Jace’s brow wrinkled. A beat passed and then awareness dawned. “You’re a switch?”
Fucking hell. Apparently Jace’s instincts didn’t dull with alcohol. “You’re drunk.”
“Possibly. So if you answer me, I probably won’t remember.” He smiled in that disarming way that came so easily to him.
Andre rocked back on his heels, meeting Jace’s stare. “Yes, I’m a switch. With guys. Happy? Now do you need help getting undressed or are you going to sleep in your clothes?”
“I can do it.” Jace peeled off his T-shirt, revealing a view that Andre had seen countless times, but that had never failed to stir something in him. Andre swallowed hard, and Jace stood and unfastened his jeans, surprisingly steady on his feet. “I’m not as wasted as you think I am.”
Andre’s muscles were coiling tighter by the minute, and the air in the loft seemed too thick. If Jace stripped completely, there’d be no way for Andre to tame his hard-on. He needed to get out of here before he made an awkward situation worse. “Good, then I’ll leave you to it. My brother is expecting me back.”
Andre shoved his hands in his pockets and headed toward the door. Get out, get out, get out.
“I don’t want you to go, you know,” Jace said, halting Andre in his tracks. “Or move out.”
Andre shook his head, keeping his back to Jace. “It’s for the best. I don’t want to lose our friendship. And if I stay here, that’s what’s going to happen.”
The sound of clothes shifting filled his ears, but Andre didn’t dare turn around. He didn’t need to see if Jace was getting naked. He took another step toward the door, but before he could reach it, breath hit the nape of Andre’s neck. “Yeah, that’s probably exactly what would happen.”
Andre’s blood seemed to still. He turned around to find Jace within inches of him. “What are you doing?”
* * *
That was a good fucking question. But with everything that had happened tonight, Jace was acting on pure instinct. He knew he’d had too much to drink, but the fresh air and the car ride over had cleared his head enough for him to realize that regardless of everything else, he wanted Andre to stay.
No. He wanted Andre period.
And he had no idea what to do with that urge except to give himself over to it. Jace lowered his head and cupped Andre’s neck, meeting the naked emotion in Andre’s eyes. Fear. Sadness. Want for something Andre had already given up on.
Then Jace kissed him.
A cautious kiss, a soft melding of lips that quietly shattered every unspoken boundary between them. Andre’s spine stiffened against Jace’s fingers, the shock evident, but after only a blink of hesitation, Andre sank into it, parting his lips and deepening their connection.
Instead of awkward—the way Jace would’ve expected kissing another man would be—everything about being there with Andre felt comfortable, a natural extension of what was already between them. Sure they’d been sexual together, but this was different. Intimate.
Andre pulled away and stepped back, his jaw clenching. “Don’t. Not like this.”
“You know why I started drinking tonight, Dre?” Jace said, deciding to lay it all on the line. Now or never. He had nothing fucking else to lose tonight. “Because you were moving and I didn’t have the balls to tell you I wanted you to stay. That it confuses the ever-loving shit out of me, but somewhere along the way things have shifted between us.” He stepped closer. “I can’t imagine my life without Evan. But when I saw you packing your bags, I realized even if I had her, something would be missing. You would be missing. I need you both.”
Andre closed his eyes and took a breath, as if shoring up his defenses. And for a moment, Jace feared Andre was going to walk out anyway. Just like Evan. But Andre’s shoulders relaxed. “I swear on everything that is holy in this world, if you wake up tomorrow morning and blame all of this on being wasted, I will fucking beat you with my billy club.”r: Roni Loren
“I don’t give a shit what you’re in the mood for,” she said, her expression pinched. “You’re trying to leave me destitute, and I’m not about to sit back and let you.”
“Oh, give me a fucking break. Destitute?” He looked at her diamond earrings and the Rolex circling her wrist. “You haven’t worked in the last five years, and you’re living with a guy who drags in twice what I was making when we were married. I don’t think you’ll be standing in the soup line any time soon.”
“Greg’s money is not mine. He doesn’t believe in marriage, so our accounts are separate. And after all the hell you put me through in our marriage, you owe me this. I was there when you built that store. It’s half mine.”
Jace closed his eyes, counted to five. I will not yell at a woman in public. I will not grab her by her shoulders and shake her. “Leave, Diana. I don’t owe you a damn thing. We’ll deal with this through the courts.”
She pulled a manila folder from her purse and set it on the table between them. “You’re not the only one who can hire a private investigator, asshole.”
He glanced down at the folder as she peeled back the cover. On top was the photo of him and Evan on the balcony—the one that had been released to the press.
Red leaked into his vision, blinding him with the flood of rage. He gripped the edge of the table, breathing through all the things he wanted to scream.
“You conniving bitch,” he said, his voice low and dangerous.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Does this make you mad?” she asked coyly. “Now that my ex-husband is trying to take my money, I had to go find funds somewhere else. And his slutty new girlfriend was quite convenient for giving the PI fodder.”