Alluring Passion: A MM Contemporary Bundle

by Peter Styles

  “I’m sure I have some more… but, I don’t want to spend all of lunch talking about myself. What about you? Do you have any rules or conditions?” Lincoln asked, still holding Wyatt’s hand gently.

  “You aren’t going to like them,” Wyatt warned.

  “Try me,” Lincoln replied.

  Wyatt nibbled on his lip for a moment, suddenly feeling too anxious to even say it. What if Lincoln flat out refused? What if it ended up causing a scene? He knew that was just his nerves getting the best of him. Gotta stick to your guns, Wyatt told himself. Taking a calming breath, he looked up to Lincoln. “I don’t want to hide our relationship.”

  Lincoln raised a brow, looking as though he genuinely didn’t understand, “What do you mean? We aren’t going to hide anything.”

  “But we are,” Wyatt corrected. “People might find out that we’re dating? I don’t want to be your dirty little secret, Linc. That was my problem in the first place.”

  “As in us be public about you dating Jack Brannon? Come on, Wyatt. That isn’t fair. You gotta know that that is asking for a lot…”

  “It’s not asking for too much. It’s me asking not to be hidden away, just to get brought out to play with at the end of the day.”

  “It isn’t like that,” Lincoln pressed, panic flaring in his eyes.

  “Then what’s the difference between being friends with benefits and dating?” Wyatt challenged, withdrawing his hand from Lincoln’s to properly cross his arms again.

  Lincoln opened his mouth to reply, but nothing came out at first. He snapped his mouth shut and shook his head, running a hand over his face. “It… It is different. Before, I was completely private about our arrangement, even in my life aside from the modeling. Now, we can—”

  “Can what? Go out to dinner? No, because a fan might see you. Go to your work events? No, because more than likely they will want to take your picture and I would have to keep away from you so that I’m not in the frame. I’m not allowed to go to any of your photo shoots, because it’s both problems in one. I’d be a phantom in your life.”

  “No, you wouldn’t,” Lincoln frowned, his tone defeated.

  “How many hours of your day is centralized around being Jack Brannon? Ten, twelve, fifteen hours? That’s me being in your life for just a couple hours a day, and us staying inside so that no one speculates that Jack Brannon and I are together. Tell me, please, how that is at all different from the arrangement we had before?”

  Lincoln was totally silent, his eyes fixated on his glass of tea, his pupils following the droplets of water that formed on the side of the glass as they fell to the coaster. He didn’t say anything for a while, the waitress delivering their food as he sat in contemplation. Neither of them touched their food, both too enveloped in their discussion to even think about eating at that very moment. “I know how it sounds, Wyatt… I know. What you’re asking me to do, though… It’s almost rebranding as a whole. People wouldn’t see it as a model, who happens to be gay, marketing goods. They will see it as a gay guy pushing products, using his sexuality to sell things. It’s also going to marginalize my audience. Conservatives will hate it, and some gays might try to say I’m exploiting gay culture...”

  “First of all, who gives a damn about the opinions of the judgemental few that stigmatize others just based off who they sleep with? Do you really care about their approval? Secondly, you aren’t exploiting anything. That would be like a straight model exploiting heterosexuality just for dating someone. It would be different if you marketed by saying ‘I’m gay and these are products all gays should have’. You aren’t. You’re the one who said people like relatable. What’s more relatable than being yourself?” Wyatt challenged, not at all backing down from his stance. That time, Wyatt was the one to reach across the table and take Lincoln’s hand in his. “I get it, it’s scary to out yourself on such a public stage. Are you really doing yourself any favors by lying to yourself and your audience, though? Are you just going to put your own life on hold until you stop modeling? How long will that be?”

  Lincoln stared at Wyatt, taking in every word. “I guess I’ve thought too much about the well-being of my career, and too little about other, perhaps, more important things…” he admitted.

  “You’ve obsessed over this notion of no drama. Where there are people, there is going to be drama. The best thing you can do is just be yourself and be content with the success that you get by doing so. To do anything else is just replacing drama with misery. Would you rather be happy and miserable on rare occasions where you have to deal with controversy, or would you rather be miserable and alone all the time?”

  Lincoln nibbled on his lip, his thumb grazing over the skin of Wyatt’s knuckles. “You have an amazing mind,” he purred. “You know, I’ve always liked to think of myself as calm, collected, level-headed… Although, it seems as though you’re the one who went about this objectively. It’s surprising, and I mean that in the nicest way possible.”

  “Perhaps you can learn a thing or two from me,” Wyatt winked, a corner of his lip lifting into a smirk.

  Lincoln chuckled and looked down at the plate of food in front of him. It wasn’t that he was hesitating to answer Wyatt, but he was truly trying to think it through before giving an answer. Wyatt began to pick at his plate as Lincoln debated it all mentally. “Alright,” Lincoln announced, as Wyatt took a big bite of his chicken bruschetta. He raised a white brow in response, not quite understanding what he was responding to. “I’ll do it. We can be public.”

  “Are you sure about this?” Wyatt questioned. He wasn’t going to let himself get played by Lincoln, and he wanted to make sure that it was known.

  “I’m sure,” he nodded, taking a deep breath. “You’re right. I can’t put my life on hold for my career. I’ve done it for too long already. And… I do think that there is something special between us. I don’t want to risk losing that because I’m hiding who I really am. It’s just like being in the closet, and I’ve been out for too long to pretend to be in it.”

  “Wow…” Wyatt breathed, sinking back in his chair. “I’m honestly… speechless. I didn’t think it would be so easy to convince you.”

  He sounded a musical chuckle, “I’m not an unreasonable man, Wyatt.”

  “You are stubborn as hell, though,” Wyatt noted.

  “That, I am,” Lincoln admitted, a smiling spreading on his face. “Do you have any more conditions?”

  “Yes. And it’s another you aren’t going to like.”

  “More than the last?” Lincoln probed, curiously.

  Wyatt debated for a moment, moving his head side to side, “About on par.”

  “Oh my,” Lincoln muttered, letting out a heavy sigh and readjusting in his seat. “Lay it on me.”

  Wyatt couldn’t stop smiling, but it was out of nervousness. He knew Lincoln wasn’t going to like his next point and that he was going to call him ridiculous and try to argue against it. “I… I don’t want us to have sex for a while,” Wyatt managed to choke out.

  Instantly, a groomed black brow shot up on Lincoln’s face, “What?”

  “While I know that you are sincere right now, it doesn’t mean that you haven’t been swayed in your decision making because of lack of sex, or sex being a strong motivator. In a way, our relationship went backward in the conventional sense. It was about sex first, and about a real relationship later. Given that, and everything we’ve been through thus far, I think it’s appropriate to remove it as a factor for now. To prove that this isn’t just about sex for you, and that it isn’t going to just slip back to the way things were.” Wyatt continued eating his food, though Lincoln hadn’t taken a bite of his. He was staring at Wyatt, bewildered and not quite on board with the notion. Wyatt continued to try and further his reasoning, “That isn’t to say it’s going to be a long period of time or anything. Just… I want to do things right and slow. Protect both of us emotionally. I want us to work up to having sex, not sex be on the table right away.” />
  It was like Wyatt could visibly see Lincoln attempting to digest the condition he had just laid out for him. It was easy to see that Lincoln wasn’t particularly a fan of it, but he wasn’t quick to say no either. “That’s reasonable. I hurt you in the way I treated the situation before, and you have the right to be cautious. If this is what it takes to prove to you that it isn’t just physical for me, then so be it. However, you’ll have to stop dressing so sharp if I’m going to be able to stick to that. In that outfit, you’re asking for it,” Lincoln said, trying to end on a light note by joking very bluntly.

  Wyatt faked a gasp, covering his agape mouth with one hand, “Are you trying to slut-shame me right now? I don’t think that works if we met on a mobile app dedicated to casual sex.”

  Lincoln laughed, lightly, “Touché.” As his laughter slowly faded away, his hand squeezed Wyatt’s, a goofy grin on his face. “So… is this official now?”

  “Well, you didn’t exactly ask me,” Wyatt noted.

  “Don’t be petty, Wyatt,” Lincoln chided, his eyes narrowing in on Wyatt’s.

  Wyatt scoffed, “I’m not being petty. I want to be romanced a little. Is that so bad?”

  “No, it isn’t,” Lincoln agreed, looking down at their hands on the table. “You’re just bringing me into waters I haven’t been in, in a long time… Makes me feel like I’m in high school again.” He looked up to Wyatt’s eyes then, gathering the courage to ask, what he felt to be, a juvenile question. “Wyatt, will you go out with me?”

  “I thought you’d never ask,” Wyatt sighed in a dreamy fashion, unable to help but chuckle at himself. “Yes, of course I will.”

  Lincoln’s goofy grin returned to his face, beaming at Wyatt’s answer. “Well, now that that’s all settled, time to enjoy lunch together,” he commented, using his free hand to finally start in on his food; which, by then, had to be room temperature. Lincoln didn’t notice and didn’t care, his smile ever present.

  Chapter 9: Training Wheels

  For the rest of the day, Lincoln and Wyatt spent time together; it was Sunday, the only day of the week Lincoln got a break from his job. They went and saw a new thriller that Wyatt had been wanting to see, went to a couple of shops, then had dinner before heading back to Lincoln’s. It had been so blissfully normal that Wyatt had actually forgotten about all of the drama that was already attached to their relationship. For an evening, they were like every other couple having a night out. No one had recognized Lincoln as Jack, at least not to their knowledge. It had been low-key and so exciting. Wyatt knew it wouldn’t always be like that, that really it had been fortunate that no one had recognized Lincoln, so he treasured it all the more.

  They were back at Lincoln’s apartment, where they watched TV for a while before going to bed—only to sleep and cuddle. It had been a little tense at first, especially after having gone so long without physical contact, but they both stuck by their word to take it slow. The next morning, they were both awakened by Lincoln’s alarm. Wyatt fussed and buried his face in the pillow. “Come on now. What happened to all that talk about wanting to come along to photo shoots and work events?” Lincoln teased, his voice croaky from just waking up. “You gotta get up and get ready if you’re going to come along.”

  “This is an unholy hour,” Wyatt sounded, his voice muffled from the pillow.

  “Unholy? Don’t be dramatic. Get up, you baby,” Lincoln said, reaching and tickling Wyatt’s underarm.

  Wyatt instantly rolled away from him, turning his cheek to glare at Lincoln from over the covers. “I’m not a baby. I’m a night owl. Six a.m. doesn’t exist in my world unless I’m still awake from the day before.”

  “Well, that’s too bad,” Lincoln sighed, standing from the bed. “I did have a surprise planned for you. But, I guess it’s fine.”

  “What kind of surprise?” Wyatt enquired, though he sounded more weary than excited by the notion.

  “It isn’t a surprise if I tell you,” Lincoln said, shaking his head. “Just don’t worry about it. Stay in bed and get your beauty sleep.”

  “I’m not a child, you can’t trick me like that,” Wyatt called to him as Lincoln made his way into the bathroom.

  “I’m not trying to trick you,” Lincoln retorted from behind the closed door. When he emerged from the bathroom with a toothbrush in his mouth, he looked over to Wyatt, “Why does it matter? You want to stay home and sleep.”

  “Home?” Wyatt interjected. “My, my. In a relationship one day and your place is our home. And I thought I was the romantic.”

  “What have you done that’s been remotely romantic?” Lincoln challenged, heading into his closet. To that, Wyatt had no response. When Lincoln emerged from the closet, suit in hand, he glanced over to Wyatt as he walked back to the bathroom. “You aren’t a romantic, you like to be romanced. There is a difference,” he winked.

  Wyatt snorted and sat up on the bed, looking at Lincoln through the open bathroom door. “A romantic is a person who appreciates things surrounding love and gestures of love.”

  “Yeah, and if you truly appreciated those things, you would act on them. Want to romance me as much as you want to be romanced. I’m not saying it’s a problem. It’s fine to just want to be romanced. This is all besides the point. I’m not tricking you to come with me by feeding you false narratives. I do have a surprise for you. But, if you really don’t want to come, then that’s fine too.”

  Wyatt sat there for a moment, letting his sleepy brain process everything that Lincoln was saying as he watched him get ready for his workday. “Fine, I’ll get up,” he announced with a yawn, standing from the bed and stretching. He then moved over to a couple of shopping bags from the afternoon before. “I don’t need to dress up, do I?” he asked, contemplating on whether or not he should just put back on his suit from yesterday’s lunch.

  “No, you never have to. Things are pretty relaxed around there.”

  “Then why are you dressing in a suit?”

  Lincoln glanced over at him with a chuckle, “Because I’m not Jack Brannon yet.”

  “Oh. That makes sense,” Wyatt muttered, picking out a pair of gray skinny jeans, a black turtleneck shirt, and a camel-colored flight jacket. “Are you sure your associates won’t get mad that I’m just tagging along? I’m sure it isn’t National Take Your New Beau to Work Day.”

  “They’ll be fine with it.”

  “If you say so,” he muttered. While Wyatt had been very vocal on how he believed Lincoln should stand by who he was, even in his modeling profession, he knew his coworkers were another story. They would probably put up the same arguments that Lincoln had the day before at lunch. That it would marginalize and cause controversy. Hopefully though, they would come around. Lincoln seemed to be the one leading the project, so maybe they won’t even have room to criticize.

  Once they were both ready, they made their way down to Lincoln’s car and started the commute to the office. “This is all giving me painful déjà vu,” Wyatt muttered, looking all around them at the bustling morning traffic.

  Lincoln gave a throaty chuckle and let his hand rest on Wyatt’s knee, “Afraid you’ll spontaneously combust walking into an office again?” he asked, jokingly.

  “It’s a serious fear of mine,” Wyatt sarcastically replied. “I don’t know how people do the whole office thing. At least, not after having the opportunity to work from home. Offices now seem like voluntary prisons.”

  “Prisons, huh?” Lincoln laughed.

  Wyatt couldn’t hold back his laughter as he tried to explain it, “Think about it. Everyone has their own little cubicle, AKA, cell. You get one hour of yard time, which would be your lunch break. Managers are the wardens. Horrible lighting. Poor climate control. Sounds like prison to me.”

  “Have you ever been inside of a jailhouse?” Lincoln ribbed.

  “Don’t have to. I’ve been in an office.”

  Lincoln couldn’t stop chuckling, shaking his head all the while. “Jesus, you’re incorrigib
le.”

  “And proud of it,” Wyatt joked further.

  They chatted the entire car ride, the conversation staying lively and actually pretty captivating for such an early morning talk. Once they arrived in the parking deck of Lincoln’s office, they stepped out, and Lincoln took Wyatt’s hand in his. It really warmed Wyatt’s heart to see that Lincoln was taking it all in his stride. He wasn’t trying to stay hidden away in his old ways, but he was proudly holding Wyatt’s hand as he led them into the building. Walking into the building, Wyatt couldn’t help but take in all of the architecture and décor. It was certainly a unique space, having exposed piping and metal beams, but pulled them into a quite sophisticated and artsy look with pristine photographs on the walls and designer furniture all about. Impressive, to say the least.

  They walked through a set of glass doors and into a large, open office area that had a catwalk around the perimeter, giving access to the executive offices above. Lincoln guided Wyatt to the metal staircase, heading upstairs and across the catwalk to a conference room. Lincoln walked in first that time, though he continued to hold Wyatt’s hand. “Morning, guys,” he called over to his team.

  Four people crowded the far end of the table, three of them being guys and one female. They all glanced up at them. A man sitting in the middle of the small crowd spoke up, “Well, good morning. Is this who we heard about?”

  Who had they heard about? Wyatt’s eyes shuffled to Lincoln. Had he really already told them about Wyatt? Lincoln didn’t seem phased by Wyatt’s bewildered look, a grin on his face, “Sure is. Guys, this is Wyatt. Wyatt, the guys.”

  “Beautiful introduction,” Wyatt muttered to him, though he smiled weakly at the others.

  Lincoln chuckled and guided Wyatt to sit with the others, then sitting next to him with his arm around his back. Pointing to the guys one by one, Lincoln actually introduced Wyatt to them, “That’s Peter, Roland, Maria and Diego.” Wyatt gave them each a little nod, trying to commit their names to memory. “What are we promoting today?” Lincoln asked the others.