Coda Books 04 - Strawberries for Dessert (MM)

skin. He was setting plates of food on the table.
    “I didn’t have time to cook, so I ordered sushi.”
    It was an enormous relief to not have to fight the crowds at a restaurant again. “I think I love you,” I said lightly.
    He winked at me. “What’s not to love?”
    “I didn’t even know it was possible to have sushi delivered.”
    “Well this is Vegas, honey. Anyway, when you’re as rich as I am, you can have anything brought to your door.” He finished putting the food on the table and looked up at me. And then he stopped. His eyes slowly moved up my body, and his smile turned from casual to lecherous.
    “What?” I asked.
    He shook his head at me, still smiling. “There’s just something about a man in a suit, isn’t there?”
    “Don’t get too attached to it. The first thing I’m going to do is take it off.”
    His eyes narrowed, and he winked at me through the fall of his bangs. “My thoughts exactly.”
    It was after eight by the time we got around to eating. We were great together in bed, but once we were out of it, he kept his distance.
    He flirted with me incessantly, but there were no random caresses or spontaneous kisses. It was a casual companionship that was friendly, sometimes awkward, but not at all intimate.
    After dinner, we sat on the couch. I sat at one end with my laptop, watching the news and catching up on work. He wrapped himself in a blanket and curled into a ball on the other end, reading a book. I couldn’t see what it was, but I was pretty sure it was in French. By the time I turned off the TV, he was sound asleep. I nudged him awake, and he followed me into the bedroom, but like before, he didn’t curl against me like a lover. He stretched out on his own side of the bed and fell back to sleep without saying a word.
    He was still sleeping when I woke up the next morning. When I was at home, I jogged almost every morning, but I hated to jog in Vegas. Something about exercising in the middle of all that decadence just seemed absurd. Instead I made do with the treadmill in my building’s fitness room. I went back to my condo to shower, and when I emerged from the bathroom, dripping wet with a towel around my waist, I found him still in bed but awake.
    “How much time do you have?” he asked as he sat up on the edge of the bed.
    “I have to leave in forty minutes.”
    He reached over and grabbed my towel and used it to pull me closer. He opened it up and dropped it on the floor, which was more than enough to get my full attention. His lips brushed my stomach.
    “Just enough time for a blowjob or breakfast, but not both, I’m afraid.”
    The tip of his tongue moved slowly up my shaft, causing me to shiver.
    “Who needs breakfast?” I managed to say, although my voice came out hoarse and breathy.
    He smiled up at me. “Good choice, sugar.”

Date: June 8
    From: Cole
    To: Jared
    You’ll never guess where I am, Sweets. I’m in Vegas with Jonathan.
    Strangely serendipitous, isn’t it? I would love to give you the dirty details, but what comes around goes around. You’ll just have to use your imagination.

    I WASN’T surprised to find him in the kitchen when I got home that night. The table was already set. “I hope you don’t feel obligated to cook,” I told him as he put a big bowl of étouffée on the table.
    “Love, I don’t feel obligated to do anything . You should try it sometime.”
    I couldn’t even imagine how it must feel to be so free. “What did you do today?” I asked.
    “I read. I napped. I wandered around.”
    “Did you go to the casinos?”
    “Yes, but only for the shopping. I abhor gambling.”
    “Then why come to Vegas?”
    “I don’t know, love,” he said, giving me a sly smile. “It must be the all-you-can-eat bacon.” I laughed at that. “You’re here a lot?” he asked.
    “Enough to buy a condo here.”
    He let his cinnamon hair fall forward so I couldn’t see his eyes.
    “And what do you normally do for company when you’re here?”
    “Find somebody at the club or go to the bathhouse.” He shuddered dramatically, which made me laugh again. “Does it bother you that much?”
    “I admit I’ve only tried a bathhouse a few times, but I was never overly impressed with the selection.”
    “So what do you do when you’re traveling?”
    He tipped his hair out of his face and said with a smile, “I have friends.”
    “Friends like me, you mean.”
    “Of course.”
    “‘A girl in each port’?” I asked,