Page 17 of The Long Game

The fact that he didn’t say no or try to shove him out the door shocked the shit out of Grady.

Garrick, weirdly, grinned. “Well, I’ll leave you kids to it, then. Sweet dreams.”

Jack’s repressive glare didn’t make a dent in Garrick’s smile. “Let me know when things happen with Savannah and the baby. I want to come to the hospital.”

“Will do!” Garrick said with a wave on his way back to his truck.

Grady waited until they’d pulled away before he closed and locked the door again. He found Jack back in the living room, feet up on the coffee table and the Jays game on TV.

It felt normal, which Grady suspected was the point.

Grady settled next to Jack on the couch. Jack smiled and leaned closer until their shoulders were touching.

Grady spent an entire inning telling himself not to read anything into the simple gesture and that under no circumstances should he give in to the urge to yawn so widely his arm miraculously ended up curled around Jack’s shoulders.

The game went late and Jack snoozed through most of the last fifteen minutes. When Grady shut off the TV, Jack blinked awake slowly, dark eyes tired and ringed in red.

All these years and he was still so beautiful it took Grady’s breath away sometimes.

“You’re too tall for the couch,” Jack said, apropos of nothing.

Grady waved that off. At his height, he was used to folding himself into weird sleep positions. “It’s fine.”

Jack glanced up at him. “You…uh…could sleep with me?”

A needle scratched across the vinyl in Grady’s brain.

“In my bed, I mean,” Jack went on quickly. “Not like. Not like,you know, but I’d feel better if—”

“Sure. No, that’s fine,” Grady said, cutting off Jack’s awkward explanation, both because it was painful to listen to and because this was going to work a lot better if Jack didn’t even hint about sex in any context, including the fact that they wouldnotbe having it.

With a shy smile the likes of which Grady had never seen—and from which he might never recover—Jack stood and led the way into his bedroom.

Grady followed, pretending this wasn’t surreal as hell. It had taken years for Jack to invite Grady over at all, and he’d never been back here.

Jack’s apartment had always fascinated Grady. Jack was a jeans and t-shirt kind of guy, and Grady had expected the apartment to match. The building itself was fairly plain, and Jack had lived here for a long time. Grady had once asked Jack if he’d considered moving when he started working for the Ice Catsand seen a big pay increase, but Jack had shrugged and said he had what he needed.

In Grady’s world, that was a comfortable couch and a big TV. For Jack, though, it was hardwood floors and a sunny eat-in kitchen. Nicely constructed solid wood side tables with clean lines and soft upholstered seating in warm, neutral tones. The plain kitchen cabinets served as a backdrop for the colorful appliances lining the countertops, including a dark orange stand mixer in pride of place. Grady didn’t know what most of the gadgets did, and he’d never seen Jack use them, but he’d always been charmed by their quirkiness.

The bedroom, like the rest of the apartment, was mostly blond oak and light colors. The walls were a pale yellow and the king-size bed had bright white sheets and a massive snowy duvet piled on top. A tall standing mirror stood in one corner, and a soft chair and ottoman were tucked in another.

Jack dug through drawers and came up with a well-loved Ice Cats t-shirt and some soft cotton gym shorts with a drawstring. “Would these work as pajamas?”

Grady realized he was still in his date clothes, including a new pair of boxer briefs that hugged his ass in what he’d hoped was a complimentary fashion. Too bad no one would end up seeing them.

He pretended he didn’t know what it meant that this was the first time he’d thought about Sean since leaving the restaurant. For the sake of his own sanity, the fourth date needed to happen, no matter how fucking surreal tonight ended up being.

“These are great,” he said, taking the bundle from Jack.

Jack dug through his drawer again and came out with another stack of soft cotton. “I’ll go change,” he said, waving in the direction of the bathroom.

Grady stripped down to his boxers the second the door shut behind Jack. Hell, he hadn’t yanked on clothes so fast since gymclass, but he didn’t want to risk Jack catching him mid-change. His presence here in Jack’s bedroom felt precarious enough without him fucking it up by making Jack uncomfortable. To that end, he took his clothes to the chair in the corner and draped them over the back so they wouldn’t wrinkle.

Grady jumped when the bathroom door popped open. Jack stepped into the room, tossed a ball of clothes into the hamper, and smiled uncertainly. Grady was prepared to offer to leave, to sleep on the couch after all, but his eyes caught on the ribbons of blue coiled around Jack’s thighs, appearing from beneath his shorts and ending above his knee.

Grady hadn’t seen Jack in shorts very often, but he was pretty sure the ink was new.

Andholy hellwas he curious.

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