Outside of his office setting, in a suit that was tailored to perfection, Desmond was a snack in every way. He seemed softer than the other day, and the hint of nervous anticipation in his eyes before he spotted him had Javier’s blood rushing to all the best places. Desmond might have been an important financial wizard, but the anxious way he held himself made Javier want to rush in and take care of him like he’d never taken care of anyone before.
“You look fabulous,” he said as he approached his fake date. “Someone knows how to choose a suit that fits their body type.”
Desmond looked startled at the compliment. He glanced down at himself for a moment, then back up at Javier. He seemed far more interested in looking at Javier than himself. “I suppose it’s a bit self-defeating to say that Matthew picked out all my clothes.”
Javier tried not to grimace, but mostly for Desmond’s sake. The ex had really had Desmond in a relationship stranglehold.
“Where it came from doesn’t matter,” he said, giving Desmond one last sweep of his eyes. “You look amazing, and that’s all that counts.”
It was more than just the suit. Desmond was handsome as fuck in all the classical ways. He’d eased up on the hair products for the night, which gave his chestnut hair just a bit of curl. Javier wanted to run his fingers through it, preferably while the two of them were horizontal.
He sucked in a quick breath and scolded himself for those intrusive thoughts. It really had been too long, but that didn’t mean it was okay for him to go there mentally with the man who had asked him out for a very specific and delicate task.
Maybe afterward, if everything went well.
“The reception before the performance is this way,” Desmond said, seeming to snap himself out of his own thoughts after looking Javier up and down for a very long time. He gestured toward the lush, gilded staircase near where they stood.
“Lead on and I shall follow,” Javier said with exaggerated poshness.
Desmond smiled. Javier liked that smile. Something about it was sweet and soft, and also unfamiliar, like the man didn’t smile all that much. If the brief stories they’d shared in the limo were any indication, Desmond probablyhadn’tdone a lot of smiling when he was with Matthew the Ex. At least not in the last few years.
Javier made up his mind to do what he could to keep that smile on Desmond’s face for as long as was possible as they reached the top of the stairs and headed into the large room, where a modest-sized, overly elaborate party was already underway.
Another benefit of his time as a model was that Javier had been to parties exactly like that reception. He recognized the type of middle-aged and older men and women in clothing that cost more than most people’s rent and enough jewels to solve world hunger. He could make out half a dozen scents of high-end perfume and cologne as they walked across the room so Desmond could greet one of the organizers of the event. He even caught snatches of the same conversations that these sorts of people had every time they got together—the stock market, international trade, golf, and how abhorrent “the poors” were.
“These are your friends?” Javier asked, leaning closer to Desmond after they’d done their duty and said hello to the host and hostess.
“God, no,” Desmond muttered back. “These are the people I do business with.” He managed to inadvertently prove his point by smiling and nodding his head to a white-haired old matronwearing a collar of diamonds to try to hide her loose, wrinkled neck. “Good evening, Lady Averley.”
“Ah, Desmond,” the matron said, sliding up to him as if there were cameras rolling. “How lovely to see you here tonight, dear. I wasn’t certain you would make it consideringyou know whois certain to be here.” She winked at Desmond as if they were old college chums and she knew everything that was happening in his life.
“How could I possibly stay away when I knew that you would be here, Lady Averley?” Desmond replied to the woman with a tight smile.
Lady Averley laughed and rested her hand on Desmond’s arm, but Javier could see the strain in Desmond’s eyes. A twist of protectiveness raced through him. Just because he’d dealt with these people before and knew how they played their game didn’t mean he liked them. Men like he was beginning to suspect Desmond was needed protecting from the sharks.
“Always the charmer,” Lady Averley said. “But then,your sortalways are amusing. Is this your new boy toy?” She gave Javier a lascivious look.
Yep, Javier definitely didn’t like the woman.
“This is Javier Rivera, owner of Rivera Talent,” Desmond introduced him.
“Oh? He certainly seems talented to me,” she observed with a throaty laugh.
“Good lord, I’ve just spotted Cliffy Montgomery,” Desmond said, stepping away from Lady Averley. “If you will excuse us.”
He took Javier’s hand and led him away from the old bat as fast as he could without the two of them looking like they were racing to get away.
“Sorry about her,” he said once they were safely at the other side of the room, near the bar. “She’s, well, she’s old and rich.”
“Believe me, that’s all the explanation I need,” Javier said with a wry laugh. “We’ve got more than a few of her in the fashion industry. They have it in their heads that the gayer we are, the more we’re just gagging to be their besties.” He slipped into full camp as he spoke and pretended to flip his hair.
Desmond chuckled. It was a restrained sound, like he worried that if he laughed too hard in public, people would talk, but it was a laugh all the same. Again, Javier was struck by the feeling that Desmond didn’t laugh enough…and by a desire to be the one to make the man loosen up.
“Do they serve food here?” he asked, leaning closer to Desmond, like the two of them were colluding on a diamond heist. “I could use a bit of something to keep up my strength for all the schmoozing ahead.”
Desmond’s smile widened. “The buffet table is over there. Valentine’s themed, of course.”
“Shall we?” Javier asked, offering his arm with comical formality.
