The Accidental Baker
Page 6
Donnie, diplomatically silent, reached for more chocolate.
“I’ll get it straight eventually, I’m sure. This is the first time I’ve had my own business. But I had to leave my last place because…” He coloured. “There were problems with my senior partner, to be honest.”
Donnie had reached for the other egg, unpeeling the foil. “You didn’t get on?”
“He cornered me in his consulting room and tried to put his hand on my cock.”
“Jesus!” Donnie stared, mouth falling open. All he needed now was a dribble of chocolate out of the corner to look totally gross. “What did you do?”
Will gave a harsh bark of a laugh, most unlike his usual soft tone. “Shook him off, of course. Told him he wasn’t my type, and would never be if he grabbed like that, and if he came near me again, I’d report him to the practice management. And to his wife. And then…” He sighed. “I resigned.”
Donnie gave Will’s hand the supportive squeeze it needed. In his opinion, Will needed a whole-body hug, but that would be really difficult on these chairs. “That was crap. But I can see why.”
“Why I resigned?”
“Why he made a pass. You’re a very handsome man.”
“Me?” Will looked genuinely startled. “I’m over thirty-five, Donnie. In some gay circles, that’s so over the hill I could be on the Sussex Downs.”
Donnie laughed: they laughed together. Will still looked flushed, and Donnie kept eye contact as long as he could. He felt warm inside, that odd warmth that has nothing to do with an extra vest. “Well, that wouldn’t matter to me. I like… I mean, there are lots of people attracted to the older man.”
Another of those odd little silences, but this one was definitely more comfortable, though maybe a bit nerve-wracking. The foil wrapper crinkled in Donnie’s lap. The taste of chocolate was on his tongue.
Will had a tiny sliver, right on the edge of his top lip—
“I need to shower,” Will said quickly. “Get a proper haircut and new glasses.”
That didn’t make much sense, but Donnie nodded anyway.
“Oh. Hell. Would you…? What do you want to do now?” Will said.
“What do you mean?” And just like that, they were talking over each other.
“I’d like to thank you again for helping out—” Will burst out.
“—oh, it was nothing—”
“—actually, I’d really like to take you to dinner—”
“—you don’t have to, I—”
“—and really, really, I’d like to kiss you.”
Donnie’s mouth dropped open again. “What?”
“God.” Will looked mortified. “Did I mention I’m not as good at dealing with people as I am with animals?”
Donnie swallowed hard. “You’ve dealt with me perfectly well.”
“With too much tea, and a day’s work I can’t afford to pay you for? And now having moaned about my own experience of sexual harassment, I make a totally inappropriate comment when, of all people, I should know better—”
“It’s not.”
“Sorry?”
Will’s pupils were huge, but for the first time in ages, Donnie felt calm and in control. “It’s not inappropriate. It’s very welcome, actually. Tell me what else you’d really like.”
Will’s laugh this time was more like a hiccup. He tugged at the edge of his beard—the edge just beside the bald patch, yes, he really did need to get a haircut and trim—and then grabbed Donnie’s other hand. “Do you mean that? I really, really…”
“Get on with it, please.” Donnie lifted Will’s hand and stroked the palm.
“Wow. I want to invite you to my flat, where the wrong bed’s too big for just me but exactly right for two grown men, kiss you until you’re breathless, then strip you, go down on you, and after all that, eat the rest of the chocolate off your stomach.”
There was a long, shocked silence. Donnie’s heightened sense of excitement was as sweet as the chocolate had ever been. He pulled Will’s hand closer and kissed the fingertips, one by one.
“Dear God.” Will had gone scarlet. “I was going to send the bed back.”
“Don’t,” Donnie said. “But I warn you, it’ll be difficult.”
“What will? Look, Donnie, are you angry with me—?”
“Eating the chocolate. It’ll be difficult because I’m ticklish. I’ll just laugh and my belly will wobble. It’ll fall off. Probably land somewhere between my thighs.”
They stared at each other. Donnie was fascinated by that look in Will’s eyes. It was fascination, returned, and all for Donnie himself.
That was more marvellous than any chocolate.
Will carefully put the rest of the chocolate onto the spare seat beside them and, much to Donnie’s delight, turned so he was now whole-body convenient.
“Well,” Will said slowly, a grin creeping across his mouth. “I’ll just have to keep trying!”
More by Clare London
Find all details at my website and on my Amazon page.
NOVELS
Freeman | Sweet Summer Sweat | True Colors | Flying Colors |
Compulsion | 72 Hours | Sparks Fly |
DREAMSPUN DESIRES
Romancing the Wrong Twin | Romancing the Ugly Duckling |
Romancing the Undercover Millionaire |
NOVELLAS
Just-You Eyes | Touch | Footprints | Dancing Days | Flashbulb |
Dear Alex | Timeslip | Blinded by Our Eyes | The Tourist |
LONDON LADS
Chase the Ace | How the Other Half Lives | A Good Neighbour |
Peepshow | Between a Rock and a Hard Place |
WITH A KICK
A Twist and Two Balls | Slap and Tickle | Pluck and Play |
Nice and Snow | Smack Happy | Double Scoop | Top and Tails |
SHORT STORIES
Ambush | Payback | Switch | Hidden Hearts |
Goldilocks and the Bear | Bite Night | Out of Time | Muse |
Limbo | The Peppermint Schnapps Predicament |
And many others…
About Clare London
Clare London took her pen name from the city where she lives, loves, and writes. A lone, brave female in a frenetic, testosterone-fuelled family home, she juggles her writing with her other day job as an accountant.
She’s written in many genres and across many settings, with award-winning novels and short stories published both online and in print. She says she likes variety in her writing while friends say she’s just fickle, but as long as both theories spawn good fiction, she’s happy. Most of her work features male/male romance and drama with a healthy serving of physical passion, as she enjoys both reading and writing about strong, sympathetic, and sexy characters.
Clare currently has several novels sulking at that tricky chapter three stage and plenty of other projects in mind... she just has to find out where she left them in that frenetic, testosterone-fuelled family home.
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