Exclusive Excerpt from Leaning Into a Wish

by Lane Hayes

I sat on the metal bench and swiped my wrist across my forehead before uncapping my water bottle and taking a healthy swig. I sensed Danny’s stare in my periphery, but I was too tired and thirsty to ask what he was looking at. I set my half-empty bottle aside and stretched my legs in front of me before glancing up just as Danny peeled his polo shirt over his head, revealing his smooth, toned torso and the most incredible six-pack I’d ever seen on a man up close. The hint of ink south of his belly button that looked something like the wings of a phoenix completed the picture. The man was seriously drool-worthy.

“Whatcha looking at, Ry?” he teased, shoving his sweaty shirt into his tennis bag and pulling out a fresh white tee.

“Nothing,” I lied. “Aren’t you going to put a shirt on? It’s getting cool.” I pointed to the clouds gathering overhead lamely, unsurprised when he chuckled.

“I’ll take my chance with the sixty-eight-degree cold spell,” he said with a wolfish grin.

And that was when I realized the little fucker was baiting me. He’d caught me staring at him and he liked it. In fact, he might have orchestrated that striptease at the optimal moment to ensure I saw the whole show. Hmm. This was an interesting twist. What kind of idiot purposely taunted a gay man with his sexy bod without expecting some sort of retaliation?

“You’re trying to turn me on, aren’t you?” I asked in a raspier than usual tone.

Danny’s faux-shocked expression cracked me up. “Well…”

“Maybe that wasn’t your intention but I’m warning you, I’m going through a tragic dry spell in the sex department. Even you look kinda hot to me.”

I expected him to throw his clean T-shirt over his head in seconds flat. Instead, his wide-eyed look of surprise slowly morphed into a radiant grin that clearly said, “Bring it on.”

        “Even me, eh?”

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