Here for You by Skylar M. Cates Read Free Book Online Page A

of the garage to the front office, grease on his left cheek and under his nails, a scowl on his face, and his eyes full of question. He didn’t say anything. Despite slowly bonding with the other guys at the house, River was not one to talk first.
    “Have you seen Brendan?” Cole asked.
    River shook his head.
    “When’s the last time you saw him or spoke to him?”
    “This morning, early.” River took out a rag and wiped his hands. “Why?”
    “He never came back from lunch,” Cole explained. “We’re getting worried about him.”
    River stared at them. He appeared at a loss for words. Then he went over to his manager and spoke in a low voice, maybe a handful of words, and grabbed his motorcycle gear. “I’m coming.”
    But it didn’t make sense for all of them to look in the same place, so River drove one way on his motorcycle while Ian and Cole drove another.
    “Where are we looking, exactly?”
    “Anywhere. Everywhere.”
    Cole bit the outside of his lip. “How could Brendan have vanished like this? How? It’s not like him.”
    “Has he been seeing anybody lately?”
    “Brendan?”
    “Yes.” Ian shot him an impatient look. “Does he like anybody these days? Has he been dating a new guy? A few of our clients really took to him. Who knows? He hadn’t said a word to me about that, but we mostly discuss work. We need to consider everything.”
    Cole wanted to laugh and then sob. Brendan might as well have worn a big fat sign over his heart saying “Reserved for Ian,” and the stuck-up jerk didn’t even know?

C HAPTER S IX
     
     
    I AN NOTICED that Cole stared at him, locking eyes. Up until then Cole’s eyes had darted all around, searching for Brendan, and he could barely sit still.
    “Brendan wasn’t seeing anybody.” Cole’s tone held a derision Ian didn’t understand. “He’s not a player like me.”
    Ian said nothing to that, but his grip tightened on the wheel.
    Brendan, with an odd mix of admiration and disapproval in his voice, had often told Ian about Cole’s various boys and how he never went with the same guy twice.
    “He’s lonely, though,” Brendan had always added.
    Ian didn’t party or play. He worked. Since Sam left him, he had done nothing but work. For years he’d dedicated himself to building up his law practice, day in and day out.
    Then it happened, the day that set all his feelings about Cole into motion. Brendan had invited him to his house for a party, begging and pleading for Ian to come until he’d reluctantly agreed. Ian had walked in, his hands in his pockets, wondering why he was even there when he loathed small talk and felt nothing but awkward at parties, then he’d spotted Cole for the first time. He immediately reacted—or at least his body did. He couldn’t take his eyes off Cole that night.
    Cole, though, never looked back. Why would he? Ian was older by several years and much more conservative than the wild boys at those parties, who smoked dope all night or drank heavily and then danced naked around the yard, preening for the crowd, flashing their perfect abs and asses, snapping selfies of their physiques for Instagram. To be fair, Cole never did that, although he enjoyed the show. He’d generously smiled, one side of his mouth hitching up in a way Ian found adorable.
    Ian had no clue what had come over him. It was like a thunderbolt. He wasn’t the type to get swept up in passion. His ex-partner Sam had made that clear often enough. And yet… when Brendan had dragged Ian over to introduce them and Cole’s gray eyes had met his, his wide, expressive mouth curving into a smile, Ian’s heart had sped up and he had to quickly turn away.
    Cole was too young for him, too unfocused, too… something. Case closed.
    Except Ian’s heart refused to obey his brain for once. Those few times he saw Cole, Ian couldn’t resist a little push or two at him, and Cole had reacted with a glowering look or a quick run out the door. He’d reacted so fiercely