Impress Me Not: The Handyman

Chapter 25

"That had to have been the most fun I've had at these parties," Niko said as they walked out. "If I'm being honest."

"I can't believe Arthur was there," Solomon shook his head. "I haven't seen him in ages."

"Do you really know him from one of his dogs?" Niko smiled at him.

"Arthur has tons of them," Solomon shook his head. "His wife was going to school to be a vet for animals too, last time I talked to him, so they wind up adopting just about everything that comes there way."

"Huh," Niko put his hand on his back as they waited for the valet to bring them his car. "If I had known that, maybe we could have convinced him to come to these parties sooner."

"You've been trying to convince him to come?" Solomon chuckled. Arthur wasn't ever the party type. His kind of party always involved animals. His best friend even owned a rescue.

"For ages!" Niko said. That hand of his was inching over to his side. For some reason, Solomon didn't quite stop him. He was just glad that those reporters were gone. They had been shooed away just before the party ended. They had annoyed too many of the members. "A lot of us have been trying to make a deal with him and his business. The man generates so much money just from one restaurant, it's absolutely mad."

"You should have just brought puppies to the party," Solomon laughed. "That would have been the number 1 thing to loosen him up."

"You really like him, don't you?" Niko asked him.

"What do you mean by that?" he raised his eyebrow.

"What do you think I mean?" those blue eyes sparkled with mischief, and he had a sly smile on his face.

"Well, he's a good person," Solomon said. "But if you're thinking that I liked him in a romantic way, then you would be completely off."

"Is he not your type?"

"Not really," he shook his head. "There's also the fact that he's straight. And I was married at the time."

"Wait," Niko's mischievous expression turned into a confused one again. "You were married?"

"Yeah," Solomon sighed. He really wished he hadn't brought that up. "For two years."

"To the same one that...?"

"Yeah," he looked down. Leave it to his stupid mouth to bring up something like that on a good night out. The past loved to come back and haunt him right when he was having a good time. That was another reason why he hadn't gone out in a while. Creating a routine was safe and helped him a lot for a time. But, there's only so much that something like that can fix.

"Hey," Niko wrapped that arm fully around his waist and pulled him close. "I'm sorry, Solomon. I shouldn't have asked."

"It's okay," he shook his head, as if to shake out the sad memories. "I figured you were going to find out anyway."

He liked how close he was to Niko. That was a surprise. He used to hate it whenever anyone tried to hold him like this. That was always reserved for one person and one person only. And not even he liked to do it to him that often. But, when Niko held him close, it felt warm.

Was this going too far? He knew that Niko had wanted him from the moment he stepped into that interview. He knew why he was invited, although he didn't expect to meet Niko's father so soon.

But was this all just to bed him? People didn't hold onto you like this and simply enjoy the silence when they just wanted to bed you. He had been waiting for that hand that had been on his back to try and travel lower, but it hadn't. Instead, it wound up going around his waist to pull him closer.