The Boy With The Painful Tattoo: Holmes & Moriarity 3 by Josh Lanyon

Author:Josh Lanyon
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Tags: gay mystery
ISBN: 9781937909376
Publisher: JustJoshin Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2014-10-05T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

We slept late the next morning and then took turns in the Italian marble shower. As I stood beneath the beat of warm water and clouds of rich soap, I felt relaxed, almost at peace. Partly it was the physical release of tension. There were handprints on my ass. My leg muscles felt shaky, my guts trembly, my entire body felt buffeted like after a strenuous workout. But the release wasn’t all physical, and I kept finding myself smiling into space like a complete goof.

As I opened the bathroom door, J.X. was saying, “Come on, chica. Don’t start crying. I love him. You make things hard for him, you make them hard for me.”

It was funny how his intonation changed, he sounded a little more Hispanic, a little more urban, a little more like someone I didn’t really know yet. That was neither bad nor good, simply a reminder that he had a whole life I knew very little about.

Spotting me, he shifted the phone to his other ear and said, “I’ve got to go. There isn’t anything more to say. I told you how it was.”

Yeah, good luck with that, hombre.

But I had to give him credit. He clicked off without further apologies or explanation. He smiled ruefully at me. “Nina.”

I finished toweling my hair and said mildly, “I told you.”

To my surprise, he wrapped his arms around my waist pulling me down to the unmade bed with him. I admit I didn’t resist much.

“She’s a little confused. And,” he said quickly before I could interrupt, “yes, I probably did add to her confusion by spending too much time over there giving her advice and playing handyman and generally trying to fill in for Alex.”

I raised my brows and he shook his head. “Never. Never. And I still think marrying her was the right decision for that time, but…”

“It complicates things,” I said.

He smoothed the edge of his thumb between my brows—and if he thought it was that easy to get rid of frown lines, he had some bad news coming. “It does. I don’t want to hurt her or Gage. I love them. They’re family.”

I said, “I love my family too, but if you’ll notice, I’m not setting up Fourth of July barbecues with all my aunts and uncles and cousins or asking you to check out my mom’s security system or go golfing with my dad.”

J.X. gave me a long, thoughtful look. “Since you brought it up, it bothers me that you haven’t introduced me to your parents yet.”

“It bothers you?”

“Of course it bothers me. It makes me feel like maybe there’s a reason you don’t want me to meet them.”

That shocked me. I pushed up on my elbows. “What? What reason?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. I know you get along with them okay, and you considered yourself married to David, so it isn’t anything to do with being gay.”

“Of course it isn’t. It isn’t anything. I mean, there is no it. I just haven’t got around to the introductions.

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