Page 48 of Frog

“Yeah, I’ll bet.”

“Whatcha wanna bet?”

He smiled slowly, shaking his head. “I’m not going to bet you. Just… they won’t eat it.”

I shrugged. “Put your money where your mouth is.”

“Fine.” He laughed at me, putting Pip down before he leaned in close, hand on my chest. “I have this fundraiser tonight, but when I get home, if they ate, my ass is yours. If they didn’t, yours belongs to me.”

I scoffed. “Oh, you’re so under me the second you walk in the door.”

His breath caught then, and our eyes locked together like they did sometimes. I could stare at the man for the rest of my life, and he seemed of the same mind.

“Dr. Benning?”

It took a minute, but he turned and looked at the man there in the same kind of white coat Cy had on. The difference was, my doctor was wearing green scrubs under his, and the man had on a dress shirt, tie, and slacks.

“Could I get an introduction?”

Cy seemed confused, and when two other men and four women were suddenly there, all in white coats, clustered around us, he started scowling.

I felt bad; I didn’t want to embarrass him. That had not been my intention.

“We should go,” I said quickly, turning to the boys.

“No,” he snapped, arm sliding around my waist, anchoring me there, holding on. “Weber, this is our chief of surgery, Dr. Harold Swan. Chief, this is my boyfriend, Weber Yates.”

I didn’t swallow my tongue, which was really impressive. When I looked at Cy, the lift of his eyebrows, the steadiness of his gaze, all of it daring me to confront him, correct him, anything… there was no way. He’d said it. I let it lie.

“Weber.” The chief smiled at me, and it was not a little smile. It was huge. He was much more than simply pleased to meet me. He was stupidly happy. “Very good to meet you. It’s such a pleasure.”

I shook the man’s hand as Cy’s pressed into the small of my back. There were a lot of people then, meeting me, meeting the kids, asking questions, all of them looking at me like I was some amazing new species of animal at the zoo. When it was time for us to leave, when the chief ordered everyone back to work, they all said again how nice it was that I had come by. The man in the suit walked up then.

He turned out to be Donovan Allen, one of the hospital administrators, a man who sat on the board, and surprisingly, he too was thrilled to make my acquaintance.

“What the hell?” I asked Cy as he took hold of my hand with his right and Pip’s with his left and led us back toward the elevators.

He was laughing.

“Your boyfriend?”

“That’s what you are,” he assured me. “We’re more than friends, but you don’t live with me, so you’re not my partner. But if I see an opening, if you give me even a sliver of a chance, I’m keeping you, so that says boyfriend to me.”

I scowled at him.

“Lover would have been better?”

“Aww hell no.”

“Well then.”

“They were like vultures.”

He chuckled. “I’m a very private man, Web. I mean, they all know I’m gay, but I would never, could never, date anyone at this hospital or associated with this hospital, and since they’re a big incestuous mess, they don’t get that.”

I nodded. “Don’t shit where you eat. I get it.”

He grunted. “They don’t. And I don’t bring dates here. No one comes to pick me up or does anything like that. They see my picture in the newspaper on the society page or in the ‘About Town’ section or something like that. They see me at fundraisers, like the one I’ll be at tonight, but they don’t see my family or meet the man I sleep with, ever. I don’t share my personal life. I never have.”