“Are you ready to order?” Demitri asked him.
Are you on the menu?
The man’s voice sounded breathy and soft and went straight to Kiernan’s dick. He really wanted to reach down and adjust himself, again, but knew that would be wholly inappropriate. “Yeah, I think I’ll get the meatloaf sandwich with a loaded baked potato.”
Demitri nodded. “Anything else to drink?” he asked, nodding toward the glass.
He shook his head. “No, thank you. The water’s fine.” He racked his brain, trying to figure out what he could say to extend Demitri’s time at his table. “Have you worked here long?”
That is so lame!
His cell phone rang, saving him from embarrassing himself further. Kiernan pulled his gaze away from the cute young man and yanked his phone out of his shirt pocket.
Valerie, his daughter.
“I’ll get your order put in,” Demitri murmured, slipping away before Kiernan could do more than nod.
Answering his phone, he greeted, “Hey, sweetie. What’s up?”
“Hey, Dad,” Valerie greeted. “How are you?”
“Oh, fine,” Kiernan replied, smiling faintly at her question. He wondered what was up. It wasn’t often his daughter didn’t get right to the point. “Just stopped into the diner for lunch.”
“Again? Didn’t you get lunch there yesterday?”
Kiernan grinned. He placed his reading glasses on the table and took a surreptitious glance toward his waiter, who was now making the rounds of his tables with a pitcher of water. “Yeah, it’s close to the job site,” he said, although it wasn’t completely true. The diner had been close to his prior job site, but he’d moved to a new task last week.
“Dad, you really shouldn’t eat there every day. All that greasy food isn’t good for you. At your age, you should be watching your diet.”
Scowling, Kiernan glared at the table. “Valerie, I do. Is there a reason you called? My waiter is bringing my food,”
he lied. He had no desire for her to remind him of his age, especially since his daughter was twenty-four and most definitely older than the object of his obsession.
Valerie huffed a sigh, and Kiernan could just imagine her rolling her eyes at him. “Look, I called because I know it’s your birthday this weekend, and I’m not going to be able to get out there,” she admitted. “Can I take you to dinner next week?”
“Oh, uh, yeah, sweetie. That’s fine. Everything all right?”
he asked, becoming worried. His daughter lived in Colorado Springs in the dorms of her college. It was several hours away, and he and Valerie made a point of getting together at least once a month. This time, it was supposed to be for his birthday. He was turning forty-five.
“Yeah, it’s fine,” she assured. “I just have exams next week and…well, I should really focus on studying. It’s a couple of tough classes this go round.”
His daughter was very ambitious and wanted to be a CPA. It stood to reason she’d want to focus on school. April was a busy time of year for college students. “I understand.
I’ll see you next weekend,” he said, trying not to let his disappointment show in his voice.
“Thanks for understanding, Dad.”
“No, problem, sweetie.”
After hanging up the phone, Kiernan leaned back in his seat and sighed. He figured he could still go to the gym for his usual Thursday night routine. Accepting a foreman position for a construction company in the small town of Stone Ridge had done a world of good for his income— making it far easier to pay for his daughter’s college courses—but he didn’t get as much exercise as he used to while working as an underling at a larger company in Colorado Springs. He’d turned down multiple promotions over the years simply because he liked the manual labor. His daughter had showed him the ad for this position and urged him to apply, once more pointing out his increasing age.
Demitri appeared with the pitcher of water and refilled his glass, drawing Kiernan’s attention. Looking up into Demitri’s eyes, Kiernan smiled and nodded his thanks, surreptitiously enjoying the muscles playing under his toned arm as he reached across the table. Demitri smiled back tentatively and, if Kiernan didn’t miss his guess, stared at him from beneath his lashes. It looked flirtatious.
Could he be just as interested?
“Hey, Demitri!”
Demitri straightened and turned toward the jovial call, breaking their stare. Jealousy coursed through Kiernan at the way the young man smiled warmly at the two men coming toward them, which he knew was completely ridiculous.
Putting the odd reaction aside, Kiernan looked at the pair, impressed with the first guy’s large size and the way he had his arm around the second man. An openly gay couple.
Interesting.
He’d heard that a number of gay men made their home in and around Stone Ridge, but most were discreet about it. “Hey, guys,” Demitri greeted. “What are you up to tonight?”
The second man, a slender dark-haired guy smiled, his lips pressed thin since he kept his teeth hidden, and nodded toward the other man. “Frankie wanted to see a movie, so we thought we’d make a night of it,” he said.
“Sounds like fun. Grab a booth and I’ll be right there,”
Demitri said, pointing.
The big guy, Frankie, grinned and did as instructed quickly, flopping onto the bench seat so hard it made the entire booth shake. The slender guy and Demitri snickered at his antics.
When Demitri turned back to look at him, for just a second, Kiernan found himself the recipient of the young man’s brilliant smile. His heart felt like it skipped a beat.
“Sorry about that. I’ll go check on your food now,” Demitri told him, his voice soft, sounding almost like liquid silk.
“No problem,” Kiernan managed, pleased his voice came out mostly normal. As Demitri walked away, he couldn’t help
