Two Mates for a Magistrate Read Free Page B

intoxicating, and Dietrich’s hand itched to touch all that delicious skin.
    He didn’t reply, and the human must have taken it as agreement.
    Much to Dietrich’s dismay, someone tossed the gorgeous hunk a shirt.
    “Come on,” the human said as he covered himself. “Let’s get you a drink.”
    As they headed away from the accident site, the perfect specimen of manhood spoke again. “I’m Fritz Bauer. What’s your name?”
    At last, Dietrich regained his abilities to speak, probably what Fritz had intended in the first place. “Dietrich Dupont. Pleased to meet you.”
    Fritz offered him a smile that revealed teeth almost too white to be real. “Likewise.” He gestured toward an improvised bench and miraculously retrieved two beers from somewhere. He offered one to Dietrich and opened the other for himself. Dietrich did the same and took a sip out of his bottle. He hid a grimace at the taste of the low-alcohol brew. Of course, a competent worker would not drink at his workplace.
    They sat together on the bench, sipping their beers in silence. “So, I haven’t seen you around,” Fritz said at last. “New in town?”
    “Not really,” Dietrich answered, not sure why he even told Fritz this. “I used to live here when I was a kid. It’s the first time I’ve been here since then.” Never mind that his childhood days were four centuries back.
    “Oh. Things must really be different now.”

    20
    Scarlet Hyacinth
    Dietrich couldn’t help but chuckle, and he acknowledged it with a distant shock. He hadn’t laughed in far too long. But he couldn’t help it. Fritz’s words really hit the bull’s-eye. “Are you calling me old?” he asked.
    He heard his own flirtatious tone, but he refused to take back the words. Something inside him screamed this was dangerous, but for the first time in many years, he felt comfortable enough to laugh with someone. Fritz grinned back. “Not at all,” he said. “But perhaps I should apologize better. Would you like to have another drink with me when I’m off work?” He smiled apologetically. “A real beer.”
    Alarm started screeching in Dietrich’s head. He knew he shouldn’t get involved with this human. Already, the attraction between them threatened the barriers of his control. Casting aside the glum thoughts, he decided to accept. “Sure.”
    For a few more minutes, they sat there, chatting about nothing in particular, until at last, the time came for Fritz to get back to work.
    “Meet you in a few hours in the Plaza?”
    Dietrich nodded. Everyone, tourist or local, knew how to get there, and Dietrich doubted its location would have changed, even after four hundred years. “I’ll be waiting.”

    Two Mates for a Magistrate
    21

Chapter Two
    As Dietrich Dupont walked away from the construction site, Fritz stared, unable to tear his eyes away from the man. Even when Dietrich disappeared into the crowd, he continued to stare, hoping he might get another glimpse.
    The voice of one of his coworkers forced his gaze away from the mass of people. “Fritz, what are you doing? Come on, we still have a lot of work to do.”
    Irritated with both himself and his colleague, Fritz grumbled an agreement. What in the world was he doing? Flirting with a man, and here, no less? He hadn’t been very overt about it, or at least he didn’t think so. His coworkers shouldn’t notice anything wrong with him giving a beer to the man they’d almost killed with a falling beam. But one never knew, and in work environments such as his, being openly gay wasn’t exactly smart.
    Fritz long ago reached the conclusion each country had its share of bigots, and he’d been unlucky enough to become a worker in a company full of them. As luck would have it, they also showed no respect for the importance of their work. Building was like giving birth and the structures that rose from their hands needed to be strong and reliable for their country to prosper and outlast whatever problems emerged in