Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 55627 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 278(@200wpm)___ 223(@250wpm)___ 185(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55627 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 278(@200wpm)___ 223(@250wpm)___ 185(@300wpm)
Years after the end of his long-term relationship, kind-hearted, successful Jack Storm is close to giving up on love, certain the romance part of him is broken and he’s destined to be alone forever. Gorgeous, confident Gray McClellan has been pining after Jack for most of his adult life, committed to being his friend until he’s ready for more.
When their friends say Jack is ready to date, Gray jumps at the opportunity to finally shoot his shot. Jack’s deep-seated wounds challenge them both, but Gray is nothing if not tenacious, patient, and most critically, deeply in love with Jack. Now that he can finally have his man, Gray won’t let anything, including Jack’s insecurities, get in the way of their hard-earned happily ever after
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
Chapter 1
Squinting across the dark restaurant, Gray McClellan tried to locate his friends.
“Can I help you?” the hostess asked.
“I'm meeting some people. The reservation is probably under Kevin Rodley.”
“Kevin Rodley,” she said to herself as she picked up her iPad. “Let’s see...”
“Never mind.” He nudged his chin in the direction of a table. “I see them. Thanks.”
He walked over to the four-top where three of his friends were already seated and tugged the empty chair away from the table.
“Hey,” he said as he sat down.
“You’re late.”
“Am I?” He looked at his watch. “Huh, looks like you’re right.”
“That’s it?” his friend Kevin asked incredulously.
“What?” He darted his gaze around the table, looking for a menu.
“We said we’d be meeting at seven. It’s nine.”
Shrugging, Gray said, “I had to shower.”
“Cleaning yourself doesn’t take two hours and it isn’t an unexpected event, Grayson McClellan, schedule it.”
“He used your full name,” Eric mock whispered. “You’re in troubllllle.”
“Funny.” He noticed a few plates on the table. “Did you guys already order?”
“You’re two hours late! Yes, we ordered. And we ate. And we paid the bill,” Kevin huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t know why you bothered to show up.”
“Because I told you I would.” He’d skip the meal and get a drink. He’d had a big lunch anyway.
“How very reliable of you.”
“Thank you.”
“I was being sarcastic! You’re an IP lawyer. What exactly happened at your desk job that required a two-hour shower?”
“Two-hour shower?” Gray asked as he looked around the restaurant for a waiter.
“At the risk of being repetitive, you’re two hours late.”
“The shower took about ten minutes. The fucking leading up to the shower was how I spent the lion’s share of the time.”
“You’re dating someone?” Eric said, looking hopeful. “Why didn’t you bring him?”
“God no.” Gray shuddered. “Some guy chatted me up on Grindr and his profile pic was too good to pass up.”
“What was his pic?” Eric asked.
“Big ass in a small jock.”
Laughing, Kevin said, “Still a slut.”
“Mmm.” Gray pinched his lips, scrunched his nose, and tilted his head, considering. “I wouldn’t say slut exactly.” In theory, he was very much a relationship guy. But his friends didn’t believe that because the entire time they’d known him, the only person he wanted hadn’t been available. Gray was patient enough to wait, but he got lonely and horny, so he made do with what was available in the meantime.
“You spent most of the evening in bed with a random you met on an app.”
“An hour and a half isn’t most of the evening and we were in the living room,” Gray said distractedly. He really wanted that beer and there wasn’t a member of the waitstaff in sight. “Besides, I’m here now, aren’t I?”
“Gray has a dash of commitment phobia,” Thom said, trying to defend him, which was kind but unnecessary because the day Gray came out to his father and received a detailed lecture about how that made him disgusting was the same day he vowed never to care what anyone thought of his sex life. “Also,” Thom added, “I’m never sitting on your sofa again.”
“A dash?” Kevin said. “Gray bought the Costco-sized commitment-phobia bottle and chugged the entire thing in one sitting.”
“It was his sofa, not mine,” he said to Thom, “and don’t act like you and Eric limit your fun time to your bedroom.” He considered whether he should navigate his way through the crowd to get to the bar. It probably would be rude to leave the group when he’d only just arrived, but the conversation meant the drink was becoming necessary. “And I’m not commitment phobic,” he mumbled. If anything, he was the most committed guy at the table, even if nobody else understood that.
“Look, if you won’t take a guy out in public—and even if you will, which, let’s be real, you won’t—that means you have an issue with committing.”
“Fine, I enjoy sex but I’m all about commitment and do you have an actual point, Kevin? Because if you do, please make it and then we can move on from this topic.” This was why he had agreed to the hookup despite having plans at the same time—sex was fun, but creating an excuse to reduce his time with his friends was even better.
“My point is that if you really are all about commitment, you’re shooting yourself in the foot with all the sleeping around, because if you ever meet a guy you actually deem worthy of a relationship, there’s no way he’ll settle down with someone who’s all used up.”
“Used up?” Gray asked. “I’m a human being, not chewing gum, and sex doesn’t work that way.” Sometimes he wondered if he should find new friends, but then he remembered that this was a good group of nice people, and realistically, he didn’t like humans. Well, he didn’t like most humans. There was an exception to every rule.