Unconditionally (Brown County #4) Read Free Page A

wasn’t going to be me. I wouldn’t allow it. “You stuck a knife so deep into my chest whenever you acted as if you were ashamed to be seen with me. I am a proud gay man and I…I loved you.” I had only ever told him that admission once, and that was when all hell broke loose.
    And even though I just told him that I had loved, I wasn’t about to tell him that my feelings still ran deep. It was so hard for me to hold myself back instead of just lunging myself into his arms.
    My gaze honed in on the two gloriously meaty forearms in which I lusted after so much. I felt my resolve waning, I had to get out of there.
    The wrong thing that I could’ve said ended up being what came out of my mouth, “I’ll think about it, Gio.” The fact of the matter was, I had already thought about it. But I didn’t know any other type of response that would’ve allowed him to let me leave. He was standing in the way of my driver’s side door as well as my sanity.
    I shook myself out of the conversation from earlier. That answer must have been sufficient enough because he let out an exasperated sigh and moved out of the way, letting me leave.
    I pulled into the dimly lit parking lot, the only light in the area was illuminating from the twinkling rainbow sign that flashed ‘Big Pete’s.’ Not even stepping through the threshold of the front door and I already felt myself relaxing.
    I was comfortable in my own skin, but being here amongst people who could totally and completely relate to me, was refreshing.
    Walking in through the main entrance, I was immediately accosted with the music that was blaring from the speakers. The ambiance in here was always exhilarating and I felt my tension dissipate the closer I moved towards the bar.
    Placing my hand on the back of an open seat, I slid myself onto the leather upholstered barstool and raised my arm signaling my need for service. The bartender who took my order wasn’t Roman, but he wasn’t bad looking either. The dress code here made Big Pete’s that much more enjoyable. I supposed their motto was less is more, because none of the gentleman bartenders wore shirts. Nope, not a one.
    It was a man’s candy land here in Big Pete’s. And I was ready to play.
    Bartender number one was what I had dubbed the man stopped in front of me raising his brow, before he asked, “What’ll it be?” His voice was meager and slight, I preferred my men to have deep baritone voices.
    “I’ll have a Martini…dry, please.” Gin was my alcohol of choice for the night. I wouldn’t get shitfaced to where I couldn’t drive home though, I knew my limits. But that didn’t mean that I wasn’t going to get a bit tipsy.
    “Coming right up,” bartender number one spoke before he went about pouring my gin and vermouth into a silver shaker and giving it a liberal jerk of his wrist. Seeing the action had my cock stirring in my pants and images of him wrapping his hand around me moved to the forefront of my mind. I needed action and in a bad way.
    He placed a Martini glass in front of me on a hot pink napkin and tipped the shaker up, straining and pouring my cocktail before adding an olive as an embellishment.
    Giving me a sexy wink before he turned and made his departure towards the other end of the bar, I picked up my enticing drink and before taking a hefty sip, I said partially under my breath, “Happy birthday to me.”
    Feeling the cool liquid slide so smoothly down my throat, I had to close my eyes at the exquisite taste of the perfect combination. It was utterly refreshing.
    “So it’s your birthday, huh?” I didn’t even notice that someone had taken a seat beside me. This voice was oddly familiar and came out as a deep rumble.
    Turning my head to the side I was surprised to see it was Deputy Ethan Bradley. I had never seen him around here before, let alone anyone really from Brown County. Although I distinctly remembered hearing something about him being gay, it was just weird seeing him on