For months, Frank had managed to keep his distance from the beautiful young man, and now to complete the fuckery that was his life, Joshua stood in front of him, the words “Let’s go to bed,” having just come from between his plump lips.
Clearly, he hadn’t meant for them to go to bed, but still, not something Frank needed to hear while the man he’d been dreaming of since they’d met stood so close.
“Right.” Eloquent, he was not. Frank motioned to the door.
“What time do you want me here?”
“Since we’re going to be closed for the weekend, we can catch up on some of the event stuff. How about five?”
“Sure. I’ll grab us some coffees on the way here. I’ll text you and you can tell me what kind.”
“Coffee?”
“Yeah, I don’t function that early in the morning without it.”
“Morning?” Frank almost tripped over his own feet on the way to the door. “Jesus Christ, what the hell are you doing waking up at five in the morning?”
Joshua blinked at him. “Um, getting ready for work?”
Frank glared at Colton, who laughed.
“What? Don’t look at me like that. We work office jobs. We start at eight.”
“That’s terrifying.” Frank yawned as he led everyone out into the hall.
“Go on,” Seth said. “I’ll lock up and set the alarm.”
Frank rubbed his eyes. Normally he would have taken care of it himself, but now his body knew sleep was near, it was shutting down on him. “Okay. Thank you, Seth.”
“You’re welcome,” Seth replied, patting him on the back. “You’re also about to get pissed at me again.” He turned to the guys. “Can someone give him a ride home?”
“I can drive myself.” Yawning through his growl did nothing to help his case. He didn’t bother arguing. The look Seth gave him said it wasn’t up for discussion. That’s what he got for having friends. Pains in the ass. Frank tossed his car keys to Seth.
“I’ll take him,” Joshua said, his smile sweet.
Perfect.
Well, if he was going to work with Joshua, he might as well get used to being in close proximity to him. No, this was good. The two of them working close together would prove how unsuited they were for each other. Maybe once Joshua got a good look at what a miserable fuck he was, he’d get the idea of them as something more out of his head.
They headed out into the parking lot behind the club, where they said their goodbyes. Only four cars remained in the lot: Seth’s blue Dodge Charger, Ace’s red Corvette Stingray Coupe 3LT—a Christmas present from his husband—Frank’s black Audi R8 Coupe, and…
“You drive an SUV?” Frank stood next to the small black Nissan.
Joshua blinked at him. “Yeah. Why?”
“I pictured you driving something a little flashier.” He opened the passenger door and climbed in. The guys Frank knew who were Joshua’s age and earned what he did as the top executive assistant for Connolly Maritime would have gone out and splurged on a luxury car the first chance they got.
Joshua pressed the ignition button to start the car. “I love this car. It’s got the three P’s.”
“What’s that?”
“Pretty, practical, and paid off. Sure, I could upgrade now that I got rid of my student debt, but I don’t really need a new car. Why spend all that money? A car’s just something to get you from point A to point B.”
“Ever drive an Audi?”
“Nope.” Joshua motioned out the window at Frank’s car. “I’m guessing that’s yours. Looks pricey.” He handed his phone to Frank, the GPS app open.
Frank didn’t think twice about entering his home address. “Two hundred.”
Some kind of weird gasp/squeak came out of Joshua. “Two hundred thousand dollars?”
“Yes.” Frank returned his phone to him. He held back a smile as Joshua absently took the phone and connected it to his car, the GPS map popping up on the dashboard screen. “You okay?”
“Yeah, I need a second for my brain to reboot. Okay.”
Frank chuckled. He really was too cute.
“And you’re just going to leave it in the parking lot?” Joshua asked, incredulous.
“What? Of course not. I gave my car keys to Seth. Kit will drive Seth’s car home, and Seth will take mine. He’ll pick me up on the way to work tomorrow. I’ll let you drive the Audi sometime. Then you can tell me if you still believe a car is just something to get you from point A to point B.”
“You’d let me drive your car?”
“Sure.”
“Why?”
Hm, good question. Frank shrugged. “I trust you.”
“You don’t really know me.” Joshua pulled out of the parking lot and into the quiet street.
“We’ve sort of known each other for almost three years.” Not that they’d spent a whole lot of time together, and whatever time they had spent together was with Colton, the Kings, and their boyfriends.
“I suppose you’re right.”
“Also, I’m an excellent judge of character.”
Joshua’s expression turned wicked. “And yet you give Ace full access to your club.”
Frank laughed. “Maybe not that good a judge.”
They both snickered, and Frank felt himself relax. He’d expected a lot of awkwardness at being alone with Joshua. Not that there weren’t awkward moments between them, but they seemed to be getting better at communicating. What had changed? He snuck a glance at Joshua, his heart skipping a beat at the soft smile on Joshua’s face.
A somewhat familiar song Frank couldn’t place floated quietly up from the speakers.
“What are you listening to right now?”
Joshua’s eyes went huge, and he slowly moved his thumb on the steering wheel to press a button. The music turned off. “Nothing.”
“Now I’m really intrigued.”
Joshua let out a groan. “Savage Garden. When I was eight years old, I was obsessed with that album. I played the CD so much it got scratched to hell and my mom had to buy me another one.”
“Eight years old?” Frank winced. Christ, he’d been graduating from college at the time.
“What were you listening to?”
“Not Savage Garden.”
Joshua snorted. “Given. So, what were you listening to?”
“Nirvana. Pearl Jam. Alice in Chains. Yep. I embraced the whole grunge thing.” The delight on Joshua’s face made Frank smile.
“Oh my God, no you did not.”
“I did. My hair was long, I wore eyeliner, torn jeans, baggy T-shirts with a plaid shirt tied around my waist. I had two earrings, one on my left eyebrow, the other in my left ear.”
Joshua shook his head. “My mind is blown right now, just…” He made an explosion sound to go with his hand motion.
The shock was understandable. Like everyone else in Frank’s life, Joshua knew him as the man he was now, not the lost youth trying to find his place in the world that he’d once been. After college, he left his past and everyone in it behind to start over in St. Augustine. He’d never looked back.