“Of course I do,” Riley said. Then, “No, I’m having ice cream with Marc.”
Riley glanced up at Marc and frowned. “Maybe; what’s in it for me?”
He’d better not be cutting their ice-cream date short for a booty call.
“I do.” Riley scooped a spoonful of ice cream from his float, and his expression said it tasted as good as sex, but Marc knew Thorne, so that couldn’t be true.
Riley abruptly ended the call.
“Too mushy for the rest of us to hear, or too nasty? I’m betting on the latter,” Marc said.
Riley flipped him off while typing, which was rather impressive.
A few seconds later, Riley smiled softly at his phone. Those two were too much, totally in their happy-couple phase. Marc made gagging noises at Riley, but he wasn’t really sickened. Truth be told, he was jealous. Riley had a found a caring, generous man, who was obviously just as in love as Riley was. Would Marc ever be that lucky? No, better not to even hope for it. He would only be disappointed. He should swear off any attempts at dating and focus on finding a direction for his life. He wasn’t going to be an escort forever.
Thorne called again, and Riley didn’t seem at all surprised. Marc focused on his ice cream. The last thing he wanted to do was let his jealousy show. He truly was happy for Riley, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t hard sometimes, seeing him have something Marc had always wanted.
“Was he hoping for phone sex?” Marc asked when Riley ended the call.
“No, he wants me to do him a favor.”
“What kind of favor?”
“Remember his tailor who altered my tux without ever seeing me?”
“Oh my God, yes. So we get to meet the magical man himself?” Marc had been shocked that anyone could make a garment fit perfectly without ever having seen the man who was to wear it.
“So you want to come with me?”
“Hell, yes. Quit teasing me. I’ve got to meet this man.” Marc had started a program in fashion design but dropped out when it came time to pay the second year’s steep tuition bill. Of course, if he hadn’t loaned money to a fucking piece of shit who’d run out on him, he would likely have finished that degree. When was he going to learn that no matter how sweetly they sucked his cock, most men were bastards who didn’t care a thing about him or anyone else?
His biggest dream since he was a kid was to do costume design, but he’d let himself get derailed from it enough times that it had become something he laughed about instead of seriously pursuing. Still, anyone who could make clothes like Darius was well worth meeting.
Marc sucked the last of the chocolate ice cream from his cone and devoured the sugary bits. He was horrified by people who threw the end of the cone away. It was the best part, and also the reason he never went for those awful cake cones that tasted like Styrofoam.
“Ready?” he asked.
Riley’s lips quirked up in a half smile.
“What?”
“You. Licking that cone and sucking it like it was—”
A mom walked by their table with a few young kids, so Riley didn’t finish his sentence.
Marc shrugged. “I like ice cream, so I give it my best attention.”
“I bet you do.” Riley stood from the table and headed toward the bus tub so he could leave his mug.
On their way to the tailor shop, Riley stopped suddenly in the middle of the sidewalk, and Marc nearly knocked him down.
“Do you see that building?” Riley asked. “The one with the sign?”
The building, which was probably built in the early 1900s, had a “for sale” sign in front of it. It had clearly seen better days, but Marc could see a lot of potential in it.
“It’s perfect,” Riley stated.
“For what?”
Riley moved closer until he was standing right in front of one of the empty lower-level shops. “This is the perfect space for Susan and me to have our bakery. You think there’s any chance we could afford it?”
Thorne could afford it, but Marc knew better than to say that. Riley hated taking Thorne’s money. “It looks like it needs a lot of repair. Maybe that’s why it’s up for sale. But…” Marc studied the building for a few moments. “I can just see you in there at the counter, handing out your life-changing cupcakes, and Susan rushing out from the back with a new tray of turnovers.”
“I know it’s a long shot. But I’m going to call just to see what they’re asking.”
“You’d better, or I’ll call for you,” Marc said.
“You would, wouldn’t you?”
Damn right he would. Moments of jealousy aside, he wanted the best for Riley. “Not if Thorne beats me to it.”
Riley frowned. “I’m not planning to tell Thorne just yet.”