Fascination Series Boxed Set: Books 1-3 Read online

  I closed my eyes for a second and when I opened them Dorian was gazing at me in the mirror.

  I watched him as his nipples extended when I walked closer to him. He was shorter than me by only two inches. I’d say he was six feet to my six two frame. Where I was hard and thick, he was thin, but every part of him was muscles and hard in the right places—his chest and ass. His hair curled in separate ringlets after the drenching rain. I moved to the side of him and began washing my hands, looked into the mirror, and then turned my face to lock eyes with him once more.

  “I didn’t see you enter the stall,” Dorian chatted, and turned to face me. I glanced over to him, raised an eyebrow, squirted soap onto my palms, turned on the water to wash my hands, then reached for a towel, never taking my eyes off Dorian.

  “You were looking. I wonder why?” I questioned, then chuckled.

  “It’s strange that a man would come into a restroom and not use it unless—” Dorian stopped.

  “Unless he’s looking for a man?” I finished his statement. “I am looking for a man.”

  “Just as I thought,” Dorian said.

  I turned to him after drying my hands and aimed a smile at him. “Just what did you think?”

  “That you’re gay.” His words fell from his mouth soft, smooth, and overconfident.

  “Is that why you bought me at an auction because you thought I was gay? Well, you’re wrong if that’s what you’re thinking,” I barked. The nerve of this young man with the green eyes and dimples, who had fascinated me from the moment he strutted up to that stage, watched me as I kissed Annalisa, with me hoping it was him who was kissing me instead, and wishing it was his arms around my neck with our cocks banging against each other.

  “I’m seldom wrong about men,” Dorian taunted, then turned and smiled my way. I saw his eyes as if for the first time—green and clear like polished emeralds. I couldn’t help but stare at his mouth when I heard him say, “You’re gay and you won’t admit it. Not even to yourself. And no, I didn’t come here to pick up a gay man at an auction. I could easily have done that and not have to spend one hundred thousand on his ass.”

  I shot him a closed smile and a snicker. “Well, you bought a straight man, and if you think you’re getting your money’s worth, I’m here to tell you to think again. I’m going to dinner and then that’s it. If you want your fucking money back, then I’ll be happy to pay the money instead,” I said.

  Green Eyes with Dimples had pissed me off by knowing me better than I knew myself.

  By pissing me off, it only made me want to fuck him more. Maybe harder than he’d been before, but then there I went, making assumptions. Maybe he was a top and that would make my life easier. I’d just leave it at that because there was no way I’d let him top me.

  I turned to look in the mirror and I saw a sexy smirk cross Dorian’s mouth.

  “What? What the fuck is so funny?”

  “You. If you’re straight, which I don’t think you are... what a fucking waste,” he said, biting out each word.

  I tried to step away and he caught my elbow. I glanced down at his hand and he didn’t release it until I gritted my teeth, hoping he’d be intimidated. I didn’t think I’d done a good job of that, so I looked him in the eyes, trying to imitate what I thought a straight man would do under those circumstances. I didn’t convince him, I was such a bad actor. I couldn’t even convince myself that I was straight, and I realized he’d seen through me.

  “You’re not going to get away that easily,” Dorian said, raising the stakes, calling me out. “I’m not letting you out of this contract. The agreement states that I have you for a week. Dinner when and where I see fit. I have tickets to a football game in the owner’s box. You get to go with me. Won’t that be fun? You straight and me gay at a football game.” Dorian smiled and winked. “Then I get to go to your office and spend a day with you, and you...? You can come to my office, too.”

  I raised my eyebrow. “Office,” Dorian boasted. “You know, where Daddy brings his son to work, only you get to bring me. And I bring my mentor to work.” He slanted his head as he gazed into my eyes and chuckled.

  “Who thought up that shit?” I questioned.

  “You didn’t read the contract? Good. Your ass is mine for a week.” I saw his smile crawl up to the right and then I noticed. Those fucking dimples were going to drive me crazy. Fucking dimples on a face like his? There should be a law. I wanted to throw him down and pass my dick over his dimples on my way to his cute arrogant little mouth. Just the right size for what I wanted to do. I could even let him give me a blowjob and still I could say that I wasn’t gay and believe it.

  I needed to believe it more now, because Dorian had confronted me, and there was something about him that made me want to be what I knew I was all along—a man who had found his life partner.

  I wanted him. I wanted Dorian badly and I couldn’t handle my emotions. When it came to passion and reality, reality won. I blurted out, “Dorian, no, I’m not gay. You can Google me, Jeremy Westbrook.” Dorian narrowed his eyes as if confused. “Google me,” I repeated. “Do whatever you need to do to find out about me. Everyone will tell you that I’m straight.”

  “I don’t need anyone to tell me about you. I believe my heart and my eyes.”

  “Did your heart and your eyes tell you that I wasn’t Glisson Broadbent?” Dorian glared at me, his mouth opened, then shut.

  He twisted his mouth, slapped his wet coat on the side of his leg and said, “My eyes told me that I wouldn’t suck your cock if you were the last man on earth, you hairy bastard.” He shot me a sexy smile and strutted for the door.

  At least his heart didn’t tell him not to let a hairy bastard like me fuck him.

  What was it about Dorian that I was willing to give up Annalisa for, that I would tell my brothers about my sexual preferences, and admit to the world that I’d been living a lie? What did he have that I needed so much, I would be willing to give up my life now? I couldn’t put it into words. It was sexual, that’s all I knew, and I’d be lying to myself if I said it wasn’t, but it was also so much more and I had to find out why. Why was I feeling like if he left, I could never find another person like him, because he fascinated me, and I wanted to know him better?

  “Before the week is out, Jeremy, or whatever the fuck your name is, you will say it,” he smirked. I turned and raised an eyebrow and stared confused. “That you’re gay,” Dorian added, his voice empty of the resentment I’d sensed earlier, but easy and playful as if he was taunting me, like a cat taunted a mouse once he’d captured him. And the mouse was a goner, because even if the cat played with the mouse, there was no way in hell he’d get away from the cat. The only way to get away was never to get caught in the first place.

  I’d got caught.

  Dorian rotated on his heels and sauntered back to the door. Before reaching for the handle he teased, “Why don’t you say it now, Jeremy. It will be a lot easier on you later.” And then he walked out and the door closed, and that’s when I heard the flush of a toilet.

  “Fuck me,” I said, raising my face upward and closing my eyes, then opening them quickly. “Someone heard everything,” I murmured.

  I lowered my head, still unable to make a move. I didn’t want to face the man coming from the back, and I didn’t want to be seen running out of the restroom. I straightened my cuff and played with my gold cufflinks, then raised my eyes when I recognized the suit standing next to me. No one had a suit like that, but...

  “Max. What the fuck are you doing hiding in the restroom?”

  “I wasn’t hiding. I don’t have to hide from anyone, remember? I thought that boy would never leave. He has the hots for you from what little I heard.”

  “You heard a lot, Max. Don’t pretend you didn’t.”

  “Yeah, I also heard more than I expected. How you kept denying that you’re gay. I’ve been there, done that. It doesn’t end well. I’ve traveled down that road too many times to count. I can e
ven give you a map. Like marrying a woman because of your family. Then she fucks around on you, or in your case you will surely fuck around on her with that young man.”

  I raised my hand.

  “Let me finish,” he demanded. “I see your face, but I heard your voice. You want him, but you don’t want to admit it or give up something you’re holding on to, and it’s not your fiancée.”

  “Annalisa is not my fiancée.”

  “I rest my case. You can’t have it all. You’re trying to hold on to that straight life, but you’re drawn to what you truly want, and that’s a life with a man.” When I glanced up two men were walking through the door.

  “I was wondering what was taking you so long,” Jami said, walking up to Max and placing his hands around his husband’s waist as Max dried his hands. Jami aimed a smile my way. “I bid on you, Jeremy, but Max got jealous and I had to let that boy have you. Sorry. It cost him one hundred thousand. I hope he comes through. If not, I’ll put up the money, and no, Max, it’s my money not yours. And it’s for a good cause,” Jami maintained, and brushed his lips over Max’s as he reached for his hand.

  “I’m not jealous,” Max insisted.

  Turning to him, I said, “It’s in the voice. He’s jealous, Jami.”

  “Let’s get out of here before the crowd comes in,” Max insisted, before aiming a tight smile at me.

  Jami took Max’s hand and strolled with him to the door, and then he stopped. “You and your fiancée are seated at our table and so is that young man, Dorian. He’s cute. Isn’t he, Jeremy?” Jami teased.

  “Baby, let’s leave Jeremy alone. He has a lot to think about—” Max said, “—like how many times he’s going to wash his hands before he decides to leave and face Annalisa and Dorian at the same table.”

  Max wrapped his arms around Jami, turned and winked at me, then left me standing there looking into the mirror. I washed my hands one more time, before I gathered my courage to leave.

  Chapter 7

  Dorian

  I stayed in the bathroom too long. Long enough for those who recognized me as the man who’d plopped down one hundred thousand dollars. Too long where I showed up at the table and eyes were on me. I’d disappeared, giving Annalisa time to get acquainted with the guests at Max and Jami’s table. Before sitting, I noticed that both Max’s and Jeremy’s chairs were empty.

  Annalisa had been sitting chatting with Jami when I showed up flustered, wearing my same wet suit.

  Max had disappeared and when Jami noticed, he left Annalisa and headed in the direction of the restrooms. When I showed up, Annalisa wore a sour look on her face when her eyes met mine. Then as I sat down, she turned to me, and mumbled, “Where the fuck is everyone?”

  I hunched my shoulders and stood. I didn’t want to be there when all of the men came to the table, so I headed out of the banquet room to the rear of the ballroom.

  Standing in the rear of the ballroom, I wanted a last look at Jeremy before I left to go home. That’s when I spotted Max and his partner, who took a shortcut to the banquet room. I stood in the back, wondering if I should just leave and not face anyone, but I had business that needed straightening out. I had to hand over one hundred thousand dollars to Max Gold’s charity, for a man who hated me because I knew something about him that he wanted to hide from himself. He was gay and he wanted to fuck me.

  I was standing anxiously, ready to leave, wondering if I should go back to the Golds’ table. After all, I’d donated a lot of money and I had nothing to be afraid of. Then I saw Jeremy as he strode across the floor, leaned over and kissed Annalisa. He sat near to her and she grabbed his hand, then leaned over and whispered in his ear. As they both laughed, I imagined what Annalisa had said to Jeremy, or what he had said to her, about me.

  I decided that the best course of action was to meet the enemy head on, so I did. I headed back to the Golds’ table, smiled graciously and sat in a chair next to a man I didn’t know, but facing Jeremy and Annalisa with Jami and Max to my left. Jeremy had his arm draped around Annalisa’s chair as he leaned in close to her. I had the unfortunate position of sitting under a light where I couldn’t hide my eyes, or the blush of jealousy that marked my face. If Annalisa didn’t notice, Jeremy knew the tell-tale signs, because he’d look up at me and I’d catch him with this wicked grin and smug expression.

  He had me just where he wanted—behind me with my pants down around my ankles.

  Max and Jami were together holding hands, smiling at me with curious expressions, as if they held a secret. That was my time to tell them, “The money is being wired to the account as we speak.”

  “Oh, you didn’t have to do that. We’re on the honor system,” Max assured me.

  “See, Jeremy, I told you he had the money,” Annalisa crowed.

  Jeremy furrowed his forehead as if he didn’t know what Annalisa was talking about.

  “As it goes, I didn’t have the money, but my friend had it, and I texted Phillip to release the funds immediately.” I knew Phillip would raise bloody hell, and I would probably have to use some of my funds to cover it. Jami had bid up so high, but when I arrived and I saw that gorgeous man on stage, I had to have him. That was a half an hour ago.

  Now I was having buyer’s remorse.

  I rose from my seat. “I have to get home before I get pneumonia. It’s just too uncomfortable wearing these clothes,” I admitted.

  “I can get you some new ones, I just have to make a call and it will take about ten minutes,” Max said as I sneezed and stood. “They may not be to your taste, but they’re dry and you can finish your dinner.”

  I glanced down at the salmon, which smelled delicious, but I needed something to eat that could give me strength. I knew a restaurant that had just what I needed—a New York cut and a stiff drink.

  “I don’t think I have time, Max. I have to leave now.” I waved and walked briskly to the exit and handed the wet ticket to the valet. When he brought my car around, I sped away, pulling into the traffic, and ready to put all this behind me.

  WHEN I ARRIVED HOME, I called Phillip. The phone rang several times before he answered.

  “Don’t ever do that to me again,” I barked.

  “You don’t have to worry about that. You cost our firm one hundred thousand dollars. Don’t you think fifty thousand was enough to pay for that handsome-ass man, or did you get carried away by that face and that incredible body wrapped up in that expensive package?”

  “No. I did not,” I snarled. “How did you know he was handsome?”

  “It’s all over social media,” Phillip said with a groan. “You sound as if something is in your ass Dorian, and it’s not my dick.”

  “Don’t worry, Phillip, you will never be in my ass again.”

  I heard someone mumble, “You got that right.” I recognized the voice as Phillip’s boyfriend, Doctor Kevorkian.

  “You can also tell that fucking twink to stop listening to my conversations.”

  That’s when I heard Phillip say, “Go.” I heard his partner whine when he was dismissed. “You can talk now, Dorian. Why are you calling me? Isn’t it bad enough that you cost the firm all that money?”

  “Not the firm, Phillip. You agreed to pay for this auction, and I didn’t want to do this. You didn’t forget what I said today. If you don’t remember, I’ll be glad to repeat it.”

  “You don’t have to. But I sent you out to bid on Glisson, and not that arrogant prick, Jeremy Westbrook.”

  “How the fuck was I to know that? That was the name on the program, the same name he was introduced as. I followed your orders. What do you want me to do? Shall I tell Maxwell Gold that you want your money back?”

  “Look, Dorian, you’re going to have to split it with me.”

  “The fuck I am. Why? You have the money. You can deduct it at the end of the year.”

  “I know, but I need my money now. My funds are low since I purchased this new apartment. Housing is sky high, and I expected to get Glisson’s bus
iness, and now that’s in the crapper.”

  “How the fuck does that affect me, Phillip? Glisson bowed out on this one, because he didn’t have the money either.”

  “We’re partners aren’t we? I need you to help me out.”

  “In business only,” I shouted. “I signed papers so you could get that apartment that I’ll never see. How much more help do you want? You had plenty of cash reserves. You don’t need my money.”

  Phillip grew silent and his voice sounded distant.

  “Say something, Phillip. How did you use the money?” I sighed. “No, don’t tell me.” I really didn’t want him to tell me. I’d loved Phillip once, and I didn’t want to see him destroyed and have him take me down with him.

  “I invested in dog clinics.”

  “You’re not married to that fucker yet, and you’re giving him money from our business?”

  “That’s what I wanted to tell you, Dorian. We’re going to make it legal. That’s why I discussed with you the possibility that I might retire.”

  “You have fucked me around enough.” I hit the button and threw my phone to the side of the couch. “Fuck this. I need a drink,” I bellowed.

  After I gulped down a glass of vodka on the rocks, I took a shower, and dressed. I hadn’t been out to a club in years. I wondered if I would know what to do in one. I didn’t want to be alone tonight and especially for the weekend. I hadn’t even gotten Jeremy’s phone number to arrange where I could pick him up and on what day. I didn’t know what to do, and I couldn’t get my money back.

  “I’d have to pay fifty thousand dollars of my money now,” I murmured. I couldn’t even get a good fuck out of it, I thought, wanting to hit something, or someone. Preferably Phillip and that useless partner of his.

  I’d been too eager to prove that I could afford an apartment, and buy a half interest in Phillip’s firm that I’d risked my own money, and now I needed to relax, because I couldn’t take fifty thousand, half of the hundred to pay off this fucking unwanted debt. I could write it off by the next year, but I needed the money now.