She turned to Micah. “How can I help you?”
“Uh, ma’am, my name is Micah Truveen. I’ve heard so much about you. You see, I’m a friend of—”
“Of mine.” A slim hand grasped Micah’s shoulder, and he looked up into Dharmaram’s handsome, lying face. “Micah is a great friend of mine, Mary Beth. And, of course, I tell him such great things about all my students.”
Micah pulled on his shoulder, trying to loosen Dharmaram’s hand, but his fingers tightened. Dharmaram stared at him intently with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “I’m so glad you came by, dear. I was wanting to speak with you.”
Micah managed to pull free from the tight grip. “I want to talk to Mary Beth.”
Dharmaram’s gaze got very intent, and Micah shivered. “I think you’d better talk to me before you do anything else.”
Shit. That didn’t sound good.
Mary Beth stepped a little closer and frowned at Dharmaram. “Would you like me to wait for you, Micah? Or better yet, I’m going over to Charismatic Cupcakes when I leave here. Why don’t you come see me there? In fact, my grandson, Quentin, will be there as well. I assume you know him, am I right?”
Micah nodded. Dharmaram’s fingers dug into his arm. “Thank you. I’ll talk to Dharmaram and be right along, okay?”
She grinned. “How about I don’t tell Quentin you’re coming? Then it will be a lovely surprise.”
Micah cocked his head. How much does she know? What had Quentin told her? “Okay. Great.”
She gathered her stuff, and he turned to Dharmaram. The man put a hand on Micah’s shoulder again, and he shrugged it off. “So what the hell do you want?”
“I need a place to live.”
Micah narrowed his eyes. “I’m no boarding house. What does this have to do with me?”
“I want to come back and live with you. Just like before.”
“You’ve been smelling too much incense, asshole.” He turned and started walking toward the door. Whoa. Stopped dead by a grab on his arm.
Dharmaram stepped up close behind Micah. “I think you now have someone to protect, don’t you? And if you want to protect this someone, it pays to keep me happy.”
He swallowed and hoped the asshole didn’t notice. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Dharmaram turned Micah to face him. He didn’t resist. “I have a good eye for beauty, as you know.” He ran a finger along Micah’s jaw. Forget it. He pulled his head away. “And I’ve discovered that the handsome grandson of one of my most upstanding students, Mrs. Mary Beth Darby, has been known to go about cavorting in women’s clothes with one sexy gay man. Intentions? Dishonorable.”
Jesus, his belly hurt, but he didn’t want Dharmaram to know how shaken he was. “So what?”
“So, I suspect that the upstanding lady in question is quite unaware of her grandson’s cavorting. I further suspect that she would be shocked and horrified to learn of this and would probably disown the little fucker.”
Surely she wouldn’t—but Quentin had never told her. Micah couldn’t let her find out this way. Hearing the truth from Dharmaram would be pretty awful. “So what do you want?”
“Very simple. Just the room and board you provided previously. My current meal ticket is getting complaints from her children about what she’s spending on me, plus we all know I don’t really like girls.”
Micah clenched his fists. “So that’s what I was? Your meal ticket?”
“Of course not, dear. I loved fucking that adorable rock-hard ass. And that reminds me. Whatever are you doing with that silly drag queen, for God’s sake? Pretty as he is.”
“None of your business.”
Dharmaram’s eyes narrowed. “See that it stays not my business. What time shall I be at your house with my stuff?”
Oh God, he wanted to hit him. “Seven o’clock.” He walked away thinking about the cupcake shop he wouldn’t visit, the beautiful man to whom he would never apologize, and the day that was now far crappier than the night before.
QUENTIN PULLED a last batch of the spring flower cupcakes from the oven. He had to buck up. It was silly to let a man he barely knew take the joy from his life. He needed to put on his big-boy panties, retire Queen to the back of the closet, and focus on his business. If only his heart didn’t feel like a mile of bad road.
Next to him at the counter, Mary Beth kept looking at the clock. He smiled at her.
“Do you have a hot date I don’t know about, ma’am?”
“Dear, do you know a young man named Micah?”
He froze. Okay, he should just breathe. “Uh, yes. He’s the person I had a drink with last night. Why? How do you know his name?”
“He came by the yoga class today.”
“He did?” He could barely breathe.
“Yes. He introduced himself to me, and I think he was going to tell me something, but then my teacher interrupted and started talking to him. I told him to come by the shop, but he hasn’t come as far as I can tell.”
The bad road just got a whole new pothole. He shook his head slowly and put the cupcake pan on the cooling rack. “He won’t come here. He’s a real health-food nut. He doesn’t approve of all our sugar and flour.”
She shrugged. “He certainly seemed anxious to talk to me.”
“Hmm. Strange. But I guess he and Dharmaram used to have a relationship, so maybe they’re still friends.”
“Maybe. But he surely didn’t seem very happy to see Dharmaram.”
Quentin shrugged. “I don’t think he’s happy about much.”
Maybe he should try to talk to Micah? No. A foolish idea.
MICAH STOOD on the porch and held the door while Dharmaram carried in his suitcases and a couple of cardboard boxes from the back of his car. Micah wished he was headed the opposite way and the
