Rainbow Shorts ( my LGBT Short Story Collection)

A Christmas Encounter

Hastily, Cal stripped off his jumper and put it back on the right way, at the same time pushing the dressing-table drawer shut with his hip. Cautiously he peered around the bedroom door. The man who'd been eyeing him earlier was standing in the passage, looking at him quizzically.

"I wondered if you'd find me," said Cal, and smiled. Before the other man could move, Cal pulled him into the room and then—tripped awkwardly over a pair of shoes on the floor. Both men fell onto the bed, Cal underneath. The other man struggled to free himself.
"What the hell—"

"Oops," laughed Cal, a trifle breathlessly. "That was fun, but actually, I was just going to start with a kiss. Give me a hand up, will you?"

The other man gave a startled laugh, then reached down and hauled Cal to his feet. For a moment, they were almost in each other's arms. Both took a quick step back.

"I think perhaps we should introduce ourselves," suggested the stranger. "I'm Harlan Simons."

"Cal Peters," lied Cal, though the first part of his name was true enough.

"So how do you know Phil and Sue?" Harlan was struggling to make normal conversation, obviously still flustered from the unexpected tackle to the bed.

"I'm a friend of Sophie's," improvised Cal, picking the most common name he could think of on the spur of the moment. Everyone had at least one friend called Sophie, right?

"And you?" he asked, before the other man could question him further.

"I came with Jim, but he's just a friend," Harlan hastened to add. He was looking steadily into Cal's grey eyes, obviously liking what he saw. "So, you wanted to kiss me, huh?"

Harlan stepped forward, putting his hand behind Cal's neck, and lowering his lips to Cal's mouth.

Talk about the wrong time and the wrong place! But after his extremely blatant invitation, Cal could hardly say he'd changed his mind.

"I-er," he managed before Harlan's tongue swept into his mouth. Afterwards, Cal blamed the adrenaline coursing through his body, but at the time, it felt like his brain simply turned to mush. Cal forgot what he'd been going to say. All he could think of was the excitement coursing through his veins at the feel of Harlan's tongue in his mouth. His arms went up to circle Harlan's shoulders, pulling their bodies hard against each other. He couldn't remember the last time he'd felt such a strong attraction. He pressed even closer, wanting... wanting—

"Oops! Sorry!" a laughing voice broke them apart as someone shut the door loudly behind them. Neither had even noticed it opening.

Both men stared at each other.

"Wow. That was... unexpected," said Harlan. He ran a hand through his short hair. "I don't normally do things like that. Act so impulsively, I mean."

"Me neither," said Cal, feeling as if the gold chain was suddenly burning a hole in his pocket. Thank heavens he had it wrapped in his handkerchief. That embrace had been alarmingly intimate.

Harlan looked around the bedroom as if he was suddenly seeing it for the first time.

"This is Phil and Sue's room. We shouldn't really be in here. Do you want to go somewhere else?" he asked. "My place? Or yours?"

"Uh..." Cal couldn't think what to say. The hottest man he'd met in ages and he was going to have to turn him down.

"Sorry," he blurted. "I know I've given you the wrong impression, but I don't usually do one night stands."

Harlan flushed and put his hands in his pockets. "Actually, I don't either. I just—"

"Perhaps we should go back downstairs and join the party," interrupted Cal, knowing it sounded like a brush off but unable to think of anything else. Rather too late, his brain had begun working again on all cylinders. He needed to get out of here, fast, and make his escape.

"Right," agreed Harlan, his face closing down. "Normally I get that reaction after I tell people I'm a cop."

"Wha—?" Cal felt the colour drain from his face.

"I know. A gay cop, pretty crazy, right?"

"Uh," said Cal. He was so screwed. Caught in the act by an off-duty copper. Had Harlan been watching him all along? Giving him enough rope to hang himself?

"It's all right, you've made yourself pretty clear!" said Harlan in clipped tones. "By all means, let's go down and join the party." He strode to the door.

His legs feeling wobbly, Cal followed. Was Harlan still playing with him, or didn't he know what he'd done, after all?

Following Harlan along the passage back to the party room, Cal saw Harlan's jacket hanging on a peg. Before he could think twice, he slipped the gold chain into the furthest pocket, then wiped his face with the handkerchief.

His back shrinking, waiting for a heavy hand to grab his collar, Cal made his way straight to the front door. He left without looking back, his ears straining for sounds of pursuit, or even the uproar of discovery, but he heard nothing out of the ordinary. In less than five minutes, Cal was safely in his car and driving home.

That had been way too close for comfort. Maybe it was time to think about a new career...

His mind kept replaying the events of that evening. Harlan was the hottest man he'd met for ages. Though right now Harlan was probably grinding his teeth in fury and congratulating himself on a narrow escape, Cal couldn't help wishing things had turned out differently. Maybe—after the initial furore had died down—he could try and get in touch, see if Harlan was still interested... Cal laughed sourly, who was he kidding? He'd probably get a fist in the face.

He'd never see Harlan again.

"So, fill me in." Harlan was seated opposite from Phil in the coffee shop. A week had passed since that embarrassing night when he'd gone to put on his jacket to leave the party, and discovered Sue's gold chain in his pocket.

Phil was apologetic. "I'm sorry you were caught up in it, Harlan. Turns out, the whole thing was a set-up by my security firm. They've been after me for ages to get a better security system for the upstairs rooms and this was their way of proving it to me. They used one of their own men, one of their investigators. Normally he tests out their security systems, finds the weak spots and then reports back. Something must have rattled him that night, to make him leave the chain behind. His boss was expecting to be handed the "stolen" goods to present back to me, but instead...."

Phil cleared his throat, remembering Harlan's embarrassment at the party, bringing the chain to show Phil and Sue, explaining how he'd just found it in his jacket pocket. "He must have known he could trust you to hand it back," offered Phil, venturing a small smile, a slightly questioning look in his eyes.

"Hmm," growled Harlan, only partially appeased. That did rather explain Cal's unexpectedly hasty exit. In fact, now he considered, it possibly explained quite a lot. He began to smile. Rattled, huh? Cal didn't know what rattled was—yet.

"So, this guy works for your security company then? I don't suppose you have his name, or number?" asked Harlan, as casually as he could.