Page 40 of Finally
“Kevin,” Gray said sharply. “A mistake repeated more than once is a decision. Cut it out.”
“I know exactly what I’m doing. Who said I’m making a mistake?”
“I’m saying it.”
“You’re all over Jack now so we’re supposed to pretend we don’t know about your very long and very varied history?” He looked around the table and waved his hand in front of his face. “Is it stuffy in here or is it just the hypocrisy?”
“Kev, come on,” Thom said.
“You’re telling me I’m wrong?”
“Hey, Jeffrey,” Eric jumped in. “How did your date go last night? Was it as great as the first one you had with him?”
Gray didn’t care about Jeffrey’s dating life, but he was immensely grateful for the topic change, so he turned his attention to Jeffrey.
“It was awful. He’s dumb and bad in bed. The man has two heads and can’t use either of them.”
“Yikes. What happened?”
As Jeffrey dove into his story, Gray looked back at Jack and whispered, “You okay?”
“You were right. We should have skipped brunch.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong. If anyone should be apologizing, it’s me. I seem to have developed a very acute case of jealousy.” Jack put his hand on Gray’s thigh. “I’m going to get it together. I promise. I can be better.”
That broke Gray’s heart.
“You are perfect for me exactly the way you are.” He pressed his mouth to Jack’s ear. “I already told you, I think you’re sexy when you’re jealous.”
“This behavior is not sexy.”
“Everything about you is sexy.”
Jack ghosted his mouth across Gray’s jaw and hovered over his mouth, so close so their lips almost touched. “You always know the right thing to say.”
“I mean it.” He put his hand on Jack’s thigh and caressed him while he considered what he could do to mitigate the damage of the past few minutes. “I have a question for you.”
“What’s that?”
This wasn’t the right time or place, but he decided to do it anyway because what Jack needed was tangible reassurance that he was committed to him and their relationship.
Keeping his voice as low as possible to give them at least a semblance of privacy, he said, “Since I’m spending all my weekends at your house now, how do you feel about me setting up the garage opener on my car and making a door code?”
The tension left Jack’s shoulders and face. “I feel like that’s a good idea.” He licked his lips. “If it’s what you want.”
Empowered, Gray pushed ahead. “It is. And maybe I’ll leave some things there too, so I don't have to take a bag back and forth?”
Eyes shiny, Jack nodded. “Thank you, Gray.” He moved his mouth to Gray’s ear and whispered, “I love you.”
Chapter 11
“Hi, Kev. I see a missed call from you.” Jack logged into his computer while he spoke on his phone. “I had my inbox clear before that meeting, and an hour later, it’s already full of unread messages.” He sighed and rubbed his palm over his eyes. “Sorry. I was talking to myself. What’s up?”
“No worries. I know you’re slammed, but I’m not far from your office today so I’m hoping we can meet for lunch.”
“Lunch?” He hated to turn his friend down, but it was the middle of the week, which was always a busy time. Actually, every day was busy.
