Javier stopped as a frizzling jolt of adrenaline shot through him. He turned sharply back to Matthew, feeling like the answers to all his questions were right in front of him.
“I already know about your sordid dance with his competitor,” he said.
Matthew laughed. “That was nothing. We all had fun.”
Javier stared daggers at him, knowing there was more. He didn’t want to play into Matthew’s hand by asking for it, but he desperately wanted to know everything.
Fortunately for him, Matthew liked the sound of his own voice and had a flair for the dramatic.
“If the truth about what my lovely ex is guilty of got out into this room of people,” he gestured to the tables of stuffy businesspeople still eating their supper, “it would ruin him.”
“Now you’re just being a drama queen,” Javier said with a huff. “And coming from me, that’s saying something.”
Matthew shrugged. “You remember Martha Stewart and that little stint she spent in prison?”
Javier frowned. He’d been too young to be interested in what trouble some American celebrity got into at the time, but it was one of those things that lived in pop culture worldwide. She’d done some knitting in prison or something and was now friends with Snoop Dog?
“What she did pales in comparison to what our good friend Desmond is guilty of,” Matthew went on when Javier didn’t react outwardly.
It took a lot more composure not to react outwardly to that statement than Javier liked. “He would never,” he said.
“Oh, but he did.” Matthew’s smile grew wider. “Des and me and Angus had a right good holiday last summer. It was wild.”
Javier scowled, frustrated by the way the man was dragging his dirt out. He didn’t give the bastard the satisfaction of asking for more, though.
“Desmond is in a position to know things, of course,” Matthew continued. “Things that aren’t public knowledge. Things that could make a lot of people a lot of money.” Chills started to race down Javier’s back as the pieces inched together. “It just so happened that he told Angus a whole bunch of thosethings. Things that made him and Goulding McTavish a lot of money.”
Javier sucked in a breath, though he tried to hide it. Everything clicked into place in his mind. Desmond, his Desmond, the man who loved plants and was far quieter at home than he was in the high-pressure world of finance, had broken the law and given his fiercest competitor an edge.
It wasn’t just about taboo sex. It was about integrity and loyalty.
Exactly the things Desmond had just pointed out that Javier valued above all else.
But Desmond was wrong. Above all else, Javier valued his lover’s happiness and his peace. He valued what the two of them had together, and that would only be made more precious if the two of them would just share and lean on each other.
Before Javier could say anything, the sound of someone tapping on a microphone pulled his attention to the front of the room. The suited woman stood in front of everyone at the tables, who started tapping their glasses to bring the conversations to a stop and shift focus to the ceremony.
“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen,” the suited woman said. “On behalf of the Peabody Honors, I’d like to welcome you to our twelfth annual awards ceremony. I’d like to start off by introducing our chairman, Eleanor Beauregard, who will kick things off by announcing this year’s recipient of our prestigious Lundy Prize.”
The audience applauded. Javier’s heart sank. Suddenly, Desmond’s fears and anguish made perfect sense. His kind-hearted lover was about to be paraded in front of a room full of people to receive an award he didn’t think he deserved because he saw his past actions as transgressive in the worst way possible. Even if, Javier suspected, he’d been manipulated into those actions.
“This should be interesting,” Matthew said, leaning back against the wall and crossing his arms.
Javier’s heart sank to his gut. He searched the makeshift stage area as an older woman came up to the mic and launched into a speech about how good and wonderful Desmond was.
She wrapped her introduction up by saying, “And so, it is my honor to announce this year’s recipient of the Lundy Prize, Desmond White.”
The audience applauded, all smiles and good will. Javier applauded with them, but his stomach was tied in knots.
“I’ve known Desmond for over a decade now,” the smiling woman said, glancing into the wings of the small stage. “I had the privilege to work with him when he was fresh out of university and hungry to make a name for himself in the financial world. I’ve always been impressed not just by his firm, no-nonsense way of approaching each new financial deal or client contract, but by his genuine caring and compassion, even in the most trying of situations. Desmond is second to none when it comes to putting people before profit, which isn’t something you find often in this world.”
The audience laughed, and Javier’s heart bled. It was true. Everything the woman said about Desmond was true. But it was so much more than that. Desmond was more than that. He was a sweetheart and a gentle soul who was sometimes buffeted by the storms of the world more than he let on. He was someone who deserved to be taken care of, not pushed around.
He was someone Javier wanted to spend the rest of his life loving and looking out for.
“And so, without further ado,” the elderly woman said, turning to look into the wings, “Desmond, come claim your prize.”
Javier held his breath, his heart thundering against his ribs as the man he loved walked out onto the small stage looking asthough he was headed to his execution. The audience smiled, and a few people even rose to their feet. None of them seemed to see the pallor that had come over Desmond or the haunted look in his eyes.
