Slow Ride by Erin McCarthy Read Free Book Online Page B

morning.”
    “Everything okay with your appointment?” He had to admit, he worried about his uncle. He had been like a father figure to Diesel growing up, the closest he’d had to a positive male influence after his father had run out on his mother when he was four years old.
    “Yep. Just a routine check on the old ticker after the angioplasty. So how’s the car coming along?”
    Johnny stuck his head under the hood and they stared in companionable silence for a few minutes. His uncle offered a suggestion or two, which Diesel valued. But there was something his uncle wanted to say and Diesel knew it. He was just waiting for the reveal when Johnny was ready.
    “So your aunt wanted me to ask you if you’re busy Saturday night.”
    Diesel stood up, eyeing his uncle suspiciously. “Why?” If his uncle invited him to a boat show or something of that ilk it was one thing, but his aunt inquiring over his schedule made him nervous.
    “You didn’t answer the question, son. Are you busy or not?”
    Damn it. “No.” Rarely was he busy these days. His Saturday night usually involved a beer and his remote control. Living the dream, that’s what he was doing.
    “There’s this thing up at the church that’s like a night at the races and Beth’s friend Jean is bringing her daughter, Ellie. There’s an extra seat at our table and Beth wants you there.”
    Diesel fought the urge to groan. Ellie was the kind of marriage-hungry woman on the hunt who made his nuts shrivel up and his bank account squeal. “Johnny, I don’t want to sit with Beth’s friend Jean’s daughter, Ellie. There is nothing more awkward than an obvious set-up date with all of your parents around.”
    His uncle lifted his ball cap and scratched his forehead. “That’s what I told her, but your aunt has her ideas. She means well.”
    “I can find my own dates.” He just chose not to.
    “Yeah? When was the last time you had a date? And hanging with Wilma here don’t count.” Johnny reached down and scratched behind the dog’s ears. “Even if she is a pretty dog, aren’t you, Wilma?”
    “If I wanted a date, I could have one.” He was aware that sounded childish, but how the hell did he explain to his uncle that he was afraid to date? The last sexual encounter he’d had with a woman had ended in total deflation of his man parts when his knee had given out in the middle of banging her. He’d had to abort the mission and finish her off manually. It had been one of the single most humiliating experiences of his life and not one he was itching to repeat. “I just don’t particularly want one.”
    Which was something of a lie. He had met a woman he would like to date. He wanted to see Tuesday Jones again and there was no denying he had wanted to have sex with her the night before. But he was fairly certain he wasn’t going to do anything about it.
    “Why don’t you want to date?”
    “I have my reasons.”
    “Look, son, if you’re gay you know we’ll love you and support you no matter what. You don’t have to hide from your family.”
    Diesel looked at his uncle, who was tomato red and shuffling uncomfortably, and burst out laughing. “I’m not gay. But I do appreciate that you’d accept it if I was.”
    The red receded and Johnny openly exhaled before throwing up his hand. “Then what the hell is the problem? You’re young, you’ve got money and time, and you’ve got my genetics in you so you’re good-looking. You should be working your way through a steady stream of blondes.”
    “I like brunettes.”
    “Don’t get smart with me. You’re thirty years old. When I was your age I’d been married for almost a decade.”
    “That’s your problem, not mine,” Diesel told him mildly. He grinned when his uncle blustered. “I’m kidding. Don’t worry about me. Tell Aunt Beth not to worry. I’m fine.”
    “There’s fine, and then there’s happy. Which one are you?”
    It hit a little too close to home and Diesel found he