* * * *
Finn Taylor needed to be alone. He needed to get some fucking air in his lungs, and he couldn’t do it surrounded by all these yokels. He pushed out of the Willow Fork Community Center’s double doors and into the chilly night.
Dani was getting married. She was really going to marry that idiot redneck and have his redneck babies. Damn it. How was he supposed to handle that?
He nodded at a group walking into the party. He didn’t recognize the family, but that was probably a good thing. Willow Fork, Texas, hadn’t been a great place for him to grow up. It was hard being gay anywhere, but small-town Texas was pretty much hell on the adolescent homosexual. He’d been beaten up, cussed out, told he was going to hell by just about everyone, and who could forget the time the football team thought it would be hilarious to tie him to the flagpole with the word queer written in lipstick on his forehead?
Yeah, he fucking loved to come home.
Only one thing could have coaxed him from his gorgeous condo in Dallas. Danielle Bay’s thirtieth birthday. When he’d gotten the invitation a month ago, he’d thought long and hard about the fact that it was way past time to confess to Dani. Her sister was out of college. She’d done her duty. It was time to come out of the closet and tell Dani that he was bisexual. It was time to admit that he was in love with her and wanted her to move to Dallas to be with him.
All of those plans had been crushed when freaking Jimbo Smart─there was a misnomer─had announced, beer in hand, that he and Danielle would be married this summer. His Dani was going to marry a man who Finn was pretty damn sure was the product of his mother’s union with a goat. It was the only thing that explained Jimbo’s facial hair. Finn took in a deep breath of chilled air. Motherfucking son of a bitch.
“Do you need help, son?”
That voice. Finn had to take another deep breath. Jack Barnes got to him. Something about the man’s voice went straight to his cock. He turned to look at the richest man in Willow Fork. He was married to Dani’s boss, Abigail Barnes. Of course, if what Dani said was true, Abby Barnes was also married to Jack’s business partner, Sam Fleetwood.
Finn would really like tickets to that show.
“I was just getting some air, sir.” The sir came naturally. The man in the snowy white dress shirt and slacks commanded respect.
Jack Barnes’s lips curled in a secretive smile. God, he was hot. “Me, too. My wife loves this shit, but I am one antisocial son of a bitch. How do you know Dani?”
The dark-haired man sounded so sure. “How do you know I’m not a friend of Jimbo’s?”
A sharp laugh cut through the cool night air. “You don’t look like a man Jimbo Smart would befriend. Sorry, but you’re far too educated and urbane for the Smart clan.” Dark green eyes assessed Finn, and he found himself curiously awaiting Jack Barnes’s judgment. “You’re white collar. Maybe an accountant─no, a lawyer. You’re a lawyer. My brother is a lawyer, so I know the type.”
He was good at guessing professions. Not as good at remembering faces. Finn wasn’t surprised. Sometimes he faded into the background. “Yeah, I’m a lawyer. I know your brother. We work together. I actually met you at a party the partners threw a couple of months back.”
Jack snapped his fingers and grinned. “That’s where I remember you from. I knew you looked familiar. You’re Lucas’s friend. You’re also friends with Dani, and you’re not at all happy that she’s getting married.”
Finn felt himself flush. Barnes had pegged him perfectly. He’d also summed up Finn’s problem neatly. Finn was about to make junior partner in his law firm, a veritable wunderkind to make partner at his age. None of his professional success mattered since he’d done it all, accomplished it all, in order to build a life for him and Dani. Now he was fucked. “He doesn’t deserve her.”
“But you think you do.”
Finn forced himself to laugh. Now that he knew what was going to happen, he damn sure wasn’t going to announce to the world that he’d played the fool again. “Of course not. I don’t guess you’ve gotten the lowdown on me. I’m Finn Taylor, Willow Fork’s most famous queer.”
“Well, I am horribly offended by your lifestyle, Finn.” Jack Barnes’s slow drawl dripped with amused sarcasm.
“What’s got you offended, Jack?”
Finn turned to find Sam Fleetwood walking up. He was wearing jeans and a western shirt that did nothing to hide his magnificent body. Sam Fleetwood was a Greek god.
“It seems Finn here is of a homosexual bent, and he’s a bit miffed by it.” Barnes grinned at his partner.
“Nah.” Sam shook his blond head. “He’s at least bi. He was staring at Melissa Paul’s chest.” Sam turned to him. “You should stay away from that. Seriously, man, she’s trouble.”
He’d only taken a little glance. He knew a hot mess when he saw one. “I don’t care about Melissa Paul.”
“You should keep it that way. Now, I need to borrow Jack. We have a small situation.” Sam’s voice was perfectly even, but Barnes went shock white. There was no mistaking it, even in the moonlight.
“Abby? I knew we shouldn’t have come out. Damn it, Sam. You two need to mind me. I swear if something goes wrong, I’ll have the both of you over my knee.”
If Sam Fleetwood was worried, it didn’t show. “Yeah, that should be an interesting night. Look, discipline is going to have to wait a couple of weeks. Abby’s water broke.”
Jack Barnes had no answer for that. He simply took off running. One minute he was there, and the next his boots were stirring up dust as he sprinted for the doors.
Sam’s chest moved with the force of his laughter. “Sorry, man. You have to forgive him. He is the coolest customer in the world until me or Abby gets sick. It’s a baby. This is perfectly normal, but he’s got to freak out. It’s why we didn’t mention it until now. She’s been having contractions all day. Well, he makes up for it by being a beast in the sack.” Sam slapped his back jovially. “You should get your girl, man. She’s not married yet. Don’t wait or it’ll be too late.”
“Sam, we’re leaving now!” Jack Barnes’s voice boomed across the parking lot.
“Gotta go have a baby. This one’s number two. Got my fingers crossed for a boy. Otherwise, we’ll be hopelessly outnumbered.” Sam practically glowed as he turned and jogged for the big truck, whose engine was gunning furiously. Gravel flew when the black truck sped out of the parking lot.
That truck was speeding toward a future. Finn was stuck hopelessly in the past. His stomach twisted. What was he supposed to do? His first instinct was to march his ass back into that party room and beg Dani to reconsider. He could kiss her and tell her he’d always wanted her. He could explain to her that he’d lied all these years. Yeah, that would go gangbusters.
“There you are!”
Heart skipping a beat, Finn turned, and Danielle Bay walked toward him, a light sparkling in her blue eyes. Her honey blonde hair was pulled back in a loose bun, and the dress she wore showed off her round, glorious breasts. How many times had she complained about those tits when all he wanted to do was get them in his mouth?
“Well, my engagement party is off to a spectacular start. My boss went into labor. My future mother-in-law is mopping up what she calls the wages of sin. Apparently she doesn’t truck with the ménage lifestyle. She won’t say that to Jack Barnes’s face, though. That man scares the crap out of everyone. I love it.” She wound her arm around his waist, cuddling temptingly close to him.
“He seems pretty intimidating.” He’d been a junior in high school by the time Jack Barnes and Sam Fleetwood had bought their spread. Thirteen years later, they ruled Willow Fork, despite the fact that most of the narrow-minded town considered them sinners. They were sinners with an atrocious amount of money, so the sin was tolerated. Finn knew his wouldn’t be.
“He’s an interesting guy.” Dani ran her free hand across his cheek. It was an affectionate gesture. She couldn’t know what it did to him. “Abby is an amazing woman.
I can’t tell you how great it is to work for her. She’s opened a free clinic here in Willow Fork. She’s making a difference.”
“That’s great,” he managed to say. He forced his hand to curl around her hip in a perfectly nice “we’ve been friends since high school but never managed to have sex because one of us is gay” kind of way. “I’m glad you found a good job.”
He was happy that she wasn’t working at the Buys A Lot anymore.
“I have a good job, and now I’m getting married.”
Finn heard the hitch in her breath. “Are you sure about this? The last time we talked you didn’t even mention that you were dating Jim.” He left off the bo part. It was simply too surreal to think that his lovely, sweet Dani, who read Jane Austen and watched foreign films with him, could possibly be marrying someone named Jimbo.
He felt her sigh against him. “I didn’t talk about him because I know how you feel about anyone from this town. Look, Finn, I love you. You’re my best friend in the world, but I have a life here.”
“You could have a life in Dallas, too.” He hated the slight whine in his voice. Damn it, why couldn’t he be forceful?
“Not anymore. I don’t have a degree. My only work experience is in minimum wage retail. There’s no way I can get a decent job in the city. I was damn lucky Abby Barnes hired me as her clinic manager. This is as good as it gets in Willow Fork. I’m not smart like you.”
“That’s not true.”
There were tears in her wide eyes as she looked up at him. “Please say you’re happy for me. I couldn’t stand it if you were disappointed. I’ve missed you so much, Finn.”
The pleading in her voice was more than he could take. He hugged her close. “If this is what you want, then I’m happy for you.”
Her head sagged into the crook of his neck. “I’m glad because you’re my maid of honor. Don’t tell me no. I had to fight Jimbo’s whole family to make this happen. They don’t think it’s proper to have a male bridesmaid.”
Every muscle in his body went tense at the thought. He was sure that conversation had been worse than Dani was saying. They wouldn’t want a gay to tarnish their special day. Fuck. He couldn’t hurt her this way. He loved her. He had to be strong.
“Of course, I’ll be beside you.” He would stand there, wanting her, loving her.
Her smile was as brilliant as the sun. “I’m so happy. I couldn’t do this without you, Finn.”
She started talking a mile a minute about everything from her dress to the wedding cake she wanted to order. Finn nodded and tried to figure out how to face the future without her.
Chapter Two
Six Months Later
Julian turned his Audi R8 Spyder down what appeared to be Main Street. The June air was warm on his skin, but he still felt the strange restlessness that had been plaguing him for the last few years. Being alone had only seemed to make it worse. His recent string of bad luck incidents had convinced him that he needed a more radical change. First his car had been vandalized. Then there had been a fire in his building. He’d had a nosy reporter on his case about the possibility of an underground sex club in the Dallas area.
Of course, there was an underground sex club. He ran it, but he certainly didn’t want publicity. The car had been a mere nuisance. He simply bought another one, and the fire was apparently an accident. Still, it all added up to serious stress, so Julian was doing something he hadn’t done in years.
He was taking a vacation.
He glanced around the small town. It looked like something out of a Norman Rockwell painting. It was three o’clock on a Saturday afternoon, and Julian seriously expected to be assaulted by visions of boys and their faithful dogs, perhaps playing stickball and trading baseball cards. Willow Fork, Texas, was a sleepy town.
His car purred as he moved down the street. He had the top down. It was a stunning day outside, but he was rapidly discovering that, with no one to share it with, the days seemed to blend together. Each was as empty as the next. Julian stopped at a stoplight. He drummed his fingers along the steering wheel. It wasn’t that he missed any one person in particular, but rather that he didn’t like to be alone. Perhaps he’d spent too much of his childhood in that state that now he simply couldn’t stand the silence. He’d been on edge for six months, but he wasn’t sure how to get off. The last thing he wanted was another pretty-faced sub in his bed who didn’t challenge him at all.
But he was tempted. It had become a bit of a game at The Club to see which sub could find his or her way into the Master’s bed. It wasn’t that he didn’t want sex. He was horny as hell. He simply wasn’t interested in anyone in particular, and sex for sex’s sake had gotten boring.
He blamed Jackson. His former protégé had found something magical. He was living happily with his two subs, Samuel and Abigail. He’d started a family. He had a life beyond work. Julian couldn’t get Jackson’s words out of his head. A few years back, Jackson had given him a bit of advice. He’d warned Julian not to let his rules run his life. He’d warned him that rules might keep him from something wonderful. So far, Julian hadn’t found anything wonderful. He’d only found sexual frustration and loneliness.
He hit the gas and drove past some sort of church. He intended to use this week to reconnect with old friends. When he got back to Dallas, he would get on with his life. He would spend this vacation deciding on whom to take as his new subs. He would stop putting it off and select based on logic. He would pick one man and one woman, and then begin training them to suit his needs. He was done waiting for some mysterious thing to happen to him.
The light in front of him turned red. It looked like he was going to hit every single one. He thought about the stack of files he had in his luggage. He was sure Jackson would be horrified by the way he intended to choose his new lovers. He had a system. He would weigh the pros and cons of each, input the numbers into a spreadsheet, and presto, he would have two lovely bodies in his bed. The one time he’d followed his heart and offered a permanent contract to a sub, the man had declined and run off…with Jackson Barnes. He wished Samuel Fleetwood well, but he had learned his lesson. He wasn’t a man who would have something as elusive as love.
His cell phone trilled. Julian looked down and saw a picture of his longtime personal assistant. Candice was almost sixty. Her stern face was a comfort to him. Nothing got by her. Julian moved his thumb across the slide bar to answer the call. “This is Lodge.”
“Mr. Lodge, that reporter called again.” The normally unflappable Candice sounded distinctly flapped.
“Have security block her number.” The nosy Morning News reporter would undoubtedly try again. If she gave him too much trouble, he would simply change his number. It would cause a headache, but it would be worth it if it got rid of her. The last thing Julian needed was an exposé run on his underground activities. There was a reason he kept a low profile.
“You don’t understand. She called your private line, Mr. Lodge.”
The light turned green, but Julian didn’t care. He sat there, his foot firmly on the brake as her words settled in. He jealously guarded his private line. It wasn’t a number he gave out to his business associates or people from The Club. Only close friends and his submissives had that line. “Did you ask her how she got that number?”
“Yes, sir. She said she has an inside source.” Candice’s voice softened. “Mr. Lodge, I don’t think it’s anything you should worry about. She’s asking questions. That’s all. It’s not the first time this has happened. There are always rumors. I merely wanted you to know before I called the boys in.”
He took a deep breath. The “boys” in this case was how Candice referred to his security team. McKay-Taggart was actually made up of a bunch of ex-Special Forces soldiers and an extremely competent former FBI agent who happened to be female. But Candice hadn’t worked with Eve St. James. She did, however, dote on the men when they came in. He rather thought his secretary found them both attractive and amusing. What they were wa
s highly reliable.
The light changed back to red. He was lucky there was no one on the road. “Are you sure? Perhaps I should come home and coordinate with Taggart.”
Maybe it was for the best. He wasn’t sure what he was doing out here anyway.
“No, no, you promised me you would take a vacation.” Now she was stern and unmoving.
Julian felt his lips tug up into a small smile. When she talked to him like that, he could almost see her the way she was thirty years before. Candice Holloway had been the tenth nanny his uncle had hired. He’d run through nine in the years after his parents died in a car accident. He’d intended to run her off as well. She’d flatly refused to be dismissed. She’d told him she wasn’t going anywhere, no matter how hard he tried to push her away. Candice promised that she would never leave him, and she never had. When he no longer needed a nanny, he’d convinced her he needed an assistant. Along the way he’d managed to convince her to let him pay for her children’s college education and set up a retirement plan for her. He believed in gratitude. “It isn’t much of a vacation spot.”
“That will be good for you, sir.” She sounded more relaxed now. “A little peace and quiet is exactly what the doctor ordered.”
Something caught Julian’s attention in the rearview mirror. On the hill behind him it looked like a wedding party was breaking up. He would need to move soon. He didn’t like to talk and drive. He believed in concentration. “The doctor didn’t order anything. You did. I’m almost to the ranch if my GPS is to be believed. Do call Taggart and have him attempt to figure out how that woman got my phone number. Is there anything else I should know?”
Julian watched as a ball of white appeared on the sidewalk several blocks down from him.
“Lucas Cameron was in the dungeon last night.”
Nothing odd there. Jackson Barnes’s younger brother had become a regular at The Club ever since he finished law school and began working at a prestigious firm in Dallas. It hadn’t hurt the young man’s chances that he came with a small, but lucrative client list made up of Barnes-Fleetwood and Julian himself. Julian sighed as he realized why Candice would mention it. “He brought Lexi with him?”