When forty-year-old Chicago podiatrist Matthew Pepper is approached in a bar by college student Ryan Meade, he figures hooking up with the handsome twenty-one-year-old might be just what he needs to help him get over his recent breakup.<br><br>But the hookup doesn’t go as planned and Matthew writes the evening off as a failed one-night-stand. Ryan, however, views things differently. To him, a failed hookup is nothing more than an opportunity to try again.<br><br>Ryan pursues Matthew, not just because he wants to be with the man, but because he wants something ... and he’s determined to get it. Will Matthew find out Ryan isn’t as transparent as he claims to be? Does Lyin’ Ryan live up to his nickname?

Lyin' Ryan

After I closed out my tab at the first bar, I headed to the second. The walk wasn’t far, but I made sure I left enough time so I could stop at a drug store and get some breath mints to cover the scent of the liquor I’d already consumed. The last thing I wanted was for her to think I was an alcoholic on top of everything else. The two drinks I’d had managed to calm my nerves, and by the time I got to the second place, I felt pretty mellow. The edge was definitely off and I felt like I could take whatever shit Jennifer threw at me. Hell, if she did go crazy, I could simply get up and leave. I was under no obligation to take any abuse from her. Ryan was a grown man and if she couldn’t deal with our relationship, then fuck her. Ryan’s mother was ultimately hisproblem, not mine.


Chapter 42