ConvenientStrangers Read Online Free PDF

the
wrong bloke.”
    Adam nodded. “I think there’s something to be said for both
schools of thought. But right now, I’m firmly in your camp.”
    Stephen downed the last of his shot and sighed, rolling his
head back. He dropped his chin and looked Adam square in the face. His eyes
were blue—dark blue, not clear and bright. A storm, not a summer’s day. “Sorry.
You were nice enough to invite me back here to screw around, and I’m dumping
all this on you like you’re my bloody analyst.”
    “It’s my therapy, too. I’m still on the rebound from my ex,
for better or worse. Probably worse, since it’s been most of a month, not…” He
checked his watch. “Seven hours, like some people.”
    Stephen smiled, gaze slipping to the empty glass cupped in
his big hands.
    “What do you do, anyway?” Adam asked, thinking they could
use a change of topic.
    “Builder. Sorry—construction,” he translated.
    “Damn. You out to your coworkers?”
    “Most of ‘em know by now, I’m sure. A couple of them
definitely know, since it’s cropped up in conversation.”
    “Awkward conversation,” Adam teased.
    “Awkward for them, maybe. ‘Hey, check out the tits on her,’”
he said, in an amusingly heavy Southern accent. “Oh sorry, mate. Not really a
breast man. Prefer cock, actually, since you bring it up.”
    Adam laughed.
    “And you know how fucking obsessed straight blokes are with
cataloguing the benders walking among them. I’m sure the scandal’s spread
through the ranks by now.”
    “How’d it go, in that environment? Were they cool about it?”
    “What choice have they got? I’m their fucking foreman, and
I’ve been scrapping with guys over this shit since I was a teenager. I’m not
coy about it. If they have an issue with me and they want to sort it out, I’ll
help them sort it out.”
    “I guess that’s probably the simplest language for guys like
that to get the message in.”
    Stephen nodded. “But nobody’s made a thing of it yet, not to
my face. Generally, Americans are a little less punchy about it. Which
surprised me. I thought I was asking for it when I decided to move to the South,
but the North of England’s still in the dark ages about gay equality, far as
I’ve seen. I get more flak here for being an immigrant and stealing some
hardworking local’s job. Hardly anybody’s hassled me here for being a
cocksucker.”
    “I think that’s more down to you than Nashville itself,”
Adam admitted. “But we’re getting there. Slowly.” He smiled, finding it odd to
catch himself thinking of it as “we”, when he’d spent so many years dreaming of
nothing except escaping this twangy-ass hick town. Funny how your home
imprinted on you, in ways you didn’t understand until you tried to leave…only
to discover you wanted to stay.
    Stephen sighed. “So, you’ve heard all about my romantic
woes. What about yours? How long ago did you say you split? A month?”
    “Three weeks.” Three weeks and two days. “We were
only together eight months, but… I dunno. It was the most grown-up relationship
I’ve had, sad as that may be. For the first six months I thought, wow, I’ve
finally got it together.”
    “How old are you?”
    “Thirty-three. You?”
    “Thirty-eight.”
    Adam nodded, trying to ignore how perfectly sexy an age that
was. “Anyway, he dumped me. And looking back now, I can’t believe how surprised
I was. Because it made complete sense. Except, we made complete sense,
which is why I stayed with him so long…”
    Stephen’s wry smile cut Adam off. “You’ve lost me a bit.”
    Adam laughed. “You’re not alone. But before David, I always
stumbled into these really intense, really hot relationships. Or maybe more
like extended one-night stands. One-month stands.”
    That earned him a low, curt, goddamn sexy chuckle.
    “But David was the first guy I dated where we really
communicated, talked like grown-ups, fucking talked about the future, you
know?”
    “Oh, I