Secret Daddy - J.R. Gray Page 0,35

we all had to work.

Adam was sunshine behind the bar. The epitome of lumbersexual. Big and burley and bear-like but well, like a ray of sunshine. He never seemed to be in a bad mood. I think it was part of the reason the bar was so successful. Since he’d started working there, there was a crowd of men and women who came just to bask in his glow.

Adam had been like that as long as I'd known him. It was one of the reasons I’d been drawn to him in the first place, but it wasn’t me who’d chose Adam, it was the other way around. I’d been sitting at lunch on my first day of school in the new town, sure this would be like every other place I’d lived. I was used to being a loner at that point.

My mom had given me some Pokémon cards and they were a treasure. I’d always liked Pokémon but could never afford the cards. I’d still been in awe, flipping through them when Adam had walked over. I’d quickly shoved them into my pocket, expecting someone Adam’s size to demand them of me.

But he hadn’t. He’d sat next to me and asked me if I liked Pokémon. I told him I did and the floodgates had opened and didn’t stop. Adam had talked about Pokémon for the rest of the day and told me we were going to be best friends.

I set a card on the bar when I sat down. He narrowed his eyes when he saw it and finished serving the customer he was making a drink for before coming over.

“What’s this?” He picked up the card.

“Hey!” yelled a voice from down the bar. “I was next.”

“Shut your mouth, Craig. I’ll get to you when I feel like it or you’ll be banned from the bar for a week.” Adam didn’t look away from the card as he spoke. He was good for it, too. Adam regularly banned people from the bar for all sorts of reasons. He even had a whiteboard on the wall behind the bar with grievances and how long his staff was to keep someone out. And instead of driving people away, it made people want to be in the bar more. They liked the environment he cultivated and it amped up the popularity with the locals.

“I was going to give it to you this morning but after you walked in on me with my dick out, I forgot.”

He studied it. “I don’t know where you found this. This is rare as hell.” His eyes got bigger by the second and he kept looking from the card to me and back.

“Picked it up a few weeks ago in an auction. Just came in. Merry Christmas.”

Adam was beaming before I’d finished speaking. He hopped over the bar top and wrapped me in a massive hug. I laughed and hugged him back.

“Thank you. If I didn’t already approve of you and my brother, this would have tipped the scale.”

“Are you saying you’d sell your brother for Pokémon cards?” I asked when he released me.

“I wouldn’t word it that way, but yes, every man has his price.” He hopped back over the bar like it was nothing.

“Damn vaulting giant. I hope you know you look like a grizzly bear at the circus doing tricks,” Aiden said as he came over and took a seat beside me the bulge in his pants evident and it made mine throb. It was going to be hard to wait to unwrap that present.

“And you look like a bean pole but I’m not making fun of you.” Adam made us both drinks.

“It’s not my fault you got all the brawn and I got the brains,” Aiden retorted.

Adam rolled his eyes. “You try running this place and then tell me I got no brains.”

It was true. Adam did everything for the bar, from the taxes to the payroll to advertising and supplies. He was good at what he did.

“I’m teasing you. Calm yourself before you go into a frenzy and steal some honey.”

“You better be, and it’s not my fault I’m obsessed with honey nor that I’m a bear.” Adam leaned in and poked Aiden in the chest. “You better up your Christmas game, because your boyfriend gave me the best Christmas gift I’ve ever gotten. And I’m telling you right now I like your boyfriend more than I like you.”

Aiden scoffed. “Like there was any chance of me besting Jensen. But I