I pulled up the restaurant and handed off the keys to the valet.

  “Ooh, valet parking.” Cole flashed me a toothy grin. “Fancy.”

  “Pfft.” I put a hand on his back as we headed inside. “It’s just twenty bucks well-spent to spare everyone the spectacle of me trying to parallel park.”

  He snorted. “You’re not as bad as I am.”

  “Uh-huh. But we both suck at it.” I pulled open the door and gestured for him to go ahead. “Hence paying twenty bucks to spare everyone.”

  “Smart. Okay, I wonder if—”

  “There they are,” Ethan’s voice came from inside, and when I stepped in behind Cole, my teammate and his boyfriend stood by the hostess’s podium.

  “Sorry we ran a little late,” I said. “There was no traffic or anything, we just wanted to keep you waiting.”

  He laughed, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his middle finger.

  Cole and Luca looked at each other, and in unison, they said, “Hockey players.”

  “Hey.” Ethan elbowed Luca. Luca elbowed him back.

  “So, is your whole party here?” the hostess interjected with a smile.

  “Um, yes.” Ethan cleared his throat and schooled his expression. “We’re all here.”

  “Great! Your table should be ready in just a few minutes.” She gestured to the waiting area. “Have a seat, and I’ll be back shortly.”

  The waiting area was tucked away so we weren’t just loitering in full view of all the diners and so if the door opened, we didn’t get pelted by the elements. Once the hostess left, the four of us were alone.

  As soon as we had the waiting area to ourselves, Ethan turned a wide-eyed look on me. “So… I’ve learned a little something about you tonight.”

  “Yeah, likewise.” I clapped his shoulder. “When were you going to tell me about that app, anyway?”

  He chuckled. “Hey, I didn’t know you were looking. And since you found it, either you’re savvier at that shit than I am, or Smitty showed you.”

  I barked a laugh. “Did he get you on it too?”

  “Yep.” Ethan rolled his eyes. “That guy.” Then he peered at our boyfriends. “Wait, does that mean he—actually, no. No.” He put up his hands. “I don’t want to know.”

  “Aww, baby.” Luca wrapped an arm around Ethan’s waist. “No need to be jealous—he never booked me.”

  “Oh. Really?”

  Luca shook his head. “Nope.”

  I turned to Cole, eyebrow up.

  He showed his palms. “Ethan never booked me.”

  “Can confirm,” Ethan said.

  “Oh.” I shrugged. “Cool.”

  “And we never booked each other, either,” Cole said with a grin.

  Luca straightened. “Wait, was that an option?”

  “Dude, we were roommates.” Cole rolled his eyes. “You wouldn’t have had to book me.”

  “Book you?” Luca snorted. “I’d have charged you.”

  Cole huffed. “Bitch, you’d have thrown money at me afterward.”

  “Keep dreaming, sweetheart.”

  They exchanged glares, but then laughed, and so did Ethan and I. It was a little weird, knowing we’d both met our boyfriends this way, but I felt pretty good about it too. It hadn’t bothered me, keeping this secret from Ethan, but now that it was out there, I felt better, as if it had been bugging me and I hadn’t even noticed. I didn’t know if that made sense, but whatever.

  The hostess said our table would be a few more minutes, but she brought us a couple of menus to peruse while we waited. Ethan and Luca looked over one, and Cole and I took the other.

  He leaned in close and murmured, “You’re okay with all that, right? Us joking about… uh…”

  “It’s fine. And even if you’d been with Ethan…” I touched the small of his back and kissed behind his ear. “For the record, I don’t give a damn if you’ve been with my whole team.” I pulled him a little closer and growled, “Because I get to wake up with you.”

  He shivered. “Yes, you do.” We exchanged grins, and then shared a quick kiss.

  “Get a room,” Luca said.

  Cole flipped him off.

  “My God.” Ethan shook his head, put a hand on the back of Luca’s neck, and nuzzled his hair. “You two are almost as bad as hockey players.”

  “What can I say?” Luca looked up at him with a grin that was half-innocent, half not. “It rubs off.”

  “That’s what he said,” Cole muttered in a stage whisper.

  The four of us chuckled, and we continued looking at the menus.

  Shouldn’t I be jealous about all this?

  Maybe. But I wasn’t. I wondered if it was because this was my first relationship, and I’d gone into it knowing Cole was sleeping with other men. Being jealous hadn’t really made sense. I’d known he was with other guys for money, and I’d never had any reason to believe he was lying to me. In fact, maybe that was the crux of it all—I trusted Cole. To be an escort (though he wasn’t one anymore). To hang out with his exes. To be around men he may or may not have worked for in the past. To be faithful while we were apart, which we were more often than not.

  I trusted him, and that was really the end of it.

  Pulling him a little closer, I kissed his cheek. He looked up at me with a sweet smile before we went back to the menu.

  I smiled to myself. The conversation really did leave me feeling pretty chill about things. More than I’d been before. Admittedly, there were moments when his old job gave me flickers of jealousy, but they were fleeting. No more intense than when I thought about his exes, or even when I met them, like I had Bryce and Marco.

  I’d met Luca before, but this was the first time I’d seen him since I’d found out what he used to do, and damn—I could see why he’d picked that job. I only had eyes for Cole these days, but I could sure as hell see why Luca had caught Ethan’s attention. In fact, after the hostess came to get us and we walked through the restaurant to our table, a few heads turned, and I honestly didn’t think they were just doing the “hey isn’t that a hockey player?” rubber-necking. Some were probably looking at Cole, too. Couldn’t say I blamed them.

  Sorry, folks. I had to suppress a grin. The blond is with me.

  We settled in for dinner, and I couldn’t help stealing glances at the man who’d be in bed with me later tonight. He was so sweet, and so adorable, and I was happier with him than I’d ever imagined being with anyone.

  I would definitely have to thank Smitty for showing me the Emerald City app.

  And damn it, one of these days…

  I was going to see 7 Dragons in concert.

  * * *

  The End

  The Gentlemen of the Emerald City Series

  Luca

  Cole

  Bryce

  Marco

  Andre

  Hunter

  The series continues!

  Don’t miss…

  * * *

  Book 3 - Bryce

  Buy Link

  * * *

  Chapter 1

  Alec

  * * *

  After eight long months on tour, there was nothing in the world I loved more than coming home to my own bed. Less than fifteen minutes after I’d walked through the door last night, I’d faceplanted in my own familiar pillows and comforter, and I’d slept harder than I had in months.

  Now I was waking up as the sun poured in through the windows. Ahh, that was what I’d needed. And I could enjoy it for the next… Well, the next however long I had before I was on the road again. My manager insisted again and again that the next tour was “in the works,” but she’d been vague as hell about much of anything aside from, “You all better get back in the studio and get recording as soon as you get home.”

  They’d probably give us a week at most to recover, and then the pressure would be on. While we’d been on the road, we’d spent a solid portion of our downtime figuring out the next album. I was the type to write a shitload of songs, which we’d then pare down to the ones we wanted to include in the album, and by the time we’d headed home, we’d narrowed the field to about twenty. Over the next week or so, we’d trim it to the requisite twelve, plus a handful for the deluxe edition. Then we’d record, and if we knew what was good for us, we’d record fast, because the powers that be had decided this album needed to be released on an accelerated timeline. Why, I didn’t know. Probably because they were sadists, and not the fun kind.

  I sighed into the stillness of my bedroom.

  “Be a rock star,” they said.

  “It’ll be fun,” they said.

  I wiped my hand over my unshaven face. I loved my job. I really did. And it was amazing to finally be at the level we’d all been dreaming about since we’d started annoying Zane’s parents by practicing in their garage in high school. But goddamn, the politics and pressure could go to hell sometimes.

  At least we were starting to see some decent money. We’d quickly learned—mostly from the jaded veteran musicians we’d opened for in our early days—that getting a record deal was not the same as making bank. We’d been so broke by the time we’d released our third album, we’d all been ready to pack it in and go back to playing in clubs for free beer. But then some singles off that album had done really well, our shows had started selling out, and our merch had started flying off the shelves. None of us were exactly living like kings, but I had no complaints.

  Touring was draining, though, and the only thing I loved better than being onstage was returning home to my own bed. I’d been lucky this time around—there’d been a couple of brief breaks during the tour where I’d been home for a few days before heading back out on the road. The last visit home had been a good three months ago, though, and I was beyond grateful that the tour was over. I’d just try not to think about the fact that we’d be heading out on another one sooner than later.

  Ugh. We should not have agreed to rehearse the new tracks as much as we had while we were on the road. It had strained my voice and everyone else’s hands, and it had cut into our precious downtime. We’d made a ton of progress, but at what cost? And now that we were home, we had no excuse to drag our feet because we had our own recording studio, which meant we didn’t have to record around anyone else’s schedule. In the eyes of the people on high, that meant there was no earthly reason why we couldn’t get this thing done in record time. (Besides my voice? Everyone else’s hands? Our drummer’s back? Minor details, I know.)

  And I just knew that an accelerated album meant they were going to shove us back out on tour as quickly as humanly possible too. Which… I liked touring. I loved it. But Jesus fucking Christ, let a man relax once in a while.

  I groaned and rubbed my eyes. I wouldn’t think about that part right now. There was a lot of work to be done between now and when we hit the road again, but at least for the next week, none of us had to do anything except relax. And I knew exactly how I was going to spend at least part of the time.

  Now that I’d had some sleep, it was time for some coffee, and then I wanted to find some company for this evening. After that grueling tour, I needed to get laid, and fortunately, I had a guy I could ping when I was in town and horny. No games either—click, book, meet, fuck. Simple and easy, just the way I liked it.

  Some of my bandmates turned up their noses at hiring someone for sex, but they liked hooking up on the road, and that was not my style. I never felt right bedding fans. Roadies, bandmates, opening acts—all off limits. Plus I was usually just too damn tired to even think about getting it up. Performing onstage energized me, but I tended to crash afterward, and I crashed hard. No post-show partying or fucking for this guy.

  I also liked sex to be uncomplicated. My job and my schedule were chaotic and stressful enough—I was more than willing to pay to skip all the games and bullshit and go straight to sex.

  With another groan (okay, I might’ve been being a bit dramatic, but it was the morning after a tour—don’t judge me), I got up, shuffled into the kitchen, and made myself a cup of coffee. Then I promptly returned to bed, nestled against the pillows and under the duvet, and fumbled around on the nightstand until I found my phone. I pulled up the app that rivaled food delivery apps for my absolute favorite—Gentlemen of the Emerald City. I hadn’t logged in for a few months, so it made me verify my password. Annoying, but it was part of keeping my account and private information secure. Emerald City was hardcore when it came to data protection and privacy—I knew of three similar apps that had had data breaches, but not EC.

  Once my account was unlocked, I logged in so I could hit up the one Gentlemen in particular I’d saved as a favorite. He was the only one I ever hired anymore. I knew him. To an extent, he knew me. We could just cut to the chase instead of feeling each other out.

  But when I opened my Favorites tab, there was just a dark screen with You haven’t saved any favorites yet.

  My shoulders dipped. Damn. Cole’s profile was gone? That must’ve meant he wasn’t with Emerald City anymore. Or he’d blocked me. I couldn’t think why, but… Well, it didn’t matter. He was gone.

  Well, shit.

  I tried to ignore the spike of anxiety. This was hardly a crisis, and I understood that guys came and went, but I hated change. Fucking hated it. The prospect of getting to know a new Gentlemen made me tired and anxious; it was less exhausting than finding someone on Tinder, but I craved simple and easy right now. What if I didn’t like the next guy? What if we didn’t click? What if I couldn’t find someone who appealed to me? Or what if I did, but he declined my booking? Why was my heart going this fast over something as stupid as this?

  Because it always does.

  God, that was the truth. Any time something bumped the status quo out of alignment, I had an irrational but inevitable internal freak-out. What else would be changing? What else would I have to adapt to? What else—

  Right then, I noticed that there was a red dot by the envelope icon at the bottom of the screen. Curious, I tapped it to check my messages. It was probably the usual notification that my membership had renewed, along with an alert about the latest login. Those were there, but so was another message—one from Cole.

  With no clue at all what to expect, I tapped it.

  Alec,

  I’m leaving Emerald City, but I didn’t want to leave you high and dry. Instead, I’d like to rec another Gent to you. He’s new to the company, and I can personally vouch for him. ;) Check out Bryce. You won’t be disappointed.

  Best,

  C.

  Oh. Well. That was an interesting development. Still frustrating, though. Cole was so damn hot, and we’d been a great match in bed. Finding the right escort was like finding the right doctor—once you found a good one, you never wanted to let them go. But sometimes they moved on.

  I sighed. It was what it was, so I’d have to do the thing I didn’t do well—deal with it.

  I was curious, though, about the guy he’d recommended, so I tapped the link to Bryce’s profile.

  Immediately, my disappointment took a backseat to some serious interest. If this guy wasn’t a model, he should have been, because wow.

  Bryce was Black with a mouthwatering physique and mischievous brown eyes. Six-two according to his profile, so a few inches taller than me, and his photos…

  Oh my God.

  My mouth watered as I thumbed through the pictures. He was smoking hot. His black hair was shortish, as if he’d had something close to a high-and-tight at one point, but he was letting it grow out. He was built like he knew his way around a gym, and he had an easy, gentle smile I could write songs about. If he ever looked at me the way he looked at the camera, I’d probably come in my damn trousers. Okay, maybe not—I was seriously horny right now, so I was on a hair trigger, but I was pretty sure I could stay in control enough not to go off because a guy looked at me.

  Or not. What did it say when just flipping through his profile and drooling over his pictures had me hardening like a teenager who’d stumbled across an adult magazine?

  And then there was the part where Cole could personally vouch for him. Oh, wow. The thought of these two fooling around didn’t do a thing to chase away my hard-on. It was a shame Cole had left the company—I came to this app to pay for sex, but I’d have paid some serious cash to watch the two of them go at it while I touched myself. Especially since Bryce’s profile said he was vers, and I knew for a fact that Cole was too. Regardless of how I felt about participating in anal, I loved watching it, and I didn’t imagine there was a porno on the planet that could outdo Cole and Bryce fucking each other senseless.

  I closed my eyes and shivered. Okay, yeah. Bryce was definitely worth checking out. It would be just my luck that his calendar would be full, though. Only one way to find out.

  I tapped Book this Gentleman.

  To my surprise, he had a wide-open calendar—including tonight.

  I went through the motions of booking him, and then I stared at my phone.

  Change stressed me out, even when it was something this minor in the grand scheme of things, but this could still work out all right. Bryce wasn’t Cole, but maybe that was okay. I’d just keep telling myself that and hope for the best.

  “All right, Bryce,” I said into the silence of my bedroom. “Let’s see if you stack up to Cole’s glowing recommendation.”

  For more books by L.A. Witt, please visit

  http://www.gallagherwitt.com

  Romance * Suspense

  Contemporary * Historical * Sports * Military

  Titles Include

  * * *

  Rookie Mistake (written with Anna Zabo)

  Scoreless Game (written with Anna Zabo)

  The Hitman vs. Hitman Series (written with Cari Z)