Hobbled by John Inman Page A

guess. Reddish hair. Kind of short. Also like me. I guess he’s good-looking enough.”
    “If he looks like you,” Danny said, unable to stop himself, “then I don’t imagine he had much trouble finding a boyfriend.”
    Luke gave Danny a searching look, as if maybe what Danny had just said made him wonder something. And Danny was afraid he knew what it was. So to cover his tracks, Danny blurted out, “So have you met the guy? The boyfriend? Did your dad introduce him to you?”
    Luke appeared to set aside any questions he might have about what Danny said about his dad finding a boyfriend. He was on the third toe now, and that toe was just as giddily happy to be the center of attention as the other two toes had been.
    “Nope,” Luke said. “I wasn’t even sure he was gay until a couple of months ago, when he told me we were moving.”
    “Gee. Were you shocked? About him being gay, I mean?”
    Luke thought about that. “Not so much. I, well, I know some gay people. They’re just like you and me, you know.”
    Like me, certainly, Danny thought.
    Luke left Danny’s third toe screaming in protest when Luke moved along to the next toe too damn fast. Luke was too busy thinking about Danny’s last question to notice. “I think I was just glad Dad had finally found somebody he loved. I knew he was seeing somebody. I just didn’t know it was a guy. Not until he told me. But I don’t have a problem with it.” His eyes bored into Danny’s once more. “Would you?”
    Danny blinked. “Uh, no. I don’t think I would. I mean, it would be a shock and all, what with it being my dad, but, uh, no. No problem.”
    Danny couldn’t help wondering if that were really true. How would he react?
    On the other hand, Danny was a wee bit more worried about how his father would react when Danny finally got around to telling him he was gay.
    But that was a speculation Danny was always trying to avoid. Now was no exception. He steered the conversation to another heading.
    “So where’s your dad now, Luke? Closing up the house in Tucson?”
    “Yeah. I came early to bring the van and maybe get this house arranged a little bit. Dad won’t be here for a couple more weeks. He had to train his replacement at the bank. Talk to a Realtor. Shit like that. I didn’t want to hang around in a torn-up house, so I talked Dad into letting me bring the van early.” He released Danny’s toes and patted Danny’s knee instead. After he finished patting it, he let his hand lie there. “I’m glad I did.”
    Danny swallowed, looking down at that warm hand resting on his knee. He studied the hair on the arm the hand was attached to. Then he gazed a little farther south to study the hairy legs of the boy cradling Danny’s left foot in his lap.
    God, Luke was beautiful from one end to the other.
    Danny’s dick stirred again, making him jump. Jeez, he wished it would stop doing that.
    “So am I!” he blurted out. He blushed, then toned it down a bit. “I mean, well, so am I. Glad you came early, I mean.”
    Luke grinned and gave him a wink. “I think you and I are going to get along just fine.”
    “Yeah,” Danny said, still blushing but finding his own smile as well. “So do I.”
    Danny had almost built up the nerve to reach down and pat the hand that was patting his knee, but before he could get around to it, a car horn made them both jump.
    “Crap!” Luke said. “Must be the peons Pop hired to empty the truck. Good thing he did though, huh? If you tried to help me they’d drag you to the state pen for breaking parole. Or jumping ship. Or crossing the thirty-yard line. Or whatever the hell they call it.”
    “They call it the quickest way to find my ass in jail and break my father’s heart,” Danny said. He didn’t even try to fake a smile after he said it. The thought was too depressing.
    Luke looked at him, his cornflower-blue eyes wide, full of sympathy. He reached out and touched Danny’s cheek. Just the lightest touch