Chapter One
“Hey, I never said being gay was easy.” Richard Hudson winked at Sean Fielding and slid his sleek two-door Toyota Solara into a hard-won parking spot.
A horn blared behind them, deafening and persistent. The irate driver who’d been waiting for a spot flashed his high beams. Richard stuck his hand out the window and offered a one-fingered salute.
The sound of tires skidding on the hard concrete accompanied Richard’s low chuckle. “But I did promise it would be a hell of a lot of fun.”
Sean gripped the leather-covered armrests, his knuckles turning white. “I’m not gay. This is --”
“Research. Yeah, I know.” Richard cut the engine and opened the driver’s door, but not before Sean saw him roll his eyes.
Fuck. I’m never drinking beer again .
One too many bottles on his birthday, and Sean had ended up spilling his darkest fantasies to a room full of rowdy men. Which wouldn’t have been so bad, really, had his fantasies been of the good old-fashioned Adam-and-Eve variety. And had his best friends -- his gay best friends -- not been close enough to hear him wax poetic about big cocks, broad shoulders and chiseled chests.
He climbed out of the car and slammed the door behind him, then hurried to catch up to Richard. “Seriously, man. I’ve got that big presentation Monday morning. I need to get a feel for the property before I open my mouth and suggest this as the ideal location for Mr. Sheen’s new casino.”
Richard eyed him skeptically as they navigated the densely-packed cars. On the other side of the lot, a myriad of neon lights flashed against the night sky. “And what makes you think the current owner’s gonna sell?”
Sean shrugged. “What makes every owner sell? Money.”
Richard gestured around him. “I think Brad Hennessy is doing well enough without your boss’s charity. Besides, if he sells, you’d better be prepared to have a riot on your hands. You’ll be robbing thousands of horny men of their favorite hangout.”
Sean had just opened his mouth to reply when he spotted a familiar black truck pulling into a recently vacated spot a few feet away. He and Richard waited while their four friends made their way toward them.
Frank, a tall, dark-haired man with an Italian complexion and a temper to match, shoved a finger into Richard’s chest. “That was my parking spot. You saw me waiting there, and you went for it anyway.”
Richard held his hands up in mock surrender. “And you’re surprised? Since when is anything of yours hands-off to me?”
Frank narrowed his eyes and tried to keep the scowl firmly fixed on his features, but a grin cracked through the façade. “Fine. Don’t let it happen again unless we’re in bed, or I say it’s okay.”
“Either, or?” Sean asked, shaking his head. “I’ll never understand that.”
Richard brushed a dark curl away from his forehead. “Monogamy’s for fools. And heterosexuals.” He narrowed his eyes at Sean, then gasped in mock-surprise. “And look, I don’t see a ring on your finger!”
Sean decided to let that jab pass without comment. He’d taken a lot of ribbing from the guys over the years for being the only one in their tight-knit circle who wasn’t gay.
Sean and Richard had first met in their freshman year of college, eight years ago. They’d both chosen a photography class as an elective and were partnered together to work on a nature project. Unlike the rest of their classmates, they had no trouble selecting a theme. Their collage of photos on “the sensual union of the birds and the bees” was the talk of the class for months.
A week after they met, Richard introduced Sean to his friends and he instantly hit it off with all of them. Steve, Jeff and Frank welcomed him into their group without hesitation.
He’d known from the beginning there was something different about them, but he couldn’t put his finger on it for the first few weeks. They hung out with the party
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