Huh. That was strange.

Lying on the table among the mail he’d brought in today, Dustin spotted a folded note. Probably the neighbor complaining about his hedges or the state of his windows or some other weird little annoyance. Or, God, the HOA.

Just between us: treat yourself, gorgeous.

There was no signature. Enclosed was a $10 gift card for a local bakery—Dustin recognized the address as one of those cupcake places.

Dustin rolled his eyes. Which of his brothers was responsible for this? He was due to go out tonight with them. Normally they might have texted to make sure he was at home first, but any of them could have dropped by.

Speaking of which, tonight was actually right about now. Another evening getting caught up in sample analysis had meant he was home late from work as usual. He was often the last one to show up at the bar.

He grabbed a microwave meal, and showered and shaved while it heated up. Once it was choked down, almost scalding him, he grabbed his wallet and phone and keys again, racing back out of the house.

“About damn time you got here,” a familiar voice bellowed across the bar, signaling to him where he should look for his best friends.

The whole group of them were gathered around the table.

Even Roman was here, now that his airline had just placed him on a short-haul route, and he was home more often. Deen, rock star and media darling, was taking a break from a tour, too. And Blane and Falcon were back from Paris.

“Whoa. It’s actually all of us again,” he grinned.

“Now that you’re here, Mr. Tardy,” Tyler snorted.

Dustin rolled his eyes back at Tyler and squeezed into the booth. It was getting awfully crowded with all these big guys, even as cozy as they all were with each other. There was barely room on the edge of the bench for him.

The extra boyfriends were the real problem: Roman was dating Oscar, Blane had Falcon, and Nico and Deen were a couple. Together with Tyler, Josh, and himself, there were a hell of a lot of them in a small space. Any more boyfriends and they were gonna have to add a table to the end of the booth.

At least there wasn’t any risk of that for him. Not with his work hours.

“Glad you made it.” That was Nico, giving him a warm smile. “Sounded like you needed the break.”

“So, was it you?” Dustin accused Nico, giving him a suspicious look.

“Me what?”

Dustin wasn’t fooled by the innocent look. “With the gift card and note.” But when he scanned the table, all he saw were blank stares in return.

Then Falcon leaned in, beaming at him. “Wait. Did you get a love note?”

“Oh, shit.” Tyler rocked forward, too. “Tell us.”

Dustin blinked and looked around. “No, seriously. If it’s one of you guys…”

“Cross our hearts. Right?” They took a moment to look around at each other, and then all eyes were on him.

Dustin went red. He could feel it from the way his cheeks burned. Being the center of attention had never been his forte. “Oh. Uh. I got a gift card and a note saying to treat myself.” He kept the gorgeous part to himself.

“An admirer!” Deen clapped with excitement.

Of course, his brain suggested several alternatives next: he had a stalker. He had a crazy ex. No, his one and only ex had been years ago, and he’d moved on to a bigger and better guy since. Some weirdo he’d hooked up with. Some weirdo he hadn’t hooked up with.

Then the obvious presented itself: Leo.

He does seem sweet. He texted me thanks, and he held doors for me and stuff. And he knows where I live.

“Maybe?” Dustin finally allowed. “Or a stalker.”

“Holy shit,” Josh grinned. “Our little Dustin, all grown up. Let us know who to scare silly. It’s been a while since that Bryce guy, huh?”

The boyfriends exchanged glances—Oscar, Falcon, and Deen hadn’t been around back then.

But Dustin didn’t need any reminder of his lacking love life. He sighed and glared, then glanced at them, feeling obligated to explain. “Bryce was my high school ex.”

“His first sweetheart. Twerp,” Blane muttered under his breath as Nico nodded.

“Whatever,” Dustin dismissed him with a snort. In the end, they’d had to chase the guy off, but the details weren’t important. It was a long time ago. At least he hadn’t been abusive, just… not good enough for Dustin.

Of course, nobody had presented themselves as a candidate for his affection since, so he’d often second-guessed their choice, as much as he’d known it was right.

“He was just stringing Dustin along with romance to get sex,” Josh summarized.

“Josh!” Tyler kicked him.

“Oh. Yeah. Sorry.” Josh looked at him, but Dustin was more than used to a lack of sensitivity from the guys.

Dustin snorted. “Yeah, well. It was true.”

“But he’s not the be-all-and-end-all or whatever,” Nico said with a frown, leaning forward.

“Yeah. Look at us. Chronic bachelors,” Roman added, shaking his head at his new boyfriend, Oscar. “And we managed to settle down. If there’s someone who wants to give it a go… if he’s good enough for you…”

Dustin waved his hand. “It’s not what I want, you know?”

At least, not something that was all romance to get sex. He could do no-strings-attached sex, or he could do romance, but none of this half-in, half-out bullshit. His reluctance totally had nothing to do with Bryce.

Dustin clamped down on the uncomfortable feeling and folded his arms. “I’ll need more beer if you keep making those faces.”

The skeptical expressions remained.

“Right. You don’t want a boyfriend? We’ll support that,” Nico said slowly, “if that’s what you really want.”

“Good.”

“But why don’t you want to date him?” Nico continued. “Is he ugly? Rude? Stupid?” Each time, Dustin shook his head. “Bad fashion sense?”

Dustin laughed. “No. Jesus. I just don’t think… I mean, we already hooked up once.”

They just looked at him.

“And?” Blane finally prompted, as if that hadn’t said it all.

Well, why the hell will he want the cow if he’s got the milk? Dustin’s family’s words rang in his ears. They hadn’t been aimed directly at him, but they sure as hell had been said very deliberately around him more than once.

Not only was he supposed to marry a guy for his money, but he was supposed to lure him along into marriage before he fucked him. Somehow. Like anyone did that anymore.

“My family wants me—”

“I know your parents have this boner for getting you hitched to some super-rich guy,” Josh interrupted impatiently, “but fuck that. Man, you’ve been going on dates with every asshole they can find south of New York City and no dice. They don’t own your dating life.”

Dustin winced. “That reminds me, I have to visit them tomorrow.”

Blane waved a hand. “So tell them to fuck off if they get nosy.”

“But I…” Dustin trailed off, then sighed again. They were right. He was an adult, and he hardly kept in touch with his family anyway, except for their mandatory family lunches, which were invariably painful. His brothers had all come along at one time or another, and all of them agreed that they were “goddamn weird.”

On the other hand, Dustin had no real reason not to go, as long as work wasn’t getting in the way. If the worst that came of it was being set up on a date with another boring lawyer with a gaudy BMW, he could handle that.

He’d already ruined the chance of a fairytale romance with Leo. What did he have to lose now?

“I don’t know.” That was Deen. “I think you should go for the guy who makes your heart sing. Even if you’ve already done a duet.”

“Agree to disagree,” Dustin said simply, which had always been his warning word to the others to shut up.

They settled down, reluctantly, and went on to discuss Deen’s forthcoming single. That distracted Josh, at least, who had always been a lowkey fanboy. He’d since gotten Tyler to listen to Deen’s entire discography. The pair of them looked like cats who’d gotten the cream as they listened in on the behind-the-scenes of production.

There is the question of why he left the gift card at all. I guess I’ll have to talk to him to find out. The idea wasn’t totally objectionable.

So that settled it… Dustin would call before he headed out to see his family tomorrow. And he’d stop by for cupcakes on the way back to reward himself for dealing with all of that.

Sounded like a plan.