Chapter 7 #2
“I’ll start dinner.”
Morgan was struck with the urge to take Ty by the arm and tell him everything—that he was going to be leaving for his sister’s place soon, that he might not come back at all.
Maybe, if he was blunt enough, Ty would be upfront as well and simply ask him to stay.
Just ask me to stay, and I will. But that, of course, wasn’t a promise he could make right now either.
In the end he let him go, but instead of reading a book like he usually did while Ty was cooking, he checked the messages on his phone.
There were several from his sister, one asking how his shoulder was recovering—because of course he had to keep her in the loop—and another about their parents being annoying.
More surprising was the message from his lawyer.
Check your email.
Vague much? Morgan reluctantly went to his email, where he ignored the mounds of unread icons glaring at him and went directly to the one from the law firm he’d employed to maintain a barrier between himself and Bentley.
Just a heads-up, his lawyer wrote in the subject line.
The body of the email read, The offer isn’t final yet, but I wanted you to know that this was in the works.
They’ve asked for your phone number to talk with you directly, but of course, I refused.
I said I’d pass on the information for your consideration, though.
I’m sure we could get some concessions out of them if they’re serious about bringing you on as CEO, particularly when it comes to your ex.
What the … Morgan read on, his eyes getting wider with every line.
We hope you will consider this position …
realize that our initial hiring decisions were hyper-accelerated …
pay package can be negotiated depending on the term of employment …
open for your response until the first business week of the new year.
“What’s wrong?”
Morgan’s eyes jerked from his phone to Ty, who stood a few feet away, holding a spatula in one hand. Something was sizzling in the pan on the stove, but he wasn’t paying it any heed, all his attention on Morgan.
“Nothing,” Morgan said automatically, then grimaced. He actually wanted to talk to someone about this, get the roiling feelings he was suddenly full to the brim with off his chest. “No, not nothing. You remember what I said before about why I came here?”
“Mmm. You left your company.”
Morgan sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
“More like I was pushed out of my company. My business partner—also my partner partner—arranged a sale of our biotech start-up to another company, and he did it all behind my back. It was a very good deal, monetarily speaking, but I didn’t want to sell.
The work we were spearheading, the projects we were bringing together …
” Just thinking about it turned his stomach.
“It was revolutionary. We were closing in on some new cancer treatments that could make chemotherapy obsolete, we were about to open an office in South Korea, and then everything just … stopped.”
Ty looked at him for a long moment, then reached out a hand to help him up. “Come tell me more while I cook.”
“You want to know more?” Morgan raised a doubtful eyebrow. “It’s not an exciting story, mostly dry corporate bullshit.”
“I want to know more about you.”
Oof. That hit in a way Morgan didn’t expect.
When was the last time someone other than his sister or a reporter had been interested in knowing more about Morgan?
Bentley had stopped asking a long time ago.
But that was normal in long-term relationships, wasn’t it?
You got to know each other so well that eventually, there was nothing left to say.
But Ty wanted to know more now, and Morgan wanted to talk.
He followed Ty over to the stove and described the takeover process, how he’d lost control of not just his company but what felt like his whole life.
It was more than he’d expected to say, and it continued through eating and into cleanup, but Ty never gave any indication that he was tired or uninterested.
By the time Morgan got around to the actual content of the email, he’d talked himself into feeling sanguine about it instead of panicked.
“It looks like the managing company wants me back as CEO,” he said as he dried the last plate.
“My lawyer sent me their initial offer, and it’s very generous, but at this point, I’m not even sure I want to go through the stress of getting back into that game.
It would mean having to deal with Bentley again on a daily basis, and I really don’t want to do that. ”
“Mmm.” Ty hung the dishrag on a hook on the wall. “I can see why. He’s not a good person.”
“He’s a good person,” Morgan said automatically, compelled to defend his ex even though he privately agreed with Ty.
Too many years of maintaining a united front, perhaps.
“He just doesn’t always think through the consequences of his actions.
I get the feeling he promised his new bosses more than he could actually deliver, and this offer is a way of covering his ass. ”
“You think it started with him, then?”
Morgan shrugged. “They have no reason to want to work with me otherwise. I never even met any of the board.”
“But you did good work for many years. Surely there are more people who can attest to that than your ex.”
Morgan smiled at Ty. “That’s a nice thing to say, but—”
“No. It’s true.”
He said it with such conviction that Morgan honestly believed he meant it. And while Ty had no way to know that as a fact, his faith was … was … “Thank you.”
Ty smiled, and Morgan’s heart clenched for a second. He almost missed the follow-up question. “What will you do about the offer?”
Oh, right. “Probably ignore it, honestly,” Morgan said. “I have no interest in being a figurehead with no real power in someone else’s company. I’ll talk to my sister about it at Christmas, but unless they come up with something truly irresistible, I’m not going to change my plans for them.”
Ty smiled more broadly. “Then you’re staying here?”
Not for long. “For now,” Morgan said, as honest as he could stand to be.
“Mmm.” Ty looked away, then slowly turned toward the door. “I suppose I should go.”
“Stay.” It fell out of Morgan’s mouth before he could stop himself.
“It’s just—it’s gotten dark,” he pointed out.
“It’s a lot later than you usually stay,”—thanks to listening to me vent for over an hour—“and it’s probably not safe to be on the water right now.
You should stay the night. We can start a new story,” he added.
They’d finished Wolf Dictionary weeks ago, with Morgan carefully leaving off the depressing last page to give Ty a more uplifting experience.
Ty had asked for more by the same author, and so Morgan was working his way through his entire collection of obscure Jane Wodening volumes. They were on a collection of short stories right now and had finished the last one a few days ago.
Ty nodded after a moment. “I’ll make up the couch.”
“My bed is big enough for two.” Holy shit, what was wrong with his mouth? “To sleep in,” he added a bit too quickly. “Two can fit easily; I promise I won’t crowd you.” Way to make this awkward, you—
“All right.” Was he imagining things, or had Ty gone a little pinker? “I’d love it if you’d read to me.” He scooted across the couch until they were almost touching.
Morgan considered making a joke about needing space, then decided he didn’t want to risk Ty taking him seriously, reached over to the side table, and picked up the book.
He opened it at the bookmark and cleared his throat.
“This one’s called ‘The Birth of Godot.’ ‘Fruehling came to us a month before she was due, bulging with pregnancy. There was the usual difficulty about moving a dairy goat to a new place …’”
By the time he reached the end, Ty was pressed against him from thigh to shoulder, a cool, comfortable presence that Morgan was itching to explore further. Surely the fact that Ty had cozied up to him meant something, didn’t it? He could at least broach the subject of maybe, possibly …
Or you could take the easy way out and just keep reading.
But a flame had ignited inside of Morgan, a flame of possibility lit, unintentionally, by his meddling ex.
For the first time in months, Morgan felt the fog of listlessness that had overtaken his brain lift.
He would never go back to Bentley, but that didn’t mean there weren’t new paths forward if he was just bold enough to take them.
And this particular path was incredibly appealing right now.
“Ty,” he began, setting the book down. “Do you think—” He turned his head and stuttered to silence as Ty’s hand rose to cup his jaw.
“Yes,” Ty said, then leaned in and kissed him.