Chapter 8
“Do you want to get dressed or should we order in for dinner?” Gray dragged his socked toe across the bottom of Jack’s foot.
After an emotionally intense connection in the bedroom, they had changed into their lounging clothes and then settled on the sectional sofa with their laptops, each of them stretched across one side of the L-shape with their feet meeting in the corner.
Gray had spent the last half hour playing footsy and answering emails.
Now they were going to eat dinner and then go to bed.
It was the kind of evening he had always longed to spend with his favorite person and now his patience was being rewarded.
“The last thing I want to do is change out of this elastic waistband and go out into the world.”
“Fair.” Gray chuckled. “Since we’re already in stretchy pants, do you want pizza or are you thinking a healthier—”
Jack’s phone dinged, followed almost immediately by Gray’s.
“Must be a group text,” Jack said.
“Want to place a bet on who sent it?”
“Not unless you’re choosing someone other than Kevin.” Jack reached for his phone on the end table.
“That would be a sucker bet, and no one’s ever accused me of being sucker.” Gray picked up his own phone and then smirked as he looked down at it. “Or at least not that kind of sucker.”
“Nice.” Jack snorted and swiped on his screen. “Look at that. We both win.”
“From the sucking or is the text from Kevin, as predicted?” The humor left Gray’s body as he looked down at his own phone. “Does he mean tonight?”
Squinting at his screen, Jack said, “Looks that way. Eric’s birthday is on Monday. I ordered a London Fog cake from Deep Sea for him.”
“That was nice of you.” Nice and expected. Jack was the most thoughtful person Gray knew. “Birthdays are a predictable and annual event. Why is Kevin hosting a celebration for Eric’s birthday with literally no notice?”
“I don’t know.” Jack looked up at Gray. “But it’s very out of character. Kevin’s usually a planner.”
Their phones dinged again so they both looked back down.
“Eric’s parents’ cancelled their travel plans and now we have to go to a party?
” Gray knew he was whining, but he couldn’t rein in his frustration.
He was already on edge because of Jack’s insecurities, for which he firmly held Jaime responsible.
The last thing he wanted to do was spend time with Jack’s ex, which would be unavoidable because he had already given a thumbs-up to Kevin’s invitation in the group text.
“Oh, that’s right. His parents were supposed to visit this weekend.” Jack sighed and his lips turned down. “Eric was really looking forward to that. He must be so disappointed that they aren’t coming.”
Gray drew in a deep breath, more in an attempt to fill his body with patience than with air. “You want to go to Kevin’s? Even though it means putting on real clothes and braving the outside world?”
“I want to support Eric. His parents aren’t in great health. That’s probably why they aren’t coming.” Jack sighed and then sat up and put his feet on the floor. “I should probably take a shower.”
“The night’s looking back up.” Gray set his laptop on the couch and hopped up. “Let’s go.” He reached for Jack’s hand.
“You’re excited about going to a last-minute sort of party at Kevin’s house?” Jack asked skeptically as he took Gray’s hand and rose.
“Absolutely not. I’m excited about showering with you.”
Jack froze, blue eyes wide.
“Jack?” Gray gently laid his palm on Jack’s chest. “Breathe.”
It took a few beats, but Jack eventually opened his mouth and sucked in some air.
“Doing okay?” Gray asked.
“Yes.” The squeak indicated a different answer than the word, but Gray didn’t point that out.
“Jesus.” Jack rubbed his forehead and rolled his eyes.
“I’d apologize for acting like a teenager, but I doubt I was this much of a bumbling buffoon back then.
Not that I can remember because it was a long time ago, so I’m both awkward and old. ”
Gray laughed.
“Now you’re laughing at me.”
“No, I’m not.” He wrapped his arm around Jack’s waist, still chuckling. “I’m laughing with you.”
“Only one of us is splitting a rib here.” Jack held up a single finger and then pointed it at Gray. “That’s not what ‘with’ means.”
He laughed harder. “Okay, I'm laughing at you.” He tugged Jack forward, bringing them chest to chest. “I can’t help it. You’re adorable and hilarious.”
“I haven’t been adorable since kindergarten and nobody thinks I’m funny.” Jack clutched the front of Gray’s shirt with both hands.
“That means they don’t know you like I do.”
Jack gazed into his eyes, his expression considering. “That’s probably true.”
Chest swelling, Gray rasped, “Yeah?”
“Uh huh. Not because I’m hiding something from everyone but it’s like…” Jack bit his lip and furrowed his brow. “You bring out a side of me that even I didn’t realize I had.”
“That’s because you know you’re safe with me.
” For Jack, safe meant unconditionally accepted and desired.
For years, their friends had said that Gray’s aggressive flirting with Jack was over the top and unwanted, but they had been wrong.
Being unashamed and loud about his feelings was the only way to be heard above Jack’s self-doubts, and that was very much what Jack wanted and needed.
“I do know that.” Jack leaned forward and brushed their lips together. “Thank you for making me feel safe.”
“You’re welcome.” Gray returned the favor with a gentle kiss of his own.
They stood in silence, gazing at one another. “So you want to shower together?”
“Seeing you wet and naked?” Gray nodded. “Yes, that’s absolutely what I want.” They were close enough that he could feel Jack’s heart rate increase. “But if you’re not up for it, that’s fine. I can use another bathroom.”
“I…I am.” Jack rubbed his lips together. “We don’t have much time though.”
“Time for a shower or time for shower sex?”
Jack’s cheeks colored.
Forty-four years old and having experienced a ten-year relationship should have meant Jack wouldn’t be that bashful when it came to sex, but Gray was recognizing more and more that he very much was.
He was also realizing that despite sharing a roof with a man every night during that relationship, Jack was very inexperienced.
Thankfully, Gray had enough experience for the both of them and he didn’t have a shy bone in his body.
“I can enjoy being undressed with you without having sex.” He kissed Jack’s neck, just below his ear. “I like looking at you.” He leaned back and met Jack’s gaze. “You’re gorgeous.”
“So are you, Gray. If I see you without your clothes on, I don’t think I’ll be able to hide my reaction.”
Gray considered what Jack meant. “And by reaction you mean erection?”
Jack nodded.
“Turning you on is one of my life missions. Why would I want you to hide that from me?”
The worry left Jack’s face, and he smiled.
Gray returned his grin. “It’ll be like drawn out foreplay.
” He traced Jack’s happy lips with his fingertip and then slid his palms from Jack’s shoulders, down his chest, and finally clutched his hips.
“We can have functional nudity while we get clean, suffer through the party, and then come home and have extracurricular nudity.”
“The party won’t be as bad as you’re thinking.” Jack shook his head. “But yes to the rest of it.”
Taking Jack’s hand, he started walking toward the bedroom. “It’ll probably be worse but you’re doing an effective job of distracting me from the bad activity by putting it between two naked activities.”
“I'm brilliantly using the sandwich method but with actions instead of words.”
“The sandwich method?”
“It’s something I learned in a management seminar or read in a management book.
When we need to talk to an employee about a performance issue or another problem that they won’t want to hear, we sandwich the criticism between two compliments.
The first one gets their guard down so they’re open to listening, and the second one ends things on a good note so they’re receptive to implementing whatever we discussed in the middle. ”
“You only have adults working for you, right?”
“Yes.” Jack bumped his shoulder against Gray’s. “But even adults have a hard time accepting their shortcomings.”
“The corporate world is totally different from big law.” He shook his head.
“What do you do when you have an underperforming associate?”
They had reached the bathroom, and Gray pulled off his shirt as he answered.
“We fire them.” He shoved his sweatpants to his ankles, toed off his socks, and then squatted to pick up his clothes.
Once he straightened back up, bundle of clothes in his arms, he noticed Jack staring at him, mouth gaping.
He thought about what he’d said and realized it sounded harsh.
“We are admittedly less delicate than you,” he confessed as he set his clothes on the counter.
“Up.” He curled his hands around Jack’s and raised them.
“But it’s a job. They’re paid handsomely to be there, and they’re expected to do what it takes.
” He took hold of Jack’s hem and pulled his shirt over his head.
“They know people aren’t happy with their work before that point so it’s not completely out of the blue.
” He didn’t mention that they most likely knew because they’d been berated by a partner or a client.
“What?” Jack blinked and finally closed his mouth. “I don’t know what we’re talking about.”