He grinned and gave Jack a flirty look. “Let’s get dressed. I can’t paint the town with you in my robe.”
“Damn, man… and I thought you liked to push the envelope.” Jack winked at him and waggled his tongue.
“You know you prefer to do all the pushing.” He ducked ahead of Jack and hurried down the hall to change.
Tonight, he was going to get to see Jack all dressed up. But for now, he dug out some khaki shorts and a white T-shirt.This was just for fun.
The best was yet to come.
15
Lord have mercy, Jack was hot, tired, and he hadn’t wanted to go out again into the wild crush of folks on a Saturday night. Hudson was busy, and so was Denver.
It didn’t seem all that big, but when he was working, he was arena-hotel-arena-hotel. He didn’t have to be moving at top speed in the noise except for the event.
Now they were standing in this busy bar with a bunch of young, self-important fucks talking about tech and streaming this and politics that, holding twenty-dollar martinis and trying so hard to be special.
Assholes.
He just wanted a cold beer.
“Nice not to be in a hotel bar, huh?” Hudson was leaning on the bar, trying to get the attention of one of the three bartenders.
“Yeah.” He tilted his head, put his fingers in between his lips and blew a shrill whistle. Everything went quiet, and he nodded to the bartender. “There you go.”
“Jack, you can’t whistle at a bartender.” Hudson stage-whispered, looking mortified and also amused.
“That’s one way to get my attention. Probably not the best way.”
“I tip well enough you’ll forgive me this once.” And Jack knew it.
“I’ll hold you to that.” The bartender grinned at him. “What can I get you?”
“I want a Coors Light. Hudson?”
“Whatever IPA you have on tap, please.”
“You got it.” The bartender pulled out a frosted glass, poured his Coors into it and set it on the bar. “Be right back with the IPA.”
Hudson reached out and smoothed the lapel of his button-down across his chest. “You look so handsome.”
“Thank you.” He passed over his credit card when the bartender came back, growling as he got jostled from someone behind him. “Careful, man.”
“That’s gonna happen; it’s crowded in here. But it’s a fun club. I come here a lot.”
“Hudson!” A blond guy in a tank top wiggled through the crowd. “You’re back.”
“I am. Jack, this is Eli. Eli, Jack.”
“Well, hello, handsome Mr. Jack.” Eli’s smile seemed a little predatory.
“Eli. Pleased.” He nodded and smiled. “Nice to meet you.”
“So, we’ve missed you! Where have you been?” Eli gave him a once-over. “With him?”
“I took one of my new projects to a bull-riding event last weekend in Vegas. It went great and I had a blast.” Hudson’s beer landed on the bar, and he scooped it up and took a sip.
“And yeah, he’s been with me.” Jack met the guy’s eyes.Just sayin’.