Page 94 of Tempting Him

“Does that mean you’d take your job back here?”

I shake my head. “No. Luther will remain where he is. Of course, I’ll be aware of everything, but I can work from home. I’ve spent a long time working myself to the bone, needing to be involved in every single aspect, but I can focus on the bigger things while the CEO works on everything else. I’m not losing money.”

He chuckles. “Right. I bet not. So, you’re moving here?”

I nod, watching him carefully. “We can’t have a proper chance if I don’t, and I wouldn’t ask you to move to Chicago when you’re just starting out.”

“Wow. Alek, that’s incredibly selfless.”

“It’s about time, right?”

He makes a face. “So, I guess that will solve one problem, but we still have another.”

I pin my lips together and nod. “How do you feel about that? Possibly ruining your relationship with your father?”

“If he can’t love me because of who I choose to be with, then that’s on him, right? He can’t think I’d pick my partner based on how he feels about it.” He takes a drink of his lemonade before capping the bottle and putting it down. “Plus, we’ve been fine. There've been many phone calls and FaceTime conversations with him and my mom, and everything seems to be normal. He isn’t acting pissed at me anymore. Maybe he’s calmed down.”

“We’ll need to talk to him.”

He nods. “Yeah.”

“Until then, let’s talk about other things,” he says with a smile. “I move into my own apartment in a couple weeks.”

“That’s good. Your first time living alone, right?”

“Yeah, I’m probably gonna hate it. I enjoyed the noise in the frat house. I like knowing someone is always around. There’s always someone to talk to. The silence bothers me, but I gotta grow up, right?” he says with a chuckle.

Once we finish our meal and throw our trash away, I grab his hand in mine and we walk along the trail, enjoying the shade from the large trees that surround us.

Jay looks at our joined hands and smiles, glancing up at me. “You out?”

I shrug. “I guess so. I don’t know many people here, so it’s not like I’ve had to tell anyone. Luther already knows.”

“He does?”

“Yeah. I didn’t get the chance to tell you, but he seemed to be onto us. He confronted me about it.”

Jay hisses. “Was he pissed?”

“No,” I reply, shaking my head. “He was quite supportive.”

“Wow, that’s crazy.”

“I never felt the need to have a coming out moment because I was never with anyone for a long time, or in public. I didn’t think I’d ever be able to be in an actual relationship with a man, so it wasn’t necessary. But I want you to know that I really like you and I’m not trying to keep what we do behind closed doors anymore.”

He smiles, blissfully happy, and leans over and kisses my neck like he used to. “Therapy for the win.”

I laugh. “Yeah, I’ll have to find a new one here, or maybe mine in Chicago will allow me to have sessions with her over Zoom. She already knows all my baggage and history.”

“I’m really proud of you, you know? A lot of people are afraid to go to therapy, but you seem to be getting a lot out of it.”

“I don’t think mental health should be a taboo topic. We all deal with our own issues, and though some might be more serious than others, I think it’s nice to be able to have a non-judgmental person listen to you and offer you advice and help.”

“I agree.”

“I don’t know when it happened, but I think it was within our last month together that I realized I was starting to form attachments to you. I wanted more, but I held back for several reasons, and I hate myself for that. However, the phrase,absence makes the heart grow fonderseems to be true. Our separation really helped me realize just how much I enjoyed our time together. Sometimes you don’t know until you don’t have it anymore.”

“God,” he says with glee, a huge smile in place, “I didn’t know you had this whole other side to you.” He stops walking, standing in front of me and placing his hands on my hips. “And as much as I’m enjoying it, I still hope my bossy, demanding Alek is still in there, because I think I really liked that side, too.” He bites his lip as he watches me.

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