Dorian Seacrest owns a music store and performance venue with his friend and business partner, Evan Harper. When Evan rushes into the stockroom a week or so before Christmas to tell him Caesar's Flame is booked for New Year's Day, he goes into shock. Many years have passed since Dorian has seen Laramie Treble, the drummer and leader of the now globally successful alternative rock band. Their erstwhile relationship -- mostly about sex -- deteriorated once Laramie became famous, mainly because he wanted to sleep with everything that moved. So Dorian left him to it. He wanted monogamy and forever, or nothing at all. Now Laramie is back and in hot pursuit of Dorian once again. But Dorian is not making it easy. He can't, because his heart won't survive another round, especially if all Laramie wants is something casual like before. He's just not built that way. It seems, though, that Laramie is determined to prove Dorian wrong, and there might be a little drummer boy in his future, after all. Dorian just has to decide whether to let his heart beat to Laramie's drum.

The Beat of His Drum

“What have you been doing this whole time?”


“Playing with my phone and watching over you. Oh, and I ordered pizza.”


I looked over at him. “I appreciate you bringing me home. Did you put away the groceries, too?”


“Yes, though you may not thank me as to where I placed them.”


I smiled. “It doesn’t matter, as long as the things that need to stay cold went into the refrigerator. Thank you, Laramie. You were very kind to do all this.” It was a side of him I’d never seen, and a revelation.


He seemed a little uncomfortable at my gratitude. “I don’t remember your insomnia being this acute when we were together.”


I turned on my side so I could see him better. “It was. You just don’t remember everything. It’s been years, after all.”


“I’m a self-centered bastard, aren’t I?”


Chapter 10