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    Hottie Scotty and Mr. Porter
    Hottie Scotty and Mr. Porter
    Hottie Scotty and Mr. Porter
    Ebook144 pages2 hours

    Hottie Scotty and Mr. Porter

    By R. Cooper

    4.5/5

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    About this ebook

    To help out his sister, Scott moved to the small town of Montgomery, where there isn’t much to do and no one for him to date. Well, there’s one other openly gay man in town—Henry ‘Cole’ Porter, a widower who runs the school library, but after one drunken night together, Cole has kept his distance. Scott is used to that. He spends a lot of time working out, and from the slow way he talks and the frat house atmosphere at the fire station where he works, it’s easy to assume he’s stupid. Most people are happy to admire his body and assume that’s all he wants from them, and deep down, Scott is too afraid to try asking for more.

    Which is why Scott has been secretly pining after Cole for months when some of the town’s nosier residents decide Cole has been single long enough. They have a plan to throw every professional gay man in a thirty-mile radius Cole’s way, whether he likes it or not. Their list of candidates doesn’t include Scott, and Scott’s insecurities prevent him from stepping forward—even when it seems as though Cole is asking him to.

    Cole is everything Scott isn’t; highly educated, stylish, with refined tastes. He’s also stubborn and sarcastic, and not nearly as smart about the workings of his own heart as people might think. It might take a lot of the wrong men for him to realize the right one has been in front of him all along.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherR. Cooper
    Release dateApr 30, 2017
    ISBN9781370311378
    Hottie Scotty and Mr. Porter
    Author

    R. Cooper

    I'm a somewhat absentminded, often distracted, writer of queer romance. I'm probably most known for the Being(s) in Love series and the occasional story about witches or firefighters in love. Also known as, "Ah, yes, the one with the dragons."You can find me on in the usual places, or subscribe to my newsletter (link through website).www.riscooper.comI can also be found at...Tumblr @sweetfirebirdFacebook @thealmightyrisInstagram @riscoopsPillowfort @RCooperPatreon @ patreon.com/rcoopsBluesky @ rcooper.bsky.social

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    4.5/5

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    • 5/5
      Another good book from R. Cooper. It has a sweet couple, where both of the guys are perfect for each other.

    Book preview

    Hottie Scotty and Mr. Porter - R. Cooper

    Hottie Scotty and Mr. Porter

    R. Cooper

    Copyright © 2017 R. Cooper

    Cover by Lyn Forester

    Content tags: drinking, ableism regarding intelligence and mental health, self-deprecation, racist and homophobic microaggressions, on page sex, extremely confusing ‘straight’ guys, small town gossips and busybodies, reference to being outed in the past, grief, body image issues including discussions of calories, weight loss etc

    Table of Contents

    One

    Two

    Three

    Four

    Five

    Six

    Seven

    Eight

    Nine

    Ten

    The End

    One

    What?

    Scott knew he sounded stupid and slow when Kathy flicked her gaze up to the ceiling as if she was asking it for patience. He was familiar with that expression. It didn’t change the fact that he was confused as shit.

    He’d come up to the counter to wait while Michael, the elderly stocker, had gone to the back storeroom to check for more of the Ladytime Comfort Tea Scott had asked for. He’d said hello to Kathy, who was sitting on her stool in front of the register, and knitting, as always. Scott had assumed she was making some sort of sweater, which was funny because it was the end of April and no one would need a sweater for months. Although now he thought it looked like pajama pants, and he couldn’t figure out if those would be comfortable. Maybe he’d been so distracted by that, as well as the faint click of her knitting needles and the rainbow-colored yarn, that he’d missed something important.

    Sorry, he said automatically. But—what?

    Kathy narrowed her green eyes. There isn’t stuff you guys do in town that we don’t know about, is there? She took her time repeating herself, as if she thought she had to in order for Scott to understand.

    He understood the words. He just didn’t know what the hell she was talking about.

    The guys at the firehouse? Scott asked tentatively, and reached up to readjust his baseball cap so the brim was at the back. One of his earbuds was still in his ear, although he’d turned off the music before entering the store. He liked music during his run, but he didn’t want to be rude to anyone he might speak to, not even Kathy.

    Kathy let out a breath. Actually, she heaved a sigh, but ‘heaved a sigh’ was the kind of phrase more likely to be in the romance novel at her side than something Scott would say.

    No, Scotty. She let her knitting rest in her lap while she glared at him. "The gays."

    The gays at the firehouse? Scott felt his forehead wrinkle in a frown. He was pretty sure he was the only gay at the firehouse. Or, at least, the only one, like, out and everything. Not, like, statistically. Some of the guys had to be bi, or curious, or questioning, because that was how things worked, but they didn’t really talk about that kind of shit, except for sometimes late at night, or when they were really bored, and then it was more of a Tom Hardy, though, right? And nods of agreement or guys insisting it would have to be a desert island situation.

    Scotty. Kathy had a sharp voice. Pay attention.

    Scott squinted at her as if the late morning sun outside was still making him see spots after coming inside.

    She gave in first, with another heaved breath. The gays in town, sweetie.

    He knew that kind of sweetie. She thought he was being dumb, but didn’t think he was smart enough to get that she was insulting him. The joke was on her. He’d been called honey by a clique of condescending drag queens; one sweetie from the head of the town’s knitting group was nothing.

    Scott swept a look from the top of her auburn head to the tips of her white fingers, then stuck out his tongue as if he was concentrating really hard. The gays in town? You want to know if we have, like… secret meetings?

    As far as Grindr could tell him, the men in Montgomery who liked other men were mostly older and settled, like the three leather-clad bikers with the front yard full of flowers, or tourists just visiting, or married men on the down low who wouldn’t go to any meetings, secret or not. Kathy probably didn’t mean that, though. Not that he knew what the hell she meant.

    You are hopeless. She shook her head and glanced to the ceiling again. "Why do I talk to you about anything?

    I don’t know. Scott looked around the shop but no one else was there to save him. He had no clue why Kathy insisted on talking to him, or why she was the one pissed about it. It wasn’t like he’d made friends with her when he’d moved up here to help out his sister, and the two of them chatted all the time. It was more like, he’d been new in town and forgotten he wasn’t in a city anymore, and so he hadn’t been prepared for a straight woman pressing to know if he was single. He also hadn’t known how information traveled in a small town, especially when the woman he’d come out to was on the PTA and in the knitting circle, and how the town was about two hours from the San Francisco Bay Area and everyone here was determined to think of themselves as progressive or tolerant or whatever.

    His sister owed him so much. He wouldn’t even have come to this store if it weren’t for her tea.

    The silence went on. Scott cleared his throat and swept another look down the aisles. His pulse had long since calmed down from his run, sometime while he’d been standing in the regular grocery store and fumbling to unfurl to reusable bag his sister had loaned him that folded up into a little strawberry that fit on a keychain.

    No, really, Scotty. Kathy leaned forward. Cole isn’t seeing anyone, is he?

    The reusable bag slipped from Scott’s fingers, which gave him a moment to avoid answering while he bent down to get it. He came back up to find Kathy waiting expectantly.

    His eyes felt gritty. The air conditioning was the possible cause, or the overpowering mix of smells from the incense display by the door. Scott fiddled with the rack of organic chocolate bars in front of him and tried to focus on the information printed on them about ethical cocoa beans.

    His mouth was dry, his brain full of too many words. He took him a while to say anything. Why do you think I would know?

    Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her roll her wrist. Because you’re—

    Also into dick? he finished, maybe a little loud, but she didn’t seem to notice, or care.

    No, no, you’re right, she agreed. Of course he wouldn’t talk to you.

    Scott swallowed. Chocolate wasn’t going to fix that. No amount of sugar-free sports drinks were going to make him less thirsty. Hearing that kind of blunt statement hurt, but it wasn’t anything he hadn’t already known. He darted a look at her. Why… why are you asking?

    Kathy had gone back to her knitting, or at least to holding the needles. He’s been alone a long time.

    Scott put down the chocolate he wasn’t going to buy. He knew Cole was alone. Cole had been alone for the entire time Scott had lived in this town. Cole was kind of famous in Montgomery. The state had approved same-sex marriage—and then denied it, and then allowed it again, but for real this time—and shortly after it was finally declared official and binding, an actual married gay couple had bought a house in town for their weekend getaway. Then one of the husbands had died unexpectedly—aneurism, or so Scott had been told. Now the town had its very own gay widower, and even years later, everyone seemed weirdly pleased about it, or maybe the opportunity it gave them to show off how accepting they were.

    So? he asked finally, reluctantly, and rubbed the back of his neck.

    Kathy’s sudden silence was shifty. Like when Scott had worked in the city and was trying to find out what a kid in his ambulance was on, and the stupid kid thought they had to pretend they hadn’t been getting high instead of telling Scott the cause of their symptoms.

    She wasn’t volunteering anything, but she still seemed ready to fall off her stool.

    So? Scott wondered again. If that’s what he wants….

    Kathy took over when Scott didn’t want to finish that sentence. "He’s a perfectly good, well-off, educated, attractive man, stuck in this small town with no company. Male company, she added, pointedly, as if Scott didn’t know that. It’s a waste. He’s been grieving too long, and he isn’t going to find someone to make him happy in this town. He barely even drives up to the city anymore. It’s like he’s not even looking."

    Scott closed his fingers over his wrist. His pulse was a little crazy. He wasn’t sick or anything, but he hadn’t been ready for this. Kathy basically led that knitting circle, and with it a lot of the prominent women in town. If she was asking him about Cole, she had a reason.

    Kathy gave Scott a critical study before apparently deciding he was worthy of more information. We’re going to make sure he’s happy, she announced, with a hand gesture Scott didn’t recognize, but was sort of… regal-ish. The girls and I have been discussing it and keeping an eye out for all the good gay catches within a reasonable driving distance until we had some candidates. I just wanted to make sure that you hadn’t heard anything we hadn’t, from the others.

    The others. Scott had no idea what to say to that. We aren’t all always friends. He got the tiny regal wave again. No, imperious was the word he was looking for, or maybe dismissive. Some combination of those, if that word existed. He crumpled up the cord to his earbuds and shoved it into the pocket of the band around his arm. It made the bag swing against his chest.

    Kathy looked at his bicep and sighed.

    Oh, please, Mr. Popular. She rolled her eyes in a way he didn’t understand, unless she thought he was fucking every man in town—or, every man but one, he supposed.

    Maybe Scott was slow the way she thought. You want to know if I know anything about Cole dating? He’d had a protein bar before he’d left the house but his stomach was churning. It was a nervous, high school sensation, like standing in front of the debate team and staring at the boys in their blue blazers, feeling hot and unable to speak. But he wasn’t a teenager anymore, so he took a few breaths and focused on the chocolate. Who are you thinking of setting him up with?

    Kathy seemed really, really proud of herself. You wouldn’t know them. A professor at the state college. Jackie’s cousin’s neighbor, who runs a salon. Men like that. No one from town.

    There’s a whole list? Scott demanded in shock. Even including the neighboring towns, less than an hour’s drive away, they had found that many guys who seemed right to date Cole? Scott kind of doubted that many would be good enough, but he could see how Kathy might not know that. She wouldn’t have to deal with racist shit from other gay men on Grindr, or learn to weed out the unpleasant ones. Then again, it didn’t sound like she was using any app for this.

    That might be best. Because if those guys used that app, Scott had probably at least spoken to some of them. Although he tended to only fuck close to home when desperate and unable to get to the city. In a small town, some things were not a great idea, even he could see that.

    Anyway, the choice here was limited. And Cole… Cole did not use that app, not that

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