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“I like it,” Brick rumbled. “You look—confident. It agrees with you.”
Yes. Confident. Last night had been a revelation.
A first for him in as many ways as it had been for Matt. Because in all the years he’d had relationships with other men—all the times he’d had sex, and there had been a lot—he’d never been the one in control.
He’d played at it. John loved dominance games and every so often he’d pull Robby’s strings to act out some tableau. But there’d been no doubt, John called the shots. So had any other man who’d taken care of him, which was the trade-off. He was meek, pretty, young, and most of all, malleable.
But last night, Matt belonged to him. Not in some kind of power play, but because he trusted him to guide their course. Even better, Matt wanted Robby the man, not the kid.
“It was long overdue.” Robby sipped his coffee.
Another great thing? He had no doubt whatsoever the guys at this table would be happy he’d figured all this out. They had his back in every way. Which was why he’d called them here.
“Kane, do you think you could set up a meeting for me with Amanda?”
“Mandy?” Powdered sugar clung to his five o’clock shadow. “You don’t need an appointment. Just come over to the apartment.”
Robby straightened his spine, drawing his shoulders back a fraction. “I have a business proposition to discuss with her. I didn’t think it would be right to trade on our friendship and spring it on her out of nowhere.”
Brick wiped at his own chin with his thumb in an exaggerated motion, but either Kane didn’t see it or he didn’t get the message.
“You’re family, Robby. You don’t have to worry about shit like that. Our door is always open to you.” Kane bobbed his head from side to side. “If you don’t mind dealing with some pregnancy hormones.”
Relaxing back against the seat, he thanked his lucky stars for leading him to Cooper Construction and the men beside him. “Thank you.”
“Now, are you going to tell us who prompted this make-over?” Kane bit back into his French donut. “Cause I’ve got to say, it’s weirding me out.”
“Me. I wanted my outside to match my inside.”
Kane snorted. “Can the kumbaya bullshit. I know there’s a guy.”
His smile barely quirked, but it was enough to make Kane whoop in victory.
Brick shifted, raising one eyebrow in his imperial way. “You want to share with the class?”
“Not yet,” he lilted. “But soon.”
Draining his coffee, he saluted his buddies and stood to make his exit. On the way to the door, Brick’s voice carried over the scattered conversations from other diners.
“—and would you wipe your fucking face, for God’s sake? You look ridiculous. You didn’t have this much trouble feeding yourself when you had an Opie beard.”
“Stop bringing up that fucking show!”
At least he didn’t have to worry they’d spare his feelings about his new look. Puffing out his chest as he walked, he sent up a quick prayer of thanks for Brick and Kane, for Matt and the center, and for the confidence to finally show his real face to the world.
***
Matt wrinkled his forehead in an expression Robby found both confused and completely adorable as he looked around the stacks of books surrounding them the next night. “Tell me again why you wanted to meet at the library.”
Robby rubbed his fingertips over the smooth, familiar surface of the wooden table. “Because—A—I love the library. When I was really low on cash, I would spend hours here at a time. They always had heat in the winter, A/C in the summer, computers with access to any information I could ever want or need. And books. Entire worlds of stories within arms’ reach whenever I needed an escape.”
Matt propped his elbows on the flat surface. “And B?”
“B—I needed a place where we could talk alone, where I wouldn’t be tempted to strip you down, tie you up, and have my wicked way with you.”
Matt mouthed the wordstie me upand blinked rapidly.
Robby barked a laugh loud enough for the librarian to shoot him a death glare. Properly chastised, he ran his fingers over his lips like he was closing a zipper. “I’m kidding. Mostly.”
