Chapter 17
I was still floating by the time I arrived home. It felt incredible to have him kiss me like that. I needed to talk to my sister.
“What the hell are you calling so late for?” she grumbled.
“He has a daughter. He had a husband. He kissed me.”
“Wait... what? Slow down!” She chucked.
“He was married. His husband got cancer and died. They had a surrogate, and they had a daughter, and she’s five in two weeks.”
“Okay. Are you okay with that?”
I didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”
“And he kissed you?”
I grinned. “Yes. I’ve never met anyone like him.”
I heard her stifle a groan. “Oh my God, my brother is actually in love!”
Now it was my turn to groan. “It’s not like that.”
She didn’t sound convinced. I had to be honest, I wasn’t sure I was either. She broke my train of thought with a question I had been avoiding thinking about. “What are you going to do about Dad?”
My father had old-fashioned thinking when it came to business.
He thought my being openly gay would cause problems with the business.
He didn’t think a homosexual CEO was something the business world would handle.
He thought it would bring attention and scrutiny that wasn’t necessary.
In some respects, I agreed. I wanted my private life to stay private, and I didn’t really need people looking for scandal just because I was gay.
But, on the other hand, I hated it. I hated that I couldn’t just be myself. I respected my father’s wishes though.
Jennie took my pause as a sign that I clearly hadn’t been thinking about that part. “Yeah, I wouldn’t know what to do about it either. Well... I would, but I think you respect Dad’s wishes on it a lot more than I would.”
She had me gathering my thoughts about it now. “What if I don’t want to with this?”
She gasped. “Holy shit, this must be serious!”
“Maybe,” I told her. “I’m going to go and think about this.”
“Sure. I’m happy for you, Aiden. I really am.”
“Thanks, Jennie. Love you and talk to you later.”
“Love you too.” And she hung up.
I sat there in the relative darkness of my living room, thinking about everything that had happened that evening.
What I felt about Ellis, what I felt about my father, and most of all, whether or not I thought Ellis was worth coming out to the world for.
It reminded me of a song lyric from Snow Patrol , about if he was worth it or not, because if you had to think about it, then that was your answer.
When I thought about whether or not Ellis was worth it, there was no hesitation in my mind.
The man was perfect in my eyes, and worth anything I needed to do to keep him.
* * *
Next morning, I got into work earlier than usual.
I had tossed and turned all night long. At around five, I admitted defeat and just went in to the office.
I pulled out all the information I had to work on, but I just couldn’t get around to doing any of the work.
I paced the office so much I’m pretty sure there was a track marked out in the carpet.
I looked out the window. I sat and stared at my computer screen. All I could think of was Ellis.
Eventually, it was seven, and Ellis appeared at my door with coffee and a muffin, just as he did every morning now. I couldn’t help but grin at the sight of him, and he smiled warmly in return.
“Can you close the door a minute?”
Ellis went back to the door and closed it. “Something wrong?”
I shook my head. “God, no! Actually, I have something I want to discuss with you.”
His brow furrowed.
“It’s about last night. Basically, I liked it and I would like to do it more. You, kissing you, time with Addison.”
Ellis looked happy with my suggestion. “I would enjoy that a lot. I’m pretty sure Addison would too. She asked could you come and read her a story again soon.”
I was delighted. I moved around my desk and into his space. I didn’t need to close the space between us. He did, and unlike the night before, there was passion, hunger, and we pulled each other hard against one another. Grabbing, needing, our tongues duelling.
Ellis broke the kiss first. “Shit, we’re in work!” He laughed.
“Mmm, we need to stop,” I agreed, pressing my lips against his again, cupping his face in my hands.
“Mmm,” he moaned against my mouth.
Dammit ! I was in danger of locking the door on my office and not stopping with Ellis until he was screaming my name and everyone on this floor, hell, even the whole building, knew exactly what we were doing together.
I pulled back and looked at him. “If we don’t stop now, I won’t stop until I’m inside you.”
“Fuck.” He groaned. I knew what he meant. Leaving him to get on with his work would have to be the hardest thing I had done in a while.
“Get out now, while you still can, and you need to pick somewhere for us to go on a date.”
He grinned so damn seductively and raised an eyebrow. “Okay,” he agreed, and walked out of my office. This was going to be the best kind of torture I had ever experienced in my life.