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  His facial expression didn’t change much, but I sensed he was pissed. His eyes went flat. “Well, now I know, don’t I? Have a good afternoon, Mr. Havers.”

  He drove off before I could say something worse. Oh, God. Had I just lost us a client? Ingrid would kill me. And forget about a date.

  * * * *

  “Okay, whatever bug crawled up your butt these past few days, shit it out. You’ve had enough coffee to turn into a Keurig machine and you’re still a bear. What gives?” Ingrid stared me down in my office, hands on her hips.

  “Go away.” I kept typing the email message to a client who hadn’t paid his bill in two months.

  “No.” She perched on the edge of my desk, smoothing down her plaid skirt. “We haven’t had a call from Mr. Soames all week, and that’s unusual. I was going to call him, but I thought you could do it instead.”

  Oh, dear. I might have turned a shade of green that matched my shirt. Or at least my eye color. “Um…”

  “Okay, whenever you start a sentence like that, I worry.” She tapped a nail on my desk. “What did you do?”

  “Why did I have to do anything?”

  Ingrid pounced. “You pissed him off, didn’t you? I don’t know how, but that would be just like you. What the fuck, man?” She threw her hands in the air and stood. “If you’ve lost us a client, I will murder you with your bicycle spokes. Fix. This. Now.” And off she went.

  Great. Now I had to figure out how to apologize to our precious client. See what I mean about life not ever doing me any favors? Though perhaps I’d brought a lot of this on myself, but I wasn’t thinking about that.

  I took a deep breath, let it out, and picked up the phone. It rang twice before the receptionist at Donal’s firm answered, then transferred me to his line at my request. It went to voicemail immediately. Damn it. When the beep sounded, I didn’t know what to say.

  “Um…Mr. Soames? Er, Donal? This is, uh, Nye.” Geez, how articulate. “I was calling to see if, uh, everything is okay, with the contract? We haven’t heard from you and I hoped, well, really, I wanted to, kind of, um, apologize for, you know. So, anyway, uh, bye.” Yeah, I hung up before it could get any worse, and thunked my head on the desk. Twice. And then once more, just for effect. I was an idiot.

  I spent the rest of the day enduring Ingrid’s frowns and narrowed eyes whenever we crossed each other’s paths. She would forgive me eventually. Ingrid knew I sometimes couldn’t help myself, though that wasn’t really an excuse, was it?

  * * * *

  Another week went by without hearing, at least personally, from Donal. He did start ordering couriers again a few days after my call, though whether that was the reason, or something else had happened, I had no idea.

  * * * *

  On yet another Saturday, while Ingrid and I ate Chinese food as a break from pizza, the door opened and Donal entered, dressed in green and black. Wait, were those jeans? I hadn’t ever seen him in anything but business or dressy attire.

  Ingrid discreetly stepped on my foot, threw me a warning glare, and waved at Donal before disappearing in the back with her lunch. Leaving me to finish noodles and wipe my mouth before staring nervously at the man before me.

  “Mr. Soames,” I said, then kept my mouth shut, for a change.

  “Mr. Havers,” he replied after a few seconds, and I thought I caught the ghost of a smile before it disappeared behind his usual austere expression.

  “Uh…” I rubbed the back of my neck. “Did you get my message?”

  “I did.” The glint in his eye seemed to say he was enjoying himself at my expense. The bastard. I could try to control my tongue just this once, however.

  “Then you know that I attempted to apologize to you.”

  “Yes. Thank you.” He stepped closer to the counter, then stopped. “I was out of town for a week, and I’m usually the one who puts in the order, since I don’t trust anyone else to get it right. Or I’m just particular. You would probably say ‘anal and rigid.’ So be it.”

  I winced. “About that…so what? I’m no peach myself, so who am I to make judgments on someone else’s coping mechanisms? I truly am sorry for what I said.”

  “It’s fine. I find your candor and lack of a filter refreshing.”

  It was my turn to be surprised. “Really? You would be the first.”

  He cleared his throat, and I noted his nervousness again. “So, would it be okay to ask you out for coffee or dinner?”

  “Coffee!” I heard Ingrid say in the background, the eavesdropper.

  Trying not to blush, I replied, “Coffee would be fine. I practically live on the stuff.”

  “So do I,” Donal said, and a shy smile lifted the corner of his mouth for a moment. I could become addicted to that look.

  “Um, well then, okay. Today? Or tomorrow? I don’t work on Sundays, but I don’t know what your schedule is…”

  “This evening would be fine, if that works for you. I’ll be free after six. The coffee place near that Publix where I saw you that time?” As if I could forget.

  “Sure. I can be there around seven-thirty.”

  “Okay.” He stepped back. “See you then.” Donal gave me a long look, then left.

  I sat on the stool behind the counter and rubbed my face with my hands.

  “See, was that so hard?” Ingrid asked as she returned to the front.

  “Whatever, Mrs. Busybody. Let’s just hope I don’t screw things up again.”

  “Remember, your death will be on my hands if you mess up.” Her voice softened. “It’s a chance for you to find happiness, you know? Give yourself that chance, at least, okay?”

  * * * *

  Thankfully it wasn’t as windy as it could have been as I hastened to my rendezvous with Donal. I had chosen to dress in a lavender-colored shirt and white pants, a multi-patterned purple scarf, with violet hat and gloves to match, and my jacket and boots. When I arrived, I saw him waiting for me just inside the door.

  “Nye,” he said in greeting, his dark gray scarf darkening his eyes to slate and perfectly matching the gray and blue ensemble he wore this evening. He had taken the time to go home and change. I was surprised and flattered.

  “Donal,” I replied. He led the way further inside and chose a table at the far end of the café, where it was quieter.

  “Would you like a latte?” he asked as he removed his scarf and carefully hung it over the back of his chair.

  “Black is fine.”

  He smiled. “Somehow, that doesn’t surprise me.”

  I rolled my eyes, and when he chuckled, I almost passed out. Who was this guy and what had he done with Donal?

  The rest of the evening was more of the same. Surprising revelations about a man who seemed to be one thing on the surface, with much more underneath.

  “My grandfather raised me. He was former military, so I lived a regimented life growing up. It wasn’t bad. It gave me direction, and helped me survive the high school years from hell. My grandfather didn’t care about my orientation. He cared about my character and work ethic. That is how I remember him. I owe him everything.”

  I watched Donal sip black coffee just like mine before saying, “I suppose I should have guessed something like that, considering the way you carry yourself. I, on the other hand, was raised in a liberal household. My parents were hippies in every sense of the word. They wanted to save the planet and everyone in it.

  “I was free to be myself, make dumb mistakes and learn from them. I’ve always been outspoken and unafraid to say what I think, and not many people can handle that. In fact, no one has been able to, so far.” Except you, I wanted to say, but didn’t.

  Donal lightly touched the back of my hand. “I understand why that would be, but that trait doesn’t scare me. I’m more worried that my staid ways would scare you away. They have done so to everyone else.” And the loneliness I heard in his voice called to my own.

  I smiled. “We are a pair, aren’t we?”

  “It seems so.”
After finishing his coffee, he said, “Where do we go from here?”

  “I don’t know. I…didn’t expect anything, really. I am hard to take, and while I’m attracted to you in a big way, I don’t want to get my hopes up. Or yours. I’ve been hurt so many times, it’s hard to turn off that fear.”

  Donal looked me in the eye. “I’ll never lie to you about anything. I say what I mean, always. I want to get to know you better, and I think our opposites might just match, if we give it a try.”

  I stared at the man who just seemed to be too good to be true, and nodded. “Okay.”

  * * * *

  Donal offered to drive me the few blocks home. Once there, I asked him up to my condo. No one aside from Ingrid and her wife had ever been there in the three years I’d owned it.

  It was spartan because I hated a mess. But I had lots of color in pillows, curtains, towels, and bed linen.

  “This is very colorful, like you,” Donal said, and if I hadn’t known any better, I could have sworn I saw a cheeky grin flit across his face.

  “Well, I aim to please,” I said, sniffing delicately before leading him to the kitchen. “More coffee? Or tea?”

  “Actually, no.” He approached me slowly, deliberately, until there was barely a couple of inches between us as I leaned against the kitchen counter. His gaze shone. “What I would really like is to know how you taste. I’ve been fascinated with your mouth for a while now. I’m curious.”

  My heart started beating fast. “Are you now?” I stared at his lips. “Who knew you had such a streak…mmm.”

  I didn’t get a chance to finish before Donal pressed his mouth to mine in a chaste kiss, then cradled my face in both hands, taking it deeper. God, it had been so long since I’d been touched like this, like I meant something. It almost broke me.

  I whimpered before returning the kiss, wrapping my arms around his waist and tangling my tongue with his. I felt the muscles beneath his clothes, and wouldn’t it be lovely to feel his body all over mine?

  Donal pulled away when he had to breathe, but I chased his mouth, licked his lips, and sucked on his tongue. The sounds he made…I yearned for more, but I didn’t want to be a slut. At least, not yet. I liked sex, and lots of it. But it had been a while.

  I pulled back, but kept my arms around him. “This is a first date, you know. I don’t want to be too easy.”

  Donal smiled and placed a peck on my nose. “Nye, nothing about you is easy. We can wait a while before doing anything more. I’m in no rush, and frankly, I work a lot. It may take time before we can do this right.”

  I rubbed against him, feeling his hardness, the same as mine. “It seems just right to me.” I leaned in and kissed him some more. “Now all we have to do is work on getting you some more color in your wardrobe.”

  He scowled. “What? I wear colors.”

  I licked his lips. “Black and gray don’t count. I’m going to teach you about pastels.”

  Donal looked faintly alarmed at the prospect, but I kissed away his worries, and he didn’t seem to mind after that.

  THE END

  ABOUT J.D. WALKER

  J.D. Walker likes to keep her stories short and sweet, with the occasional novel or novella. A multi-published author, she is also a musician, artist, language enthusiast (German and Spanish), and lover of all things knit and crochet.

  For more information, visit lifebyjo.com/jdwalker.

  ABOUT JMS BOOKS LLC

  JMS Books LLC is a small queer press with competitive royalty rates publishing LGBT romance, erotic romance, and young adult fiction. Visit jms-books.com for our latest releases and submission guidelines!