Page 84 of Poles Apart
“Probably.” Yep, one-word answers. So not Dom. You usually couldn’t shut him up.
Jacob was perplexed. What the hell was wrong with him? He was about to ask, but Dom spoke first.
“How’s the cake? I know it’s your favourite.” He smiled at him, but it didn’t reach his eyes.
Jacob was getting suspicious now. Was he trying to lure him into a false sense of security and then tell him it was over? Now he thought about it, Domhadbeen acting a little cagey lately, stopping talking to Abby when he walked in the room.
“It’s good. It always is.” He picked up the slice, ready to take a bite, trying his best to act normal, as if his world wasn’t about to come crashing down around his ears.
“No,” Dom said quickly, and Jacob stopped, the cake midway to his mouth. “Use the fork, don’t act like a heathen, Jacob.” Dom handed it to him. OK, this was getting weird.
Jacob put the cake on the plate and, using the cake fork, cut into it gently so as not to upset his boyfriend any further.
Dom continued to watch him, and he started to feel self-conscious. He touched his mouth, wondering if he’d got cake on it.
“What? Have I got something on my face?”
Dom shook his head vigorously. “No, no. I like watching you eat.”
Jacob frowned. This was getting stranger and stranger by the minute.
* * *
Dom
This wasn’t going the way he’d planned at all. Was that even the right piece? Shouldn’t he have found it by now? The more he kept staring, though, the more suspicious Jacob was getting. He should have thought of a better way to do this, but he’d been planning this with Abby for a few weeks now.
She’d got the champagne on ice for when they got home, but now he was having doubts. What if he said no?
Oh my God, he was having hot sweats now and pulled the collar of his turtleneck sweater away from his neck, trying to keep his breathing even and cool his temperature.
He watched as Jacob took another bite of the cake from his fork, and he waited with bated breath. Still nothing! Fucking hell, how far did they bury the damn thing? He could feel a bead of sweat trickling down his back. He was going to hell for this!
“Aren’t you eating yours? I thought you liked the carrot cake,” Jacob said, gesturing to Dom’s untouched slice on his plate. “Remember the first time we had this. I think that was our first argument. I walked out, leaving you with all the cake.”
Dom remembered that very well, which was why he’d chosen this exact place and this exact table to do this. It was the scene of their first proper reunion. He didn’t count the dance lesson. He quickly put a forkful of cake into his mouth, chewing politely, but he couldn’t taste a thing. It was like eating sawdust.
“Oh, what’s this?” He looked from his plate to see Jacob sitting there with the platinum ring in his fingers that Dom had buried in the cake. Thank fuck for that!
In hindsight, though, he decided that it had probably been a bad idea because now the ring was covered in cake.
“Shit, I didn’t think this through.” He dropped his head to the table, pulling at his hair. “I thought it might have been a good way to do it.”
He glanced at his boyfriend to gauge his reaction, but all he saw was a sparkle of amusement in his eyes.
“I think it’s the most romantic thing you could have done for me. Don’t think I haven’t noticed that this is the exact table of our first meeting and that this is the exact order we chose. But I have to ask, are you actually going to ask me, or are we presuming I’m going to say yes?”
Dom rolled his eyes, stood, then swiftly dropped to one knee. Cliché, he knew, but he wanted it done right. As he looked over at the kitchen, he could see the staff watching him through the open door, smiling and giving him the thumbs up. He took the ring from Jacob’s fingers and watched as he licked them clean. Fuck, he hadn’t thought about how sticky the ring would be, buried in the cake.
He took a deep breath. “Jacob Greyson, you have changed my life, made me a better person and brought happiness and joy to my life. You and Abby both, actually. I feel cherished, loved and above all adored, and that’s something I never thought I’d experience.” He could feel the prick of tears forming, but he’d come this far. He couldn’t stop now.
Jacob motioned for him to continue.
He cleared his throat, managing to bring his emotions under control.
“So, would you do me the great honour of marrying me?”
Jacob held his hand out for him to place the ring, and it was then that he realised he needed to clean it off. He placed it in his mouth and licked it clean, giving it a good suck, and as Jacob’s eyes darkened with lust, he made a show of poking his tongue through the hole, closing his eyes and moaning as he did so.
