10. Keane

KEANE

Six months later

I rest my hand on Henry's spangled ass as we step into the San Francisco nightclub. SF may be chilly, but my boyfriend doesn't seem to care—he's wearing his short shorts and the leather harness he donned to walk up to my door all those months ago, trying to seduce me.

Little did he know I was already seduced.

While I've been in gay clubs before, I feel a bit out of place because I'm older than most of these young pups. Still, I was told that this was a good spot for a more comfortable crowd. Where the meat market was a little more mellow.

Even though people are dressed to the nines. Wolfey and Miles are here, too, and having my friend with me also helps me get over the age thing.

Henry holds my hand and leans up to kiss my cheek. I'm not sure I'm ever going to get used to this, but I wrap my arms around him and tug him close.

"Want to dance?" I say into his ear, over the beat of the music.

"Yes!" He grabs both of my hands and wiggles his ass backward into the crowd. I laugh and join in.

Henry makes me feel free. He makes me feel young. He has this weird idea that he's showing me off tonight. But I'm showing him off, my handsome partner.

I'm in public, celebrating my love for my man.

We hold each other as we dance, and while the club is packed, I only have eyes for him. And he for me. After a bit, I stop even thinking about being too old or out of place. In the lights and shadows, feeling the loud music pulsate through my body, I feel like I belong. With my boyfriend, with my friends, and in this community.

It's some of the most fun I've had in years.

"Henry?" I whisper in his ear as we lie cuddled together in our hotel bed later that night. We've showered off the stickiness of the club. My feet hurt and my thighs are sore, but I don't care. It was worth it to see Henry's glittery ass where it was supposed to be: not on my front porch getting rejected but dancing for all to admire … and for me to enjoy exclusively later on.

His warm back is pressed to my chest, and I'm spooning him, my fingers gently tracing along his arm, circling his elbow, up to his shoulder, then back down again. I inhale his sweetness—part hotel shampoo and soap, part his own natural scent.

"Yeah?" Henry says sleepily, in that cute way of his.

My heart starts to thunder rapidly, but I have to tell him. "I love you."

Henry inhales sharply, and he freezes. "You do?"

I nod against his back. "I've known for quite a while. I wanted to wait to tell you because it felt like it was too soon. But maybe that's a societal thing." Now I'm chattering the way that Henry does, because I'm nervous. I've never been in love like this before—not as an adult. What if Henry doesn't return my feelings? What if?—

"I love you, too," Henry says happily. "I've known it almost since the beginning."

He turns around and kisses me. The kiss gets messy and wild. And then our hands are roaming, and I make love to my boyfriend. Afterward, he tucks in against me and we drift to sleep.

Henry's worked out how to run the B and B without having to be present all the time, which is a blessing, but he's there often enough. And so am I. We haven't decided yet where we're going to live, but I think I'm going to be moving in with him since he sometimes needs to be at work at odd times. Or maybe we'll keep both places. It's nice to be able to escape to the other person's house.

Today, his cheerful breakfast room is full of guests, and he's refilling coffee and checking that everyone is happy. A couple of lawyers from Los Angeles are celebrating their honeymoon. I know one of them, Noah, because I've used his firm for my legal work.

I bring a basket of fresh-baked muffins out from the kitchen, and Henry takes them from me and places them on the table.

"Oh, what kind are these?" Noah asks.

"We have blueberry and streusel," Henry replies, whisking away a few dirty plates.

"Any banana nut?" August, Noah's husband, opens the napkin covering the basket and sniffs eagerly.

"No, sorry. I never do banana nut muffins," Henry says. "But these are very good, I promise."

I follow him back into the kitchen and cage him up against the wall, kissing him.

"What do you have against banana nut muffins?" I ask.

Henry groans. "It's a long story."

Thank you so much for reading! If you liked Mixed Motives, please leave a review. Also, stay tuned for Wolfe's story and Zayden's story.