Page 57 of Parting Shot

He cleared his throat. “I need to get married.”

It took me a second. “I’m sorry, what?”

“It’s weird,” he said, cuddling closer. “I just recently found out my board is extremely progressive and fiercely traditional at the same time.”

“How do they manage to do that?”

“By strongly recommending—and when I say that, think twisting my arm—that I get married right away.”

“To a woman?”

“No,” he clarified, his smirk just decadent. “To a man.”

My mouth dropped open.

“I know. Turns out, I can be gay. That’s okay with them. They can work with that. Indecisiveness shows weakness, and that they can’t have. Unsettled playboy doesn’t play well to the board or to the investors.”

My mouth closed as I stared.

“Me sleeping around, being seen as a manwhore—that’s bad for business. I need to be settled. They want me settled. They need me to grow up, have a home, and share it with someone. They want to see the same person come to events with me, stand at my side, and be accountable for me and to me. They want to know I won’t just jet off to Paris on a whim, not because I can’t, but because I’m expected for dinner.”

“They want to see you all domestic.”

“Basically, yes.”

I took a steadying breath. “You can tell them to fuck off. It’s your life.”

He nodded slowly. “I could. Luke Levin, the chairman of my board⁠—”

“Luke Levin?”

“Yeah?”

“That’s the name of a chairman of a board?”

“Yes. Why?”

“I dunno. I just imagined chairmen of the board having names like Reginald or Buckley.”

He laughed.

“What? Levin—I had a buddy named Levin in high school. What is that, Jewish?”

He laughed harder. “He can’t be Jewish?”

“You know what I mean!”

He fell back and laughed until tears rolled down his cheeks.

After shoving him off the bed, I heard a thump and more laughing. The man was insane. I got up to head into the bathroom, scowling as I walked by, and was under the water minutes later. It felt good, the heat on my skin, and it was even better when I heard the snick of the glass door being opened and closed.

“So, Levin,” I said, picking up the conversation, “he wants you to get married.”

“Yes, he does,” Aaron said, unhooking my removable showerhead and pushing me into the wall.

“What’re you doing?”

“Just shut up and take it.”