Raising the Bar by Marie Harte Page B

open, intending to yank his brother back inside and give him the beating he deserved, when he saw Harper standing there with a questioning look on his face.
    “Harper?”
    “Hey, Doc. Problem?”
    Harper took a step forward, and Dylan instinctively stepped back, out of his way. When Harper joined Dylan in the foyer and closed the door behind him, Dylan frowned. “How did you find me?”
    “Public record of sale, my man. You bought this place six years ago. I know people who know people.” He paused, looking Dylan up and down. Then he grinned. “A tie? Did you know I was coming?”
    Dylan snorted with laughter, immediately feeling better. “You’re an idiot.”
    “Yeah, one that’s hung like a horse, remember?”
    “As if I could forget.” Dylan’s body immediately responded. “Hell, come on in. Oh wait, you’re already in.”
    He took Harper’s coat and hung it in the closet, doing his best not to visibly strip the man naked. Damn, but Harper could do flannel and jeans proud. “Want a beer?”
    Harper walked to the coffee table and took a sip of Dylan’s tea. “This’ll do.”
    “So what brings you by?”
    “Wanted to see how the other half lives.” Harper grinned. “Nice digs. Figured you’d live in the uppity section of town.”
    “What?”
    “I’m in the building two blocks down.”
    In the newly remodeled cotton mill. “Uppity? Here? That place is twice what I paid for mine.”
    “Not if you know the right people. Besides, I don’t think we have one shrink in the entire building. Just a lot of well-connected schlubs.”
    Dylan laughed. “Too bad. You could use a doctor.”
    “Probably.” Harper drained the glass, then stuck his hands in his pockets. Unfortunately, that drew Dylan’s attention to the outline of a long, prominent erection. “I’ve got a problem, Doc.”
    “Yeah?” His voice sounded scratchy.
    “I can’t stop thinking about you.”
    Dylan’s heart raced and gladness filled him, enough for him to admit, “I’m having the same problem.”
    “Thinking about yourself all the time. Sad. But then, I could tell you’re a vain guy. All your clothes have designer labels.”
    “Ass. I’m thinking about you .” Dylan confessed, “The sex was great. Incredible. Best I’ve ever had.”
    “Same.”
    “But, I mean, we really got along. I liked spending time with you.”
    Harper’s grin faded. “Me too. And that’s kind of a problem.”
    “Oh?”
    “See, I’d like to take this further. Not a one-night, er, one-weekend stand. But something more. And that means experimenting more than you might be comfortable with. I thought I’d come over and lay it all on the line. You seem to be pretty okay in your own skin, so I figured, why beat around the bush? Why not flat-out ask him?”
    “Ask me what?”
    “First of all, were you going to call me?”
    Dylan bit his lip, then decided fuck it . “Yeah. I’ve been dealing with family crap, and it’s stressing me out. I wanted to call you for sex, because with you I seem to forget everything else. Then I felt bad about the thought of using you, because I actually like you.”
    Harper huffed. “Don’t sound so surprised.”
    “I’m not.” He had to laugh at Harper’s pique. “Now who’s vain? My point is that I was trying to figure out why I like you so much. Because you help me forget my problems? Because you’re hung like a horse?”
    “There is that.”
    “Because I’d like to pursue a relationship?”
    Harper sighed. “You just can’t go with a feeling, can you?”
    “I wish I could. It’s the therapist in me needing to reason it all out. But you came by. So tell me. What do you think I might not be comfortable with?”
    Harper sat on the couch and Dylan sat on a chair facing him. “It’s not that you can’t handle it, but will you want to try it?”
    “Try what?”
    “I want Freddy.”
    “Freddy?” Dylan’s thoughts immediately went to the sexy blonde from the club last week.
    “Yeah, the woman