Dex sighed. “At least in that way Frank is more like us. He just needs to catch on that I won’t only do what he wants me to. And he needs to get laid. Maybe then he’d stop bitching at me.”
Hammer drank some more coffee. “Are you telling me he’s celibate, or something? He’s tall, muscular, overall not bad-looking, even if completely not my type.”
Dex whistled and grinned at Hammer, straightening in his seat. “Oooh, so you have a ‘type’ now?”
Did he?
Hammer stalled with his mouth open when he realized what he’d said.
Lowering his gaze to the mug of dark brew warming his hands, he wrestled with the inevitability of the confrontation between the things he thought he knew about himself and those he was discovering.
And the one thing he had to somehow fit in with how he saw himself was that Dex wasn’t a convenient hole he used just because.
Hammer liked him.
Wanted to fuck him. To make him lose his mind. To kiss him, and hold him, and laugh with him.
He just didn’t yet know how all that fit in with the life Hammer had established for himself.
“I do.”
Dex was so giddy he wiggled in his seat and put his hands under his chin, presenting his face to Hammer in profile. “Is it me? Cute, tattooed, blond, and horny?”
Hammer leaned back into the padded seat and locked eyes with him. “A slutty bimbo.”
Dex laughed out loud, and Hammer likedthisabout him too. He laughed too loudly, and didn’t give a shit that people stared. He was bold, and unafraid. Even when he should be, like when he’d decided it was a great idea to flirt with the guy who killed people with a sledgehammer. And when taken hostage, he’d found a way to endear himself to his captor.
“Okay, that’s the competition I’ll be looking out for, but I can assure you, I’m one of a kind. I’m afraid I’ll never grow boobs or a pussy though.”
Hammer froze, his mind going blank as he waded it for the perfect answer. “I... know?”
Dex licked the salt from his fingers, but just as it seemed he’d continue with his thought, his gaze darted away. “Oh my God, look at that fluffmaster!”
Hammer turned his head and smiled at the sight of a massive dog reminiscent of a wolf with gray fur and white markings in a couple of places.
“I just… I’ll be back in a sec.” Dex winked at Hammer and was off.
Zero impulse control.
Dex approached the canine and its owners, who sat at the bar. Only then did Hammer notice some more details of the situation. The two young men in matching plaid shirts in the same style but different colors were… a couple? Maybe? Hammer wasn’t all that great at telling, and the dullness of his social sensitivity was becoming clearer as he spent more time around Dex. But one of the men had his arm over the other’s shoulder, which could be casual and friend—nope. Dude gave the other a peck on the cheek.
Hammer took a deep breath and looked around, but he couldn’t see any of the other patrons staring at the couple. Maybe it was a matter of people only paying attention to things they found of interest? In his former life, before sampling what sex with a man was like, Hammer had barely everseengay men, but they were surely around, like that inconspicuous couple, who looked so much like everyone else it would have been easy to miss the tender gestures they exchanged.
His gaze settled on Dex, who petted the massive dog while speaking to the two men, and the server with bright red hair. Would Hammer want to be seenwith him? Would he want to hold him in public? He did enjoy both at Cora’s party, but that had been a world of its own, so maybe not the best way to measure his uncertain attitudes?
Dex scooted by the dog to pet his head and laughed at something one of the men said, making Hammer itch to find out what it was. The hint of jealousy was irrational. Dex wasn’t flirting. He’d gotten a great fucking back at the showers, and Hammer had established with him that they would only have sex with other people while together. At least he hoped that was what he’d conveyed, because communication wasn’t always his strongest point.
And yet he looked at Dex, at the couple, and considered walking over. Would anyone even notice if he also put his arm around his… what? Boyfriend? The more he thought about it, the less opposed to that term he was. He’d never been commitment-phobic—he wouldn’t have kept a property patch on the ready for the past five years otherwise—it was just that relationships had never worked out for him in the long run.
But as he was on the verge of getting up, one of the men handed Dex the leash, and the kid came back with a bright smile and eyes sparkling with glee.
“Youhaveto pet him,” he said to Hammer.
The dog pushed his snout at Hammer’s thigh and breathed in his scent, as if he were meeting new people all the freaking time. His fur was thick, but only by touching him could Hammer feel just how dense and soft it was.
A smile tugged at his mouth, and he nodded at the gay couple, moving his hand to the beast’s ear, to scratch the skin there. “Wow. If I ever have a dog, I want one just like that. Big, strong, and fluffy. Perfect for both intimidation and relaxing.”
Dex grinned and stroked Hammer’s fingers in the dog’s fur. It felt… nice. None of the women he’d dated had ever made him feel so accepted, and he was starting to realize that maybe there had always been a trace of fear in his relationships, and that was what messed them up. Something he would never intentionally provoke yet which was always there due to who he was, his size, his gender. But Dex had been at ease with him from the start.