“I’m so sorry.” Kyle closed the distance between them.
Manny couldn’t get his legs to move away. When Kyle’s arms closed around him, Manny realized he hadn’t been able to let the loss be real until that moment. What perfect fucking timing. He took a deep, shaky breath. “It’s fine. I’m good.”
“She loved you. I wish I could have been there.”
“It was a small service. Just her boyfriend and his family, the few friends who are still around.”
“Let me drive you to work,” Kyle said, opening the passenger door. “That’s where you’re going, right?”
Manny thought for a second about getting into Kyle’s car. What were the rules here? When Kyle said that he had to stop seeing Manny, that it would be just too hard to be around him without wanting more, Manny had thought he’d seen the last of Kyle Hunter. But only two months later here Kyle was with the exact opposite agenda. The worst part was the way every cell in Manny’s body needed to get into that car.
“Hey,” Wilson called from the window of his Mercedes as he exited the garage. “Don’t wait up tonight.”
Manny flipped him the middle finger and Wilson just laughed, turning his car into traffic.
“Who was that?” Kyle asked.
“Nobody. Let’s go.” Manny ducked inside the BMW.
Kyle stared after the gray sedan, looking like he could skin Wilson alive. Manny’s cock twitched, noting the predatory set to Kyle’s jaw as he rounded the hood to the driver’s side.
“Nobody seems like a real asshole.” Kyle said and got behind the wheel.
“I can handle him.”
“No doubt. I know exactly what you can handle.” Kyle shifted his gaze to Manny, and his expression softened. “I wanted to give you the security passes for mom’s fundraiser. You are coming, right?”
“I’ll be there.”
“You know you still have family.”
“Do I?” Manny knew what he meant. How many holidays had he spent with the Hunters after breast cancer finally took his mother? Just yesterday, he’d wondered if he’d ever see any of them again.
“Always. I meant it when I said I’d been a complete ass. I’ll always be here for you.”
“That means a lot.”
“Do you think about it? You know…us?”
Manny sighed. “Fucking all the time, man.”
They stopped at a light. Kyle slid his hand onto Manny’s thigh and into his crotch. Manny took it and placed it back on the gearshift with a weak shake of his head.
“The girl?”
“Partly.”
“She must be something. I mean, how long have you known her?”
“Not long.”
“Is she good for you?”
Manny shifted his eyes and then found the strength to look back into his searing gaze. “You mean is she better for me than you?”
“I mean, are you happy?”
“Don’t ask me that. I want something I can’t have. I have something I shouldn’t want. Does that sound like a happy situation?”
Kyle tilted his head. “It sounds totally fucked up.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Am I the ‘can’t have’ or the ‘shouldn’t want’?”
“Fuck, dude. You’re a little of both.”
Kyle suddenly pulled to the curb. He threw the car into park and shifted toward Manny. “I came out to my mother.”
Manny’s eyes widened. “No fucking way. When?”
“A couple of days ago. She didn’t even really freak over it. I think I heard her mumble something about the gay vote. Fucking typical.”
“And your dad? What did he say?”
Kyle tucked his chin and pressed the corners of his mouth downward in the perfect impression of his father’s signature indignation. “Since when does anyone consult me on these matters?”
“Oh, man. Sometimes I just feel sorry for you and that gene pool of yours.”
Kyle laughed. “Yeah, well anyway I’m out. I told them I’m gay.”
“Are you gay? What about when that girl I was seeing sophomore year at Annapolis wanted to try out a threesome?” He paused. “And when I wanted to do it again with the girl I dated senior year.”
“I hooked up here or there but mostly the women I slept with in college were dating you.”
“You don’t really like women?”
“Dude, you know firsthand how much I like women. You were inches away, remember? Guess that makes me bi, but gay was just easier to explain to my mother. Anyway, there was just something extra special about sharing a woman with you, even if it was just for fun. Kind of left me wishing it could always be like that.”
“Shit. Why does that make sense to me?”
“Because we’re two peas in a pod, you dummy.”
Manny cut him a slanted smirk and shook his head, all the while knowing what a simple truth that really was. “Wait, does your mother know about us?”
Kyle pulled back into traffic. “No. I didn’t know how you would feel about me telling her. Besides, for all I know, that part of ‘us’ is over.”
Manny couldn’t deny the cold that ran through him when Kyle said those words. Was it over? He’d thought it was, but now? What was stopping them?
“First of all, thanks for not telling Olivia. Not that I’m ashamed or anything, but I can’t handle her questions right now. You know she’d have plenty.”
Kyle nodded. “No problem. Why should you be dragged into my own personal form of hell?”
Manny laughed. “Second. If you pull this car over again, my dick just might happen to end up scraping your tonsils, so keep in on the road.”
Kyle’s blue eyes lit like the morning sun. His hopeful smile threatened to melt Manny’s resolve before it curled into one of his trademark smirks. “What happened to that willpower you’ve become so famous for?”
Manny returned the smirk and continued. “And last, I need the rest of my ninety days to get my head straight. The woman I told you about, Rebecca, is kind of blowing my mind with how much I want her, and I need to decide what the fuck I’m doing.”
“Shit man, do us both.” Kyle grinned. “Is she into it?”
“She’s a good girl. I don’t think she has much experience.”
“Nice, a fair maiden.”
“Off limits, Kyle.”
Kyle raised an eyebrow. “Hmm, you really like her. I don’t know whether to be jealous or intrigued.”
“Just be nice to her.”
“Does she know about us?”
“No. It isn’t that serious yet.”
“Oh, sure it isn’t,” Kyle said.
Manny sometimes hated that old sage wisdom Kyle tended to wield at just the moment Manny was trying his best to hide from the truth. Two days wasn’t enough time to fall for someone. So why was he so scared she’d go running for the hills the moment he told her about Kyle and him?
* * *
Somehow Rebecca managed to make it to work on time without a minute to spare. It wasn’t that she’d meant to be late, but the lead in her ass was for a good reason. Suddenly, Rebecca had taken a mighty interest in learning the secrets to making great Buffalo wings. Morning talk shows were good for need-to-know information like that. Alone in the apartment, she tapped her foot on the floor, checking her watch, toying with the idea of calling in sick and leaving Craig to wait another day to break the news about the evaporation of her perfect career.
The door to her old office was open. Craig was waiting for her with a particularly solemn expression that anyone who didn’t know him might have mistaken for constipation.
She saved him the agony. “It’s all right. I know already.”
Craig raised his bushy eyebrows in surprise and then looked relieved. “Sorry about the late notice, but I didn’t want to ruin your weekend. We found out on—”
“Friday. Yeah, Chaya told me.” Rebecca tossed her messenger bag to the floor. “She has two young sons, you know. How is she going to manage?”
Then it was down to fundraising to meet her new colleagues. Lunchtime rolled around before Rebecca had a chance to check her voicemail messages. When she finally got to it she tilted her head, considering Wilson’s invitation to the ballet. It certainly sounded like a nice opportunity to appreciate something pretty at the end of a long day. She’d wanted to attend a performance of the famous New York City Ballet since she’d come to town, but Rebecca wasn’t clueless. This wasn’t exactly a no-strings-attached offer. It was a date. The ballet sounded good; a date with Wilson, not so much.
Next, Manny’s voice piped through her earpiece. “So, thanks to Google, I found a little production in Brooklyn of one of those vintage plays you were telling me about. The Group Theatre, right? Anyway, I already bought tickets online, so I hope you can make it tonight. Otherwise I’ll be left trying to make sense of it all by myself.”
Could her heart actually explode right there in her chest and leave her oozing cotton candy and gumdrops all over her desk? She felt like she would rocket right out of her chair. Ballet with Wilson or the sweetest gesture ever from Manny? As if there was even a shadow of competition.
She texted Wilson her regrets and called Manny to squeal in his ear. “I love that you did that!”
“We’ll take Holly. She’s never been to Brooklyn.”
“What are you doing right now?”
“Waiting to take these two CEO types back to Boston. You?”
One of Rebecca’s new colleagues placed a stack of envelopes on her desk. He had that above-it-all attitude that would grate anyone’s nerves. “These addresses need to be removed from our database and replaced with the appropriate contact information.”
Rebecca grumbled, “Ugh. Don’t ask.”
Chapter Seven
The highway stretched out in front of Holly, with Rebecca leaning her head on the leather seat. She stole greedy looks at Manny, loving the way the morning sun turned his eyes into glowing embers. She thought back to their night out at the theater and the amazing supper they’d grabbed at the nearby Indian restaurant. He’d been excited about seeing the play, asking her questions about the research she’d done. Though simple and low budget, the play had taken her breath away. And afterward, the conversation had flowed between Manny and her like a lazy river, effortless and easy. And the kiss good night was no less earth-shattering than she expected.
The evening couldn’t have been better, except for the fact that it ended with a kiss and nothing more. Rebecca told herself that Manny probably guessed it was that time of month when she dipped into the drugstore and asked him to stay in the car. There was a good reason that she was in his bed, alone, again. But oh, the other things they could have been doing—should have been doing! Rebecca spent a good part of the night pouting in the dark and wishing for dessert.
Besides her night out with Manny and the four nights in they had spent hanging together at the apartment, the week had been murderous. Every day, Rebecca wasted away in a mindless job she hated and felt guilty about it, since her ex-colleagues didn’t even have that luxury. Now she was on her way to see Olivia Hunter on a wing and a prayer that she could turn all of their luck around.
The ride to Lake George was long enough to get to know someone really well and still have time to ponder your own thoughts. During the four-hour drive, Rebecca learned that Manny had lost his mother at the age of nineteen and had transferred from the local state college to Annapolis, where Kyle was working on his engineering degree. There, they were roommates for the second time, having bunked together in military school. Manny learned to cook from his mom and then for his mom when the cancer spread. It had always been just the two of them, since his father wasn’t anyone he would recognize on the street.
“So Tescadero was your mother’s name?”
The acerbic chuckle didn’t fit the good-natured guy she had come to know. “Yeah, I’m the kind of bastard who doesn’t get to know his father’s last name.”
Rebecca grimaced at the pain in the statement. “I’m sorry.”
“My grandfather all but disowned my mom when she got pregnant after a one-night stand. He helped her financially, but their relationship was strained until the day he died. I was young. I didn’t really understand.”
“But your grandmother? Jeannette was there for your mom, wasn’t she?”
“After he died we saw a lot more of her. Can’t say I’ve had the best male role models.”
“You turned out pretty great, if you ask me.”
“I had a lot of practice fucking things up along the way. Military school straightened my ass out, though.” He smiled at her and she touched his hand, rubbing her thumb against his scarred knuckles in that way that seemed to make him relax.
“What about you? What’s your sob story?”
Rebecca sighed, and her hand floated absently to her collarbone, fingering the scar there. “Oh, I’m boring. Great mom and dad, two much younger brothers, ten and eight. I grew up with all of my grandparents, each of them loving and doting like grandparents should.” She tucked a piece of loose hair back into the low-slung side ponytail and raised her eyebrows. “I would much rather hear about Kyle. For someone you’ve known so long, you hardly mention his name.”
Manny stiffened. It wasn’t anything too obvious, but Rebecca noticed the way his shoulders went up ever so slightly. She waited and the silence was obvious.
“Did I say something wrong?”
“Hmm?” He sniffed, scratched his nose and turned the knob to change the radio station. “Press scan and see if you can find something good.”
“‘Manhattan’s Bachelor of the Month,’ according to New York Life & Style.” Rebecca put up quotations with her fingers and straightened in her seat, her voice dipping for effect. “I read the article back at the apartment.”
Manny didn’t seem amused, eyes on the road. No reaction to speak of.
Rebecca knitted her brow. “He’s going to be there, right? Aren’t I going to meet your best friend today?”
“Oh yeah, he’ll be there.” He paused and gave her a look she couldn’t read. “We had this thing between us. It’s fine, but shit got kind of weird and…”
“What, like a fight?” She leaned forward. “Over a girl? Over the girl who broke your heart?” Rebecca nodded her head, letting it all take shape in her mind. “Did he steal her away from you?”
“No…not that.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t ask any more questions. I can already see your nose twitching. Do you know you do that when you get stressed?”
“I’m not stressed.”
“OK, but if we’re spending the weekend with Kyle, you’d better wear mittens, because I think you could scratch that thing right off of your face.”
“I thought we were done talking about Kyle.”
Rebecca pinched her fingers and ran a zipping motion across her lip. Then she pressed the scan button. Deborah Harry of Blondie crooned through the speakers in her signature smoky voice. “Ooh, I love this song! My mom used to play it all the time. Gotta love the eighties!”
Manny shook his head at the silly way her arms undulated like a wave with the music, and Rebecca was happy to see his shoulders come back down from scarecrow level. A mystery rift between friends she could deal with. She just hoped to God the bitch who broke Manny’s heart wasn’t going to be there.
* * *
Manny gave in to that crazy wiggling thing she was doing next to him and laughed out loud. He sang along with her, forgetting how tone deaf he was. She could do that to him—make it OK to just be himself and forget everything else. That wasn’t the only thing she had in common with Kyle Hunter.
As they neared the Hunter estate, nostalgia fell over him in a rush. He had great memories of that sprawling stone house, where he had
spent lots of summers before his mother got sick and almost every holiday after she died. Olivia had opened her home to him and his shrinking family with a level of generosity no one would have believed a politician was capable of. Kyle’s family had practically adopted Manny, and Jeanette right along with him.
He was suddenly ashamed for not informing any of them about his Nana’s passing. It was a selfish move, hoping to avoid a face-to-face with Kyle. It had been wrong, and the first thing he’d do when they arrived was apologize for it.
Olivia wouldn’t have had it any other way. “Manny Tescadero! How could you?” She pulled him into a hug even as she chastised him. “I adored that woman.”
“Don’t make him feel any worse, Mom,” Kyle said. As Manny struggled to breathe, Kyle reached his hand out to Rebecca. “And so you must be the woman Manny’s been keeping in his apartment.”
“Well, when you put it like that…” She smiled and shook his hand. “I’m Rebecca Sinclair.”
Olivia left Manny alone to appraise Rebecca. “She’s beautiful, Manny. How did you get so lucky?”
Rebecca blushed, and a shy smile crept onto her pink lips. Manny fell a little more for her in that one moment. Yes, she was beautiful; combined with a wry tongue and the sweetest humility, it all blended to damn near perfection.
Without warning Kyle grabbed him, the way he always had, into a firm bro-hug that ended with a slap on his back. It shouldn’t have felt awkward, but with Rebecca staring, it couldn’t have been anything but.
“So glad you came,” Kyle said.
“I’m so glad you arrived early,” Olivia added, signaling one of the servants waiting discreetly at the door. The man silently took Manny’s and Rebecca’s bags and proceeded up the stairs. “My campaign manager has a few new ads we’re testing, and I’m curious to get the youth voter’s take on them.” She called out down the hall. “Thomas, get the new spots ready. I’ve got a focus group here in my foyer.”
“Mom, Manny and I are almost thirty, and Rebecca…?”
“Not quite, but soon.”
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