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6: Chocolate Shake
Terakhir Diperbarui:
2025-02-20 23:14:10I walked out to Lincoln Road toting the six-pack of premium martinis, still processing everything. I went right to the Ghirardelli Café, ordered a massive dark chocolate raspberry shake with vanilla ice cream, and pulled out my cell phone to summon Jean-Jacques.
Jean-Jacques and I met at that first party at the Palms, where I noticed him lounging next to the bar as I was unpacking 1.75 liter magnums of Vladi Vodka for the bartender. He is still skinny as a rail, and that night he wore a skin-tight white silk tank top with a low-scooped neck and white short-shorts that highlighted his coffee complexion.
It was about as close to naked as you could get and still be dressed. I looked him up and down and liked what I saw. He reminded me of one of my college boyfriends -- a chocolate-colored alto with the glee club who sang to me in bed. Though we’d broken up after a couple of months, I still remembered him fondly.
I flirted with Jean-Jacques as I worked. “I judge the quality of a club by the men it attracts.”
“Really?” He stretched one long leg out to the barstool next to him, and if his shorts hadn’t been so tight, I was sure his balls would have slipped out. “How does this place rate?”
“So far, so good.” I stopped working for a minute to wipe my forehead, holding one of the magnums at crotch level with my other hand.
“Your bottle is so…big,” Jean-Jacques said, smiling.
“That’s what all the boys say.” I winked at him. “You want to give me a hand?” I nodded toward a sealed case.
“Girlfriend, these hands do not do manual labor,” he said, tossing his long black locks. “But for a sexy little thing like you, I could make an exception.”
“I’m sure I can find a way to make it up to you.” I bumped his hip as I turned back to the bar. When the Palms ran out of limes, he let me send him to the twenty-four-hour bodega around the corner. At four a.m., when we ran out of vodka and the bartender made last call, we collapsed together at a table in the corner. “I couldn’t have done this without you,” I said. “I’m doing another one of these next week. You want to work with me? I get a grand per party, and I’ll split it with you.”
“Any fringe benefits to this job?” he asked, stretching his legs out so that they brushed up against mine.
“I’ve been told I’m a world-class cocksucker.”
He frowned. “Oh, honey, that’s sweet, but I’m a bottom.”
“I can top too,” I said.
“Well, then, now you’re talking my language.”
I took him back to my apartment, and we slid into bed together. There wasn’t an ounce of fat on him; he was all arms and legs. He sucked me, he took me up his ass, and then we both faced the awful truth: I was more of a bottom too.
Not that I can’t dominate a man, if I want to. And I do want to, sometimes. But I just wasn’t man enough for Jean-Jacques, who was the dictionary definition of insatiable. He was also a romantic, looking for love, and somewhere around six in the morning, naked and sweaty, we decided we would be better off as best friends.
While I waited for Jean-Jacques to get his skinny ass over to Ghirardelli, I sipped my shake, pulled out my pocket notepad, and started making a to-do list. I know, it’s old school to use paper and pen, but my fingers are just too big to make much progress on my iPhone other than the briefest of text messages.
By the time Jean-Jacques arrived, I was on my second shake and third sheet of paper. “You’re going to get fat, girlfriend,” he said, ticking his fingernail against the tall chocolate-filled glass.
The waiter came over, and Jean-Jacques ordered a glass of water. “No chocolate?” I asked.
“Honey, I am all the chocolate I need,” he said, crossing one long, slim leg over the other. “I gained two pounds from all the stress of that party last night, and I did not get to work it off with anyone.” He raised his eyebrows. “I want to hear all about the workout you got from that sexy Cubano last night.”
“Forget about him. This is huge.” I told him about Vlad’s plans to introduce the vodka cocktails around the country, and showed him the bottle carrier.
“Now that is a six-pack I can get into,” Jean-Jacques said. “It’s probably the only kind of six-pack I’ll ever see again.”
Jean-Jacques was going through one of his periodic romantic depressions. He was sure that he would never find Mr. Right, that he would never be able to get sex and romance in one package. He’d sworn off casual hookups a few weeks before the party, vowing not to get naked with a man unless the guy showed some long-term potential. I didn’t even bother to argue with him any more, though our attitudes were a hundred-eighty degrees apart.
“You need to get laid,” I said. “The sooner the better. So do I.”
“You just had wild sex with that Cubano last night, didn’t you? Don’t tell me you didn’t get naked with him. He is one fine piece of man flesh.”
“We got naked. A little too naked, if you know what I mean. I feel like I need to get laid again fast, or I’m going to find myself in love. And you know how I feel about that.”
Jean-Jacques was nearly panting for dirty details, but I forced him back to Vladi Vodka. “Look at these notes,” I said. “I’m thinking ads and coupons. We need to get Leslie working up some layouts pronto.”
Leslie was an artist friend who drew our ads, posters, and so on. She and her girlfriend lived in a converted garage in the Collins Park neighborhood just north of Lincoln Road.
We brainstormed for the better part of an hour, dividing up the tasks at hand. I’d work on the contract and the budget, while Jean-Jacques would research clubs and publications. By the time we were finished, Jean-Jacques had succumbed to the lure of a shake, and we’d each devoured a chocolate bar.
But if I thought I was going to get away without giving Jean-Jacques a play-by-play of the night before, I was about as wrong as bikini briefs on an overweight, sunburned Canadian tourist. We left the café and started walking on Lincoln Road.
“So, last night,” he said. “How was he? He looks as hot as a shot of cafecito.”
My dick stiffened at the memory of Javier Marisco as I spilled the coffee beans. “He got under my skin. I can’t stop thinking about him and the way that his body felt next to mine. And he has the most gorgeous apartment, and beautiful taste in clothes. He’s perfect -- and that’s just too scary.”
“It’s not fair. You want to spread your seed all over the Beach, and I want to settle down. But you meet the keepers, and I meet the losers.”
Bab terkait
Mi Amor 7: Business Sense
My cell phone rang, but I didn’t recognize the number. “Adam Beller, Beller Beach,” I said. I’d chosen Beller Beach as the name for my business -- but I might have to rethink that, if I was going national.“Mi amor. I’m thinking of you.” A voice purred, low and sensual. It sent shivers through my body, right to my groin.I turned to Jean-Jacques and pointed wildly at the phone. He grabbed my arm and listened in. “Hey there, handsome,” I said.“You sleep all right?” he asked.“Mmm. I always do, after great sex.”“I’ve been yawning all day,” he said. “If we keep seeing each other, I’m going to have to start taking vitamins.”“Gee, I didn’t realize you were a senior citizen. I can fuck like that and then be ready for more the next day.”Jean-Jacques squeezed my arm.“I want to test that theory,” Javier said. “Dinner tonight?”I almost agreed without thinking, but fortunately I caught myself. I couldn’t see him again so quickly. I needed a couple of days away from him to forget how amazin
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-02-20Mi Amor 8: Swim Team
I made it to Scott Rakow Park on South Beach just before seven, hurrying into the locker room where a couple of my teammates were stripping down and warming up. There’s a core group of about seven or eight guys who show up regularly for practice, though others drop in occasionally. We’re an incestuous little group; I’ve slept with four of the regulars and another couple of the drop-ins, and I don’t think there’s anyone who has never hooked up with a teammate.The locker room vibe is always a little sexual, but it doesn’t freak anybody out the way it might if the team was mostly straight, or a gay/straight mix. It’s a gay swim club, after all. If we didn’t sleep with each other, there’d be something wrong with us.At the first locker was Rashid, a fine-looking African American man with coffee-colored skin and short, curly black hair. He made no apologies for having grown up in wealth and privilege on Martha’s Vineyard, and had been sailing almost as long as he has been walking. He was
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-02-20Mi Amor 9: Big Boys Blowout
I got to the club just before ten. The DJ was working the small crowd, and Jean-Jacques was in the control booth cuing up the custom video mix of movie screen shots, model clips of big guys, bodybuilder shots, and so on. We played outtakes from Richard Karn’s appearances on Home Improvement and Family Feud, and other icons of the bear community like John Goodman and Top Chef’s Tom Colicchio.The party picked up quickly, and I spent the next couple of hours running around, making sure everything went smoothly, dancing and schmoozing, and working the room. Around midnight, I noticed Sean hanging back by the wall, looking lonely and uncomfortable.“Hey there, handsome,” I said. “You should have told me you were coming over. I’d have put you on the guest list.”“I was sitting around my apartment moping when I saw your Twitter notice about the party.” He looked around. “I thought I might as well get out of the house, you know?”“Absolutely.” I leaned in close to him. “So, who floats your b
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-02-20Mi Amor 10: Off Balance
Wednesday morning I woke up thinking I was back in Javier’s bed, confused to look around me and see my own bedroom, my posters on the walls, my clothes strewn over the bedside chair.How was it that he was just a few years older than I was, yet seemed so much more grown-up? He lived in a gorgeous penthouse with a skyline view; my bedroom window looked out over the Dumpster in the alley next to my building. His furniture was elegant and comfortable; mine was a collection of hand-me-downs and thrift shop finds.The one place I didn’t skimp was on clothing. My closet was more crammed than his, with more expensive stuff -- though I did remember that Armani tux he had worn to the condo launch party. And that reminded me of those formfitting jeans he’d been wearing when we met at the Publix, and before I knew it, I was hard again.To distract myself, I grabbed my iPhone and scrolled through my morning messages. My brother Richard had some notes on the contract with Vladi Vodka, a woman from
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-02-20Mi Amor 11; Getting to Know You
I disconnected the call before I sounded even more foolish and desperate than I already had. I looked at the clock. Almost two hours until dinner. What would I do? I threw on a tank top and shorts and grabbed my roller blades from the closet. I took a couple of turns around Flamingo Park, pushing myself, hoping that the exertion and discipline would take my mind off Javier.It worked, for a while. But when I was back home, in the shower, I remembered Javier’s touch, and I was nervous and excited and horny all over again. I checked my e-mail one last time before I left the house; Sean had sent me a proposal for the giant martini glasses we’d discussed, along with thanks for introducing him to Barry.I forwarded the proposal to Jean-Jacques with a note that we’d discuss it the next day. At the end of the e-mail I wrote, Dinner in a few minutes with Javier. DON’T CALL ME. I knew that would make him crazy. Join the club, I thought.Lincoln Road was packed with tourists and locals. A bald
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-02-20Mi Amor 12: Won't You Marry Me, Bill
I couldn’t get to sleep. I kept thinking about Javier and worrying about the effect he was having on me. I didn’t want to fall in love, because love meant you couldn’t fool around, and you wasted your time mooning after a guy when you could be out having fun instead. I dozed off around four, as the early-morning birds were just beginning to chirp outside my window, and didn’t wake until I heard Jean-Jacques letting himself in with his key. “What time is it?” I said groggily, coming to the bedroom door.“Ten o’clock,” he said. “Get your ass in gear. We have a lot of work to do.”That’s the negative of sleeping at the office. Irritating employees with cheery attitudes too early in the morning. I dragged my sorry butt into the shower, and by the time I was awake, Jean-Jacques had a cappuccino waiting for me. Maybe he’s not all bad.“What time did you get home last night?” Jean-Jacques asked, handing me a steaming mug topped with whipped cream and cinnamon. “No sleepover?”“He ditched me.
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-02-20Mi Amor 13: Patience and Discipline
When I woke up Friday morning, I looked around me. My apartment was darker than usual. My bedroom window faces south, and usually by the time I wake up the room is flooded with light. I yawned, stretched, and looked at the clock. Eight o’clock. I guessed there was something to that old Ben Franklin saying about early to bed and early to rise.Lying there in bed, I wondered if this was what my life would be like with Javier. Going to sleep every night before midnight, waking up to early-morning light and the sense that I had a whole day ahead of me. I tried to go back to sleep, but after a while I gave up and kick-started my day with a phone call to Vlad’s office.No answer. Usually Marina was at her desk by nine. I left her a message, then showered and dressed. By the time Jean-Jacques came over, around eleven, I’d called Vlad’s office again, answered a bunch of e-mails, and paid a batch of bills. I couldn’t help but notice, though, that my personal bank account was dropping down into
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-02-20Mi Amor 14: Mi Corazon
I buzzed his apartment from the lobby at seven thirty. “Mi amor?” he said through the speaker. The sound of his voice, even distorted, sent tingles through me.“Si, mi corazón.”“I’ll send the elevator down,” he said, and the door buzzed. I walked through the art deco lobby, looking at all the details I’d missed when we had hustled up to his apartment on Monday night. The terrazzo floor sparkled, the wood moldings shone with polish. It was a lovingly tended space.The elevator door slid open, and Javier was there waiting for me. I fell into his arms, kissing him with a passion I couldn’t conceal. When the elevator landed on his floor, he pulled back from me, laughing. “You missed me,” he said. “Come, let me feed you.”All I wanted to do was drag him into the bedroom, or better yet, strip down and fuck him right there on the fluffy carpet, but I got hold of myself. “Something smells delicious,” I said. “What did you make?”He shrugged. “I didn’t make, I ordered. I hope that’s all right
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-02-20
Bab terbaru
Mi Amor 84: A Little Situation
The morning of our wedding, Javier and I were up at first light. We went for a run together along the beach, then out to brunch, where we toasted each other with mimosas. “This is probably the last time today we’ll have time to ourselves, mi amor,” Javier said. “So I have some things I want to say to you.”I sipped my mimosa. “Yes?”“I love you, but you know that. You encourage me, you frustrate me, you make me see things differently, you force me to open up my heart and confront my emotions. I am so glad that you have come into my life.”I felt myself tearing up. “I love you too, Javier. When I was cruising along without much direction to my life, you came along with a strong hand and a warm heart. You looked beneath my surface the way few people have been able to do. Every day I want to be a better man so that I can deserve you.”We lifted our glasses again and clinked them together. “Then let’s get married,” Javier said.We drove up to the Ancient Spanish Monastery, a beautiful sma
Mi Amor 83: Medicare Fraud
A few weeks later, I was in the living room when Liana called Javier. He put the phone on speaker so I could hear. “That doctor Papi was going to in Hialeah,” she said. “He’s been arrested for Medicare fraud! The clinic closed down. Mami is so frightened the police are going to come for them.”“As long as she doesn’t expect anything from me,” Javier said. “They’ve both made it clear that they don’t want Adam and me in their lives.”“They’ll come around eventually, Javier,” she said. “Unless they die first,” he said.“Javier!”I was as surprised as Liana was. I knew that Javier was upset that his parents had shut him out, but I hadn’t realized how deep his feelings ran. They talked for a few more minutes, but he wasn’t willing to budge on his parents.If they didn’t approve of our marriage, I didn’t want their names on the invitation. So I found an invitation template that didn’t mention parents, brides or grooms. Just Adam Beller and Javier Marisco invite you to join in the celebrati
Mi Amor 82: Ancient Spanish Monastery
I woke up early on Sunday morning to find the house empty. Where was Angus? Why was everyone in my life abandoning me?Whoa. I needed to stop pitying myself and figure out what to do. A few minutes later, Angus came in, sweaty from an early morning run. I thanked him for his hospitality and said I needed to get back to Javier’s.“Take things easy,” Angus said. “Give Javier some time, and I’m sure he’ll come around.”There was little traffic on I-95 so early on Sunday morning, and I made good time back to the beach. I parked in one of the guest spaces at the Madrigal, and noted that Javier’s BMW was in its regular spot. That didn’t mean much, of course. He could have gone off on his scooter, or on foot.Or he could be upstairs.I took a couple of deep breaths. I couldn’t go on in limbo like that, not knowing how Javier felt.I rode up in the elevator and used my key to unlock the apartment door. Javier was sitting at the kitchen table, nursing a mug of coffee. I could smell the fragran
Mi Amor 81: Best Man
My mouth dropped open. He was kicking me to the curb? Where would I go, at nine o’clock on a Saturday night? To a hotel?I hadn’t wanted to tell Javier because I knew he had his own money problems, but I’d been running through my savings at an alarming rate as I sustained both of us until money began to flow in from Wynwood Columns. I had credit on my plastic, but very little in the way of ready cash.I called Jean-Jacques, but went right to voice mail. He was probably out on the town somewhere, or maybe cuddled up with that new boyfriend of his. I ran through my list of old friends. Most of them had moved on, or were likely to be out partying on a Saturday night. Then I remembered Angus Green.He picked up the phone after one ring. “Hey, Adam, long time no see. How’s everything?”The kindness in his voice broke something open inside me, and I began to cry, telling him how stressful the last months had been, about my botched attempt to talk to Javier’s parents, his anger with me.“Com
Mi Amor 80: Mi Hijito
“I have something I would like to show you about Javier, if you would allow me,” I said, when she and I were in the living room with Javier’s father. They didn’t seem to know how to say no, so I hooked everything up, chatting nervously in a mix of English and Spanish, until I had a picture of Javier as a little boy up on the screen.“Ay, mi hijito,” his mother said.I launched into my story. Javier as a boy, cleaning up at construction sites, playing baseball, graduating from high school with honors. His parents were smiling and happy, adding in their own comments to each other.The last pictures were of Javier and me together—dancing at a party on South Beach, walking barefoot on the beach during one of Javier’s summer visits to New Jersey, us posed together in front of the Wynwood Columns sign.I left that last picture up on the screen. “Javier loves you very much, and I know he misses having you in his life right now. Wynwood Columns is his biggest success so far, and it would be s
Mi Amor 79: Presentation
I pulled up in front of a thrift store run by an Episcopal church, only open two days a week for a few hours at a time. Jean-Jacques made a beeline for the jewelry counter, where the sweet old lady who looked like a gerbil, with white hair and pink skin, seemed to know him well.I browsed the rest of the store, coming up with a couple of items for Jean-Jacques to consider: a pair of commemorative coins issued by Masonic chapters; a belt buckle with an airline slogan from the 1960s; a wooden box covered with colorful labels that had once held Cuban cigars. Jean-Jacques nodded approvingly and bought all of it.We worked together all afternoon, driving from store to store, and by the end of the day he had a decent haul. I researched and wrote descriptions of the items as he photographed them. Around six, I texted Javier that I was with Jean-Jacques, and we slumped in his living room over a bottle of wine, a box of crackers, and a log of goat cheese.“I’ve been thinking about how you appr
Mi Amor 78: Just Because It's Legal
We fell into bed together and slept until mid-morning Sunday, when I got up, fixed us omelets and bacon, and we hashed over the details of the night before. Javier had a half-dozen solid prospects for the condos, and he’d impressed a number of local real estate agents. The buzz at the party had been superb, and it looked like we were going to be a great addition to the Wynwood scene.I waited until a few days had passed, and Javier had contracts on two more of the condos, before I brought up the question of setting the wedding date again.“I don’t know, mi amor,” he said. “Maybe it’s not such a good idea right now. Just because it’s legal doesn’t mean it’s right for us.”I opened my mouth to argue. What had happened to “I’d marry you today if I could?” But I already knew what the problem was. His parents. Until they came around to the idea of their precious boy married to another man, my wedding plans were on hold.Over the next few days, I thought about the issue. It wasn’t about the
Mi Amor 77: Party Boy
The next morning I met Leslie at Wynwood Columns. That day’s T-shirt read Be kind to animals or I’ll kill you, and her pinky fingernails were painted in tiger stripes.“The walls look amazing,” I said, after we’d kissed hello. Then I held the ladder for her as she began to hang a couple of her complicated mobiles.Javier came through while we were working, showing off the retail space to a rep from a national drugstore chain. “This is Adam Beller, who’s handling all my marketing and public relations,” Javier said when he introduced me.I noticed that he didn’t say “partner.” But we hadn’t formalized any business arrangement between us so I wasn’t a partner in Marisco Enterprises. I didn’t even have a salary or a job title.There was no time to stress over it, though. Before I could blink it was the Saturday night of the grand opening. We rented one of those big searchlights and set it up across the street. We hired a valet company to handle the parking, a jazz trio for background musi
Mi Amor 76: Sour Taste
I woke with a sour taste in my mouth. What if Wynwood Columns was a big flop, and its failure destroyed Javier’s business, because he’d bet everything he had on it? That could leave us both out of work. And because Javier had mortgaged the condo at the Madrigal, we could be homeless as well. And of course the wedding would be off. We couldn’t afford a party if we couldn’t put a roof over our heads or food on the table.We had only a week to go before the grand opening of Wynwood Columns, and Javier spent all his time on the mainland, leaving behind the beach, while I was at the office most of the time, handling dozens of small details from chasing down attorneys and leases to sourcing party favors. It was doubly hard because everything had to be done on the cheap, and I called in every favor I was owed, relying on every emotion from guilt to greed to get what I needed.Late one afternoon I was all alone in the office, and I started to worry. What if this physical distance was just a m
