Next Season: MM Small TownHockey Romance by Lane Hayes

Author:Lane Hayes [Hayes, Lane]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-10-29T16:00:00+00:00

8

JEAN-CLAUDE

Rise and Grind was busy this morning. I had an hour to spare till I was needed at the diner and though I knew my coffee was better, this was a good neutral place to be seen in public with a secret male lover. No one thought twice about daily caffeine jaunts. And if they wondered why Riley and I were together so often, they probably assumed he was too new in town to be bothered by my curmudgeony ways.

“This is a…giraffe?” I guessed, squinting at the foam art in my latte.

Ivan rolled his eyes. “It’s a rose. That’s the stem…see?”

No, I didn’t see it at all. I cast a questioning glance at Riley, who countered with a “Be nice” half smile. It was a peculiar power to be able to communicate with someone without words. A quick look, a clandestine touch, a hand gesture…it was a private language, safe to use in public, and I liked it more than I would have thought.

Of course, I preferred having him to myself.

We spent every night at either his place or mine, and every day off or free hour or two before work belonged to him now. Our outings generally consisted of a trip to the gym, the skating rink, or the coffee shop—rarely the diner. I needed to concentrate and besides…Nolan was there. I didn’t want to invite questions I couldn’t answer.

After years of lying to my partners and friends, I’d made a vow never to go down that road again. I’d never lied to Nolan, and I didn’t want to start now. Unfortunately, I couldn’t tell the whole truth, so I gave him half-truths and found it was easier than it should have been to shrug off our unlikely friendship.

I see Riley at the gym sometimes, so what? Or I haven’t been on the ice in years, so what? Okay, maybe I wasn’t great at excuses. In fact, I’d bet Nolan was working up the nerve to gently remind me that Riley wasn’t gay on the off chance that I was attracted to his husband’s former teammate.

Well, Riley was gay enough for me, and it was too late for warnings anyway. I couldn’t remember ever feeling quite this silly over a man. That was saying something since I’d followed Nolan to Elmwood, USA on a whim. But I’d always felt that Nolan and I needed something from each other, and perhaps fate had intervened at just the right time. There’d been passion, for sure, but…not like this.

I mean…now was a perfect example. We were in a crowded coffee shop in one of the smallest towns in Vermont, and I couldn’t keep my hands to myself. No kidding. It was impossible. I stepped aside to let another customer by and strategically brushed my fingers against Riley’s. His breath hitched, inaudible to anyone there but me. I knew he felt it too. I wondered if he simmered on a low boil in public the way I did.

I tried to be cool and act vaguely indifferent; however, it wasn’t so easy to do.

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