Dance with Me by Heidi Cullinan

Author:Heidi Cullinan [Cullinan, Heidi]
Language: nld
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: erotic MM, Romance MM
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Dance with Me

117

Silence spread out between them, but Ed didn’t try to fill it, just waited, which

Laurie was grateful for. Laurie let it wrap around him for a while, but eventually he

continued, looking down at his hands as he spoke.

“Sometimes I think back then it was like there were two parts of me battling,

and they took down the whole of me in a civil war. I loved Paul, and I wanted to be

with him, but I feared him, feared my affection, feared what both would do to my

career. Sometimes I wonder if I didn’t subconsciously sabotage his.” His hands

tightened in his lap. “But once he was gone, I didn’t have him as an excuse

anymore. I just wasn’t happy, period. Everyone kept telling me I could go back.

They’ve been telling me for years. But I can’t figure out how to explain that I don’t

want it anymore. That maybe I never really did.” Laurie let out a shaky breath,

feeling suddenly very exposed. “I hadn’t quite meant to say all that.”

Ed reached over and caught his hand again, squeezing gently. He didn’t say

anything, just held his hand and kept driving.

Laurie was glad.

They were in St. Paul now, off the highway and on city streets, heading toward

Dayton’s Bluff. It was a neighborhood Laurie’s mother would cringe at and call

“colorful” in a way that made you want to paint the world beige. Ed parked on a side

street so narrow and full of shadows it would have had Carolyn Parker’s mouth

puckering until the car was removed from it. Ed, though, just pulled the keys from

the ignition, climbed out of the car, and reached back for Laurie’s duffel before

Laurie even had his door cracked. He kept hold of it too, even when they met on the

sidewalk.

“I can carry my bag,” Laurie pointed out, but Ed just shifted it to the arm

farthest away from Laurie and touched his elbow as he nodded toward a building

half a block down.

“That’s me,” he said. “Third floor. Do you mind if we take the stairs? There’s an

elevator, but you go gray waiting for it.”

“The stairs are fine,” Laurie assured him, and so soon he was following Ed up

a very industrial set of stairs in a not very well lit hallway that wasn’t even

something his mother would consider outside of seeing it on film. Laurie was having

a hard time with it himself.

He was also wondering why he was thinking so much about his mother.

Ed caught the look on his face and winced. “Sorry. I don’t really live in a nice

place like you. But my apartment, I can assure you, is spick-and-span.”

“Oh—no,” Laurie said quickly, blushing. “It’s just—it doesn’t look terribly safe,

this neighborhood.”

Ed shrugged. “If you’re smart and careful, it’s manageable.” They were at a

door now, and he fumbled with a key in the lock before pushing open the heavy

metal door. “And the rent is fantastic, especially for the space.” He held the door

open for Laurie, waiting, and so Laurie went in.

And his mouth fell open a little.

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