Never Left Behind

Chapter 1 Calvin Maxwell displayed an air of nonchalance as he waited for Turner Marsh outside on the crowded sidewalk. He was standing next to the building where the annual San Francisco Food Fair was being held. He might not seem nervous on the surface, but deep inside, he couldn’t stop worrying and thinking that Turner would end up ditching him. After all, Turner was forty-five years old, very handsome and distinguished, built like a brick shithouse, and extremely wealthy and successful. Turner had recently opened the fifteenth branch of The Paradise Fable, one of the most popular and expensive fine-dining restaurants in the world, in San Francisco. That was how they met. Calvin had visited the restaurant with a group of friends, and Turner had joined the table after being invited to. His friends had been aware of his instant attraction toward Turner. Hence, they had asked Turner to sit with them at the table. Calvin loved his friends. They were all kind, loyal, and supportive, but he was a little pissed off at them at the moment. Maybe his friends had unintentionally pressured Turner into taking him out on this date by pointing out how much he loved unique food. Now, he had to bear with the disappointment that Turner might not turn up after all. He would be simultaneously embarrassed and miserable about losing the chance to date someone like Turner, but he would get over it. Turner was too good for someone like him anyway. He stared at the time on his smartphone. Turner was now nearly thirty minutes late for their date. Or whatever it was supposed to be. “Damn it,” Calvin muttered to himself under his breath. “Guess it’s not meant to be.” He was about to walk away when he felt someone grabbing onto his wrist and pulling him backward. He turned around and gasped a little. It was Turner. Calvin knew his reaction was rather strange, but Turner had that effect on him. Turner had these gorgeous dark-green eyes with a thick mop of dark-blonde hair, and Calvin was mesmerized by them. In comparison, his amber eyes and dark-brown hair were boring. At least that was how he felt. With Turner’s height of six feet, four inches, the man was a full two inches taller than Calvin. He wasn’t a short man, and he was a huge man himself, weighing two hundred pounds of bulky muscles everywhere, but Turner had to be thirty to forty pounds heavier than him. Turner had so much muscles, Calvin felt weirdly small next to the older man. If Turner’s height and weight didn’t give Calvin some kind of inferiority complex, the man’s wealth certainly would. Calvin was quite successful himself. At twenty-eight years old, he was the Junior Manager of the Research and Development department at the pharmaceutical company he worked at. However, that meant little next to someone as outstanding and extraordinary as Turner. “s**t! Cal, I’m so, so sorry,” Turner said while panting and huffing mere inches away from Calvin’s face. “I’d forgotten to charge my smartphone before falling asleep last night. Then there was an emergency at the restaurant earlier this morning. One of the suppliers hadn’t delivered an essential ingredient we needed for the private luncheon party, and I had to contact the person in charge. By the time everything had been taken care of, it was already half past eight. I had to drive my car like a madman possessed all the way here, but the traffic was horrible. I knew I would be late, and I’d wanted to call you, but my phone died on me. Then I discovered the car charger for my smartphone wasn’t there. It was probably inside one of my other five cars. I know I should have put one inside each of my cars, but I—” “Turner!” Calvin half yelled while suppressing his relief and amusement. “Breathe. You’re going to give yourself a heart attack.” Turner’s cheeks reddened, obviously embarrassed, but he smiled widely at Calvin. “Sorry. Again.” Calvin was thankful that he wasn’t being stood up by Turner. He chuckled and nodded at Turner. “It’s okay.” “Are you sure?” Turner asked while staring intently at Calvin’s face. “You looked kind of angry and sad earlier.” This time around, it was Calvin’s turn to be mortified. He darted his eyes around, doing his best to avoid eye contact with Turner. “N-no. I-I’m fine. Really.” Calvin was taken aback when Turner abruptly wrapped both arms around his waist and embraced him tightly. He was also more than slightly aroused. There was something really sexy about a man who could manhandle him like a rag doll. Being as tall and muscular as he was, it wasn’t every day he could find a man as powerful as Turner. He didn’t even get the chance to resist. Turner’s strength was incredible, and Calvin lost his breath for a second or two as the older man simply dragged him close before proceeding to hug and hold on to him like a vise. If he wasn’t attracted to Turner before this, he definitely would be now. Then Turner released him before ruffling his hair and patting his head while grinning widely. He could feel himself blushing. The heat was rushing all the way up his neck and cheeks. He didn’t mind being treated like a little boy by someone like Turner. It was actually somewhat comforting to him. “Are you ready to get inside?” Turner inquired while pointing his thumb backward at the entrance to the building. Calvin nodded. “Sure.” Turner gave Calvin the most brilliant smile before reaching for his hand and intertwining their fingers together. Once again, Calvin was surprised by Turner’s action. He knew they were out on a date. Some forms of intimate gestures were to be expected. However, he had never been with a man as straightforward and openly affectionate as Turner. All of the older men he had dated in the past were a lot more reserved, especially at the beginning. He knew they had dated him because they liked the fact that he was so much younger than they were. On the other hand, he had gone out on dates with them because he had always been more attracted to older men. The psychologists would probably attribute that to the fact that his biological father had abandoned him and his mother when he was only four years old, so he had some serious daddy issues. Turner must have noticed the astonished expression on his face because the man quickly beamed at him and raised their joined hands up high before kissing the back of his palm with a resounding smack. “My apologies. I hope this is okay. We had already held hands throughout that meal with your friends and their boyfriends. I figure this should be all right with you. If it’s not, please forgive me. I’ll let go—” “Don’t,” Calvin interrupted while shaking his head at Turner. “It’s fine.” That had to be the right response because Turner seemed elated by it. Calvin shifted even closer to Turner, and he sighed in delight when the older man relinquished his hand and slipped that same arm around his waist instead. It felt amazing to be wanted. After that, the two of them made their way into the building side by side. “Whoa! This is unbelievable,” Turner whispered into Calvin’s ear the moment they stepped deeper inside the building. Calvin had to agree with Turner. There had to be hundreds of stalls inside the massive hall. The room was overflowing with thousands of people, including the visitors, and the delicious aromas of all kinds of food were everywhere. There wasn’t much noise to be found inside the hall, but that was probably because most people were too busy with the samples from all of the stalls, tasting, chewing, and swallowing every morsel of free food in sight. “This is so much larger than I expected,” Calvin muttered next to Turner’s ear before dragging the older man toward the first stall that caught his eyes. The two of them started out at a stall that displayed some unique buns with equally special fillings. The buns were shaped to look like various types of flowers, and the fillings of the buns ranged from organic honey, mouth-watering melted chocolate, and several types of fruit jams all the way to multiple kinds of bean paste. After trying out some of the free samples, Calvin decided to purchase some to share with his friends at work. Turner raised his left eyebrow at Calvin, seemingly amazed at the amount of buns he bought. “Are you sure you can finish them all?” “Tomorrow is Monday,” Calvin replied. “I’ll bring them to the office. My friends are huge eaters. They will swallow everything in less than three minutes. Trust me. I know them well. We’ve been best friends and colleagues for years.” “Do they all have such enormous appetites?” Calvin snickered. “Yeah, especially in the mornings.” “Wow! Yet all of them look really fit like runway models. If I were to eat like that, I wouldn’t be able to fit any of my clothes by the end of the day.” Calvin snorted. “As if. You’re really good-looking and sexy.” Turner winked at Calvin. “Yeah?” Calvin chuckled. “Stop fishing for compliments. That’s so not cute.” Turner burst out laughing. “Okay. I’ll stop.” Calvin wasn’t really kidding about his friends’ appetites, though. David Lee, the IT Junior Manager, Justin Wong, the Human Resource Manager, and Javier Gisbert, the Marketing Manager, might be the smallest in terms of their build, but they could put away quite a substantial amount of food. Joshua Wallace, the Social Media Specialist, Vincent Yang, the Finance Junior Manager, and Keenan Underwood, the Sales Manager, were taller and had a much larger build, but they ate approximately the same amount as the other three men. Calvin only bought two buns for each of his friends because he had no doubt he would be carrying home a lot of food from the other stalls by the end of his and Turner’s trip at the food fair. He had to pace himself carefully. He was about to pay for the buns when Turner beat him to it. He stared at Turner in shock. “Turner, I can’t accept—” “Yes, you can,” Turner cut Calvin off midsentence. “Consider this as a bribe so your friends will like me and approve of our relationship.” Calvin’s eyes widened in surprise upon hearing that. “You really don’t have to do this. My friends already like you. They were the ones who took the initiatives and made us sit next to each other at your restaurant. Remember?” Turner grinned. “Yeah. I was just teasing you about the bribe. It was a bad joke on my part.” Calvin still felt bad as he accepted the boxes of buns from the sellers. “I can return you the money.” Turner shook his head. “Please don’t.” Calvin was at a loss now. “Are you sure?” “Yes,” Turner answered while taking the boxes off Calvin’s hands. “Let me carry them for you. I’m sure you want to look around at all of the other stalls. Your friends have told me you’re a bit of a foodie. You should make full use of this wonderful opportunity to try everything from as many stalls as possible.” Calvin couldn’t deny it felt really nice to be pampered and adored by Turner. He hesitated for a few seconds before pressing his lips onto Turner’s cheeks for a brief moment. Then he walked away in a hurry. He was a little embarrassed for being so forward in his affection toward Turner, but the older man made it so easy for him. He was shy as he moved on to the next stall, and he didn’t even wait to make sure Turner would follow right behind him, but he managed to catch the pleased expression on the older man’s face. At least Turner didn’t seem to mind him being so lovey-dovey on their first official date together. That was a good sign. A very good sign. Turner might just turn out to be the Mr. Right Calvin had been searching for all along.