Chapter Four

 

 

 

The sun was high in the sky, but Clark didn’t mind. He lay beneath a large tree on a blanket with his head in Paolo’s lap while Drew dug through their cooler for another soda. From somewhere in the distance, children were laughing and someone was calling after a dog named Bugsy. At least he hoped it was a dog and not someone who thought Bugsy was a good name for a child. He inhaled and could swear he smelled the faint scent of cherry blossoms that High Park was known for. It was all in his head. The cherry blossoms were long gone.

“This is the life.” Clark sighed.

“We’re out of ginger ale,” Drew Flagstaff said. “Probably for the best. I can feel myself getting diabetes.”

They laughed.

“I keep coming home to voice mails from the media,” Clark told them. “I mean, my number is private! How in the hell did they get a hold of it?”

“You mean your number should have been private,” Paolo said. “In this day and age, nothing is.”

“That makes me sad,” Drew added. “Nothing is sacred anymore.”

Clark nodded his agreement. “They were calling my cell. I told the one guy who did that if he called it again, I’d report him so fast.”

“And he stopped?” Drew asked.

“So far. The truth is, I have no idea who I’d report him to, but I figured the threat alone would scare the love of Jesus into him.”

“It seems like it worked.” Paolo laughed. “You’re an ass.”

Clark grinned. He rolled over to stick a hand into the cooler and felt around. Finding a bottle of water, he sat up and wrung the cap off. “I have to run something by you guys.”

“Sure,” both Paolo and Drew chorused then laughed.

“The lady I helped the other day…” Clark began.

“Tae Won Kim’s mother,” Drew added.

Clark nodded. “Yeah. Well, her son asked me out to dinner tonight.”

“And, let me guess, you’re thinking about it,” Paolo said.

“Kinda.” Clark stopped and drank half the contents from his bottle. “He didn’t really ask. I mean, if you want a man to go out with you, aren’t you going to say something like ‘Will you have dinner with me?’ No, he was like, ‘Have dinner with me.’ Then he all but blackmailed me into saying yes.”

Drew chuckled. “It means he really wants to have you alone. What’s so wrong with that?”

“Look, Clark, don’t overthink this,” Paolo told him. “Think of it as just dinner. Go, and if you enjoy yourself, do it again.”

Clark took a breath and stretched his legs out before him. “I—I don’t think we should be alone together. I mean, whenever I’m close to him, I know if he were to offer—well, you know? I wouldn’t say no.”

“I don’t get it.” Paolo looked confused. “Offer what?”

“You know?” Drew asked. “Boom-chicka-wow-wow!”

“Oh, Lawd!” Paolo flushed.

“Then don’t say no.” Drew laughed. “People have one-night stands all the time. Sometimes those one nights are just that. Other times, they lead to something else, something more.”

“But you never know with Tae Won. He looks at me and I see this…this…thing smoldering just beneath the surface. Last night I went to the batting cages to blow off some steam and there he was—just standing there. I took a swing at him and he went Neo from The Matrix.”

Paolo groaned. “Explain.”

“I don’t know, man. All I know is that I wound up in the fences with him crushing into my body and I felt scared, but so fucking turned on I wanted to cry.”

“See?” Drew asked. “Don’t fight this. Go with the flow.”

Clark looked over at Paolo and his friend agreed with Drew by smirking and shrugging.

“In all seriousness, though.” Clark grabbed a bag of salted peanuts from the food bag and tossed a couple into his mouth. “Did you ever see me dating a Korean?”

“Honestly?” Paolo asked. “I didn’t see a race on the man you would date.”

“Me either,” Drew added. “Race was never important to you. Ever since I’ve met you, you’ve been like that.”

“So true. I saw you happy, that’s all,” Paolo said.

Clark leaned in to hug both of them then sat back to his snack.

“He is really sexy, though,” Drew said.

The three of them went silent for a moment then burst into laughter.

Clark continued his day with his friends and when it was over, Drew dropped him off first then took off with Paolo. Thankfully when Clark entered the building, he had his choice of elevators. The ride up went quickly and soon he was barging into his apartment, surprisingly excited about the prospect of an evening with Tae.

Getting dressed took longer than he would have liked. He shaved, showered then spent an hour flipping through outfits. By the time he’d finished, the bed was missing under a pile of clothes. At seven, his phone rang, but he ignored it. If Tae wanted to pull that macho crap on him, he was going to make the jerk sweat a little. The phone rang every five minutes after that and at seven twenty, he picked up.

“Hello?”

“Good evening, Mr. James. I am your ride for your appointment with Mr. Kim.”

Appointment, my ass.

Clark rolled his eyes. “I’ll be right down.”

He hung up before the driver could speak again. Even then, he took his own sweet time making his way down to the car. After shaking hands with the driver, he climbed into the back seat and almost jumped out of his skin when the door closed. Finally, they were on their way and Clark had so many questions. The ride was the same as the first—silent.

 

* * * *

 

Tae paced the large kitchen, checked the time a million times. Each time his driver called to check in and reported he hadn’t gotten a hold of Clark, Tae wanted to scream. Then finally, Colin had called with the news that he was on his way. He waited until he heard the doorbell ring before he slipped out of his coat and hung it up. It didn’t feel right wearing a jacket in the house with Clark. Tae left his tie on and opened the door.

“Clark. You look great,” Tae said and instantly felt like a moron.

Clark smiled—an actual smile. “Thank you.”

“Come in.”

Clark didn’t move.

Tae groaned. “Please, come in.”

Clark stepped by him and Tae watched as Clark removed his shoes then turned to face him. He closed the door then led Clark through the foyer and into the open concept that was the kitchen, living room and dining room. “Would you like a glass of wine?”

“Does your driver have to take me home afterward?” Clark asked instead of answering.

“Yes.”

“So he’s going to just sit outside and wait until whatever hour of the night I’m finished here and am ready to go home? Doesn’t he have a family?”

“I pay him well for his time.” Tae picked up two bottles of wine from the cooler and held them up. “Red or white?”

“Tae, send him home.”

“Who will drive you at the end of our night?”

“You have two hands, don’t you? It’s not fair for him to—and don’t say you pay him well for that.”

Tae sighed and pulled out his cell phone. He dialed Colin and handed Clark the phone before putting the wine back. While Clark spoke with Colin, Tae set to work getting their meal out on the table and making a large jug of lemonade instead of alcohol. He would have to drive Clark home—if he didn’t have his way. If it were up to him, Clark would stay the night, in his bed, weak from a number or orgasms and thoroughly fucked.

“This smells amazing,” Clark said. “Did you cook?”

“No. Perhaps when we have dinner again, you can cook for us.”

“Who says we’re going to be doing this again?” Clark asked, picking up a bowl of salad and carrying it to the table.

Tae watched after him, shook his head and followed with their glasses. Once they were seated, he handed Clark the plate with the baked salmon.

He watched as Clark ate.

“So, tell me,” Clark started. “What’s the real reason you asked me here tonight?”

Tae wondered if he was to tell the truth. Then again, lying to Clark didn’t seem like a good idea. He’d just dig and dig until he found out the truth. He took a piece of broccoli into his mouth and chewed thoughtfully. “Can I be honest?” Tae asked.

“Yes.” Clark drank some juice.

“I’m attracted to you. I’m very certain you know that. Whether you wish to admit it or not is up to you. I wanted to see if we can be more than friends.”

“More than friends? Hell, Tae Won, I don’t even like you.”

Tae smiled. “It’s no longer Mr. Kim. I would say we are making progress.”

They ate in silence and Tae hated it. Every time he looked at Clark, the infuriating man would not meet his gaze. He wanted so much to see those brown eyes looking back at him that he almost screamed.

“What do you do for a living?” Clark asked.

“I own my own advertising and graphic design firm.”

Clark nodded. “So you’re responsible for the really annoying things that cut into my favorite shows. Great, one more thing to dislike about you.”

“I see.”

“You see what?”

“You really hate me.” Tae picked away at what was left of his fish. “Don’t you?”

Clark said nothing, so Tae lifted his head. Their gazes locked across the table and that same heat that had raced through his whole body that night at the batting cages returned.

“I don’t hate you, Tae Won. I…”

“You?”

“I’m a simple person. I don’t like having money tossed at me and I don’t like you saying I helped your mom because I wanted something. I didn’t know who she was and I definitely didn’t know who you were.”

“I get it.”

“You can’t even say I’m sorry. ‘I get it’ isn’t an apology.”

“Come here,” Tae said, his voice cracking with emotion and that shocked him. “No, don’t think about it.”

“I’m still upset with you.”

“Please…”

“Tae, I’m right here. What do you want?”

“I want to kiss you, Clark.”

“Kiss me?” Clark’s eyes widened.

“I want to feel your body pressed into mine again and listen to your breathing quicken as I take you in my arms.” Tae shook his head. “I don’t mean to overstep—”

Clark rose, walked to the head of the table and leaned his back into the wall. When he made no other attempt at moving, Tae wiped his mouth with his napkin, set it on the table and eased away from the table. He kept his focus on Clark as he walked forward. Standing before Clark, Tae tilted his head.

“Tell me you want my mouth,” Tae whispered. “And tell me where you want it.”

“Everywhere,” Clark whispered.