, Barb, this is like pulling teeth. Did he say anything else?” I was firing these questions at her as if this total stranger mattered. She was sharp. In about two seconds, it was going to occur to her that I was way too interested in this guy.
Barbara narrowed her eyes and in the next breath she did just that. As I said, nothing gets past her. “Why do you care? Do you know who he is? Have you been keeping secrets from me?”
“No, hell no. Just curious, that’s all.”
“Yeah, right. How long have we known each other? You’ve never shown that much interest in a stranger before.” She stared straight into my eyes. “Unless, of course, you know something else about him, like maybe you were expecting him to show up here today.”
Looking around the room to assure myself that no one else had come in, I glared back at her. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“You know what I’m talking about—those special powers of yours. The ones you inherited from your little Irish grandmother.”
“Special powers?” I snorted. “You act like I have X-ray vision or something. Besides I’ve told you that we never speak of that in a public place.”
“Will you look around you? There’s nobody here but us.”
“I know, but you, of all people, know how my sister and I have fought to keep this quiet all our lives. I don’t want people coming to me wanting to know the winning lottery numbers or whether they’ll meet the love of their life. We have a gift and I won’t have it turned into a carnival sideshow.”
“I know. I’m sorry. I remember how your grandmother was treated and how people said that she was a witch, but they always went to her when they wanted something.”
“I know, and she always tried to help them, but this is not an exact science, you know. If things didn’t work out to their satisfaction, they would blame her. That always hurt her because she told them going in that it might not be as she saw it, that it was subject to interpretation. Erin hated seeing her hurt. That’s why she left after college and never came back.”
It was harder on Erin than me. She decided that the anonymity of a big city was best for her so she had moved to Dallas and made a life for herself that didn’t involve “special powers” as Barbara called them. For now, though, I needed to know about the so-called handsome stranger, so I turned to Barbara again. “We got a little off track here, didn’t we?”
“Oh, yeah, the visitor. He said to tell you that he was interested in some books that you bought at an estate sale a few months ago, and that he’d be back later.”
“Oh, okay.” I looked at Barbara again because she had started to fidget a bit. “What is the matter with you? I know that you’ve got something else on your mind, so spit it out.”
“You know or you know?”
“Oh, God. I haven’t had any premonitions about you, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“Well, it kinda was. Listen, Mark says that there is a new girl at the office that you might hit it off with. She’s smart and funny and nice-looking, but that last part is Mark’s opinion, so take it with a grain of salt. Anyway, I—we thought that it might be fun to go out to dinner together over the weekend. What do you think?”
I sighed heavily. Now, I knew the real reason she was here so early. I was so tired of this. “I think that you need to quit trying to find a woman for the poor old bachelor bookstore owner, and I’ll bet I don’t wish it more than Mark. Are you just after him twenty-four-seven to find me someone? Barb, we grew up together. You know the score and, truth be told, Mark probably does, too. It’s surely the reason he never seems to mind that you and I hang out so much together. You’re a beautiful woman and he’d be jealous of our relationship if he didn’t.”
“Oh, pooh. Mark doesn’t know anything that I don’t tell him. If it doesn’t involve golf or football, he’s oblivious to it.”
“Yeah, right. Ole Mark is sharper than you give him credit for. Anyway, you know that I’m gay—not bi—and I’m never going to get married, so drop it. You just do this because you don’t have Erin here to matchmaker for. Now, if you or Mark are inclined to find me a handsome, smart man, I’ll entertain the invitation to dinner.”
“Can you see Mark setting you up with a guy?”
“No, I can’t, and more’s the pity. Since it’s almost St. Patrick’s Day and I’m a good little Irish boy, maybe a leprechaun will show up and give me three wishes. Then, we could have a menage a quatre.”
“You are so disgusting.” She was laughing.
“Yeah, I know. It’s part of my Irish charm. Anyway, please no more dinner dates, but I would enjoy going out with you and Mark sometime. He’s a good guy and fun to be with.”
“Okay. Maybe the hunk will come back today and maybe he’ll be gay and we can all go out this weekend. If not, the three of us will do something.” She looked at her watch and leaned over to give me a kiss on the cheek. “Gotta go. I can’t be late for a conference with the nuns. They still scare the hell out of me just like when we were in school.”
I laughed. “I know. Sister Mary Margaret couldn’t stand me. I think that she always suspected that there was something not quite right about me. Which one of your kids is it this time? Or maybe I should ask, which nun do you have to talk to?” I was thinking to myself that it could be any one of them. Barbara’s kids were hellions and the local Catholic elementary school was strict.
“Mary Margaret.” She tossed that information over her shoulder as she hurried out the door, and laughed at me when I shuddered.
I got busy after Barbara left and mostly forgot about the mysterious stranger with the sparkling eyes. I got on my computer to look at my website, checking on some books I’d listed for sale to see if anyone had expressed interest. Two first editions, one a Mark Twain and one a Dickens, had received offers from reputable buyers that I’d dealt with before. I returned their emails, accepting the lucrative offers and advising when the books would be mailed.
After making the mailing arrangements, I only had to wait until I verified that the money was in the bank. Then I could send the books on their way. A few customers drifted in and out during the afternoon and finally, it was time to close. I’d been tired all day and couldn’t wait to get home to relax and maybe have an early night.
I stopped on my way home to pick up a pizza and a six-pack of beer, thinking to myself that I was pushing thirty and if I didn’t change my eating habits, I wouldn’t have my own six-pack much longer. Then, if my dream man showed up, he wouldn’t be interested.
I was tired, so I made it an early night, and fell asleep wondering if my dream man would show up.
****
“Hey, come back to bed.” A deep voice commanded from the shadows. “What are you looking at, anyway?”
I was standing at the window, looking off in the distance, and turned to look in the direction of the voice, but all I could see was a large shape in the darkness. Just the thought of crawling into bed with the man was making my cock grow harder, but I turned back toward the window to look toward the mountains.
“It’s the will-o-the-wisp.”
“The what?”
I heard a rustling from the direction of the bed and then, two strong arms closed around me from behind and a hard cock was pressing against my ass. Not a bad
thing. In fact, it felt so good that I lost my train of thought for a minute as I leaned back against a warm, hard body. “Huh? Oh, the will-o-the-wisp. My grandmother always told my sister and me that they were fairy lights. Seeing them usually meant one of two things—either to warn of danger to a close family member or as an omen of one’s destiny. I thought that you were an Irish boy. You should know this.”
I felt a hand reach down and grasp my dick. Then, that voice whispered in my ear. I know this…come back to bed and I’ll show you your destiny.”
Those wicked fingers moved slowly up and down about three times before letting go and rubbing up my stomach and across my chest.
“Come on,” the voice whispered again.
I turned my head and rubbed my face against the lips that were so close to my ear a minute ago. He nuzzled my cheek and neck before turning and leading me toward the bed, which we both fell onto at the same time. We were facing each other, rubbing against each other and the friction felt wonderful. I felt one of his hands kneading my ass before a finger slid into my crease and began teasing my hole. I groaned and pushed back against that finger. He threw a leg over mine and pulled me closer, still grinding our cocks together and sliding that damn finger inside me and out again. He kissed me, sliding his tongue into my mouth in exploration. That did it. I couldn’t hold back anymore and, apparently, he couldn’t either. Ten seconds after I started to come, so did he.
Something warm and wet woke me up. I looked down at my chest. Jesus, I had cum all over me. Goddamn it, I was too old to be having wet dreams. That was the best sex I’d ever had, though, and, damn it, it wasn’t real. I got up off the sofa, heading for the shower and thinking that maybe I was seeing the future. Hope springs eternal and all that.
After my shower and some toast and coffee, I was on my way to the store. Though I had been trying since I woke up with cum all over me to get that dream out of my mind and focus on something else, I had not been successful. Every night the dream became more vivid and the man more real. God, I hoped he was real because as time progressed, it had started to feel more like we were in love, not just having hot sex.
I pulled into the small parking lot beside the store, seeing no other cars there and happy for that. I needed some time to get my mind focused on something besides D... I almost thought of his name. It started with a D, but that’s all I was able to get. Damn, this was frustrating. What the hell good is this gift if I can’t make it work all the time, and especially if I can’t make it work for me?
Finally, just before lunch, I realized that I had been busy enough with the website and a couple of customers, to get my mind off my dream lover. I was actually thinking of the merits of Burger King as opposed to McDonald’s when the bell over the front door jangled. I looked up to see the most ruggedly handsome man I’d ever laid eyes on walking toward me. My throat went dry and I thought Dylan. My next thought was, he has to be straight and married because I would never be so lucky as to have somebody like him walk into my store and find out he was gay.
“Are you the owner of the store?”
My mouth was so dry I didn’t know if I could even answer him, so I nodded just in case I was unable to utter a sound. Now, understand, I’m not exactly a troll myself, and I’m even considered by some to be quite handsome and witty. Standing in front of this gorgeous specimen, however, had reduced me to a speechless clod with a less than attractive countenance. Not only that, I was almost certain that I’d heard that voice before. Dylan.
“Y-yes, this is my store.” Since it appeared that my speech had been restored, I continued, “Can I help you with something?”
“God, I hope so. I’ve been searching for a diary that belonged to my great-grandmother. It was apparently sold at an estate sale with a large number of other books and it should never have been included in the sale. When I realized what had happened, I started looking for who might have bought it.”
“And you think that I may have it?”
He smiled and my stomach did a flip flop. God Almighty, what was wrong with me? He stared at me intensely, before saying, “I’m almost sure that you do.”
“Why is that?”
“Well, I was able to track a few other people who bought books that day and none of them had it. As you can imagine, I was furious with the lawyer who arranged the sale and made him show me all of the receipts. You were the only one who bought several boxes of books and thankfully, you paid with a check. I was able to get the name of the bookstore and the address from that and here I am. Finding you and your store is like finding the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. I’m sure that it’s here. I don’t know why, but I am.”
There was that dazzling smile again. I’d bet that he could get almost anything he wanted with that smile. Then, of course, there was that black hair and those green eyes with the gold flecks (Barbara’s description) and the long black lashes (my description), not to mention a hot, muscular body. One thing was sure, he could have just about anything he asked for from me.
“I’ll try to help you, if I can. Where was the sale?”
“About twenty miles from here, out in the country, the Brady home.”
“You said this was your grandmother’s place?”
“Yes, but it’s my great-grandmother’s diary that I’m looking for.” He smiled again, and Barbara was right. His eyes did sparkle. “Oh, Lord, I’m sorry. I never introduced myself. I’m Dylan Brady.”
Of course. He held out his hand to shake mine and as soon as our hands touched, I knew. This was him, the man that had been haunting my dreams. I looked into his eyes for a long moment and saw recognition there too. Whatever this was, he felt it, just like I did. I cleared my throat and introduced myself. “Nice to meet you, Dylan, I’m Egan O’Hara.”
“Well, we’re a couple of Irish boys, huh? That is, if you go by our names.”
“Yes. My family is very proud of its heritage. I have a twin sister named Erin.”
Dylan laughed. “What else could she have been named, but Erin?”
I laughed, too. “You are so right. Listen, I did buy a couple of boxes of books from that estate sale, but I haven’t even unpacked them yet. I close the store at five o’clock, so if you want to come back then, we’ll go to the storage room and have a look through them.”
“I’d love to, but I don’t want to hold you up here after closing time.”
Thinking to myself that it wasn’t like I had any kind of life or reason to hurry home, I said, “Oh, I don’t mind. I need to go through those boxes, and I’ve just been putting it off, so this gives me a good excuse to get started on them.”
“Okay, if you’re sure.” At my nod, he said, “I’ll see you at five, then.”
****
I spent the afternoon watching the hands of the clock crawl around the dial. It was like being in some kind of time warp in which each hour took one hundred and twenty minutes to get to the next one. Finally, at a quarter to five, the bell over the door announced a visitor. I looked up and saw Dylan and smiled.
“I’m a few minutes early, but I didn’t think you’d mind.”
“No, not at all. As a matter of fact, I’ll just go ahead and close and we’ll get busy on those boxes.”
“Great, but don’t close early on my account.”
I laughed. “Look around. I don’t exactly have a full house here. It won’t make a difference one way or another.”
Dylan laughed and followed me to the storeroom, watching as I pulled out two large boxes marked Brady Estate.
“Do you know what the diary looks like?”
“No, I’ve never seen it. All I know is that it’s supposed to contain the solution to an old family mystery.”
“Really?” I was certainly intrigued now. I loved nothing better than a good mystery. Well, maybe one thing better. There was a long table on the other side of the room so I picked up one box and started toward it. “Let’s empty the boxes out on this table. It’ll make it
easier to go through the books that way.”
He lifted the other box and brought over to the table. “I’ll hand you the books and you sort them on the table. That way we’ll kill two birds with one stone, as the saying goes, and you won’t have to sort through them again.”
“Good idea. As you could see when you came in, I’m usually too busy to get this done.”
He snorted. “It’s none of my business, but why do you keep the store open if it’s always this slow?”
“This was a family business and has been here forever. It was once fairly lucrative, but ebooks are the future, not print books. Most of my business now is internet, dealing in old and rare books. I keep the store open to have a place to keep the books and, I guess, a little of it is sentimental. I have fond memories of helping my dad unload shipments and take inventory, grousing about it the whole time, but now I treasure those memories.”
“So, your dad has passed?”
“Both parents. It’s just my sister and me now.”
“My dad’s gone, but thankfully, I still have my mom. I have a younger brother, too, but we’re not really close.”
“That’s a shame. Maybe because we’re twins, my sister and I are very close. How old is your brother?”
“He’s twenty-eight.”
My age. “How old are you?” I knew that I was asking a lot of questions, but I couldn’t seem to stop myself. This was Dylan, the man from my dreams and I wanted, no needed, to know everything about him, all at once.
“I’m thirty-one.”
Perfect. He must think that I’m the nosiest person in the world, though. “I’m sorry for asking so many questions. I’m not normally so rude, so just tell me that it’s none of my business or something.”
“Don’t worry about it, Egan, I have one for you now. Are you married?”
“No, I’m gay.” Talk about putting it right out there. I just decided on the spur of the moment that I might as well get that over with.
He smiled, the dazzling smile. “Really? Of course, these days that doesn’t mean you couldn’t be married, but I’m glad you’re not. How old are you?”