Isolation Play (Dev and Lee) Read Online Free PDF Page A

whether he wants to go, whether he wants to take me. I think about whether I want to go. “Oh, and Ogleby, I’m sure.”
    I laugh. “Oh, God, you should’ve seen his expression. I almost thought you’d outed him in front of the whole world.”
    “ I only heard him when I first...” He pauses, remembering. “And then he was gone. But he called three times after.”
    “ Just realizing what opportunities await the agent of the first openly gay pro football player. Probably he got a bunch of calls.”
    “ Yeah.” He dips his muzzle a little further and kisses me. I arch up into it: a warm kiss, not passionate, although it could certainly turn that way, given that we’re both hard and pressed close. But no, it’s romantic, affectionate, familiar. I close my eyes and resist the urge to lift my foot daintily.
    His tongue tastes like beer. I grin as I pull back. “Coach took you to a bar?”
    His ears flick. “He’s got a little fridge in his office. I didn’t know.”
    “ So I guess it went well.”
    He moves to the couch. I trail behind, ears perked, and sit down against him. We face the window, the setting sun outside. “I think so.” He drapes an arm over my shoulder, fingers sliding beneath the neckline of my dress. “Hard to tell, with Coach, but I think so. At least it’s over now, one way or the other.”
    He feels so relaxed that I almost don’t want to say anything, but I can’t help it. “Over?”
    “ Yeah. All the hiding, you know.”
    They have nice sunsets here in the desert, glorious red and brilliant gold that it hurts to look at, and around the edges, deep violet shadows. I lean my head back so that Dev’s head blocks the brightest of the light. Up at the top of the window, I see the gleam of a star. “Sure, the hiding’s over, but now...you’re gonna be a target on the field, you know that.”
    He rumbles. “The guys’ll back me up.”
    “ Some will. But you’re gonna have to fight twice as hard for the respect you used to have.”
    He stares me down. “You think I can’t do it?”
    “ If I thought that,” I say, “I wouldn’t’ve let you back into my apartment three years ago.”
    His fingers press a bit harder. I lean into him and rub my muzzle against his cheek. “You think you could’ve kept me out?” he says, softer.
    “ You think I couldn’t have?”
    He laughs, again, and reaches his other paw over, sliding it under my dress and up my thigh. “I know what you foxes are all about.”
    “ Now you do.” My tail shivers; I can’t help shifting into his touch.
    Things might’ve gotten warmer then, except his stomach rumbles. I reach over to pat it. “Been a while since you had some food?”
    “ Almost as long as since I had some fox.” He snuffles my ear. “We could order in.”
    I flick my ear, squirming at the tickling. “I think you deserve a nice dinner out.”
    He presses his muzzle closer, teasingly. “How about that spaghetti place across the street?”
    “ The one with your picture on the wall? It’s good, but maybe something a little nicer. Like, with tablecloths.” I reach over and grasp his tail, my ear getting very warm. If he keeps this up, I’ll probably go back to the ‘order out’ suggestion.
    But he relents, then. “Sure. You want to do dinner with someone else? Fisher, or Charm maybe? Or just us?”
    My initial response was to have it be just us, but I’m reconsidering. “I’ve met Fisher, and it might be interesting to hear what he thinks.”
    Dev nods, slowly. “You want to change?”
    “ I don’t think so.”
    He removes his paw from under the dress and smooths the fabric over my leg. “Liking the outfit?”
    “ Well, I was just thinking. I mean, now, if you go out with any guy who’s not, you know, verifiably straight...”
    “ Oh.” A little bit of tension creeps back into his body, against me. “I don’t care if people know I’m with you.”
    “ I know,” I say. “But I’m not out at work yet, and I don’t