Chapter Six
“Anyway, thanks for coming in,” Jess said, reaching out to shake Jackson’s hand. “It’ll be a good segment to run during the game coverage tomorrow.”
Jackson smiled back at her. “Sure, it was fun.” He elbowed Aubrey in the side, lowering his voice to a tease. “The guys’ll be jealous I got to watch part of the show in person.”
“You were part of the show,” Aubrey pointed out, rolling his eyes. With the Kraken in town to play the Hawks, they’d taken the opportunity to have Jackson come in to pretape an interview with him and Nate.
Jackson turned a facetiously patient smile on him. “I was a prop to use in your ongoing banter war,” he corrected, “but that’s all right. I had a good time, and I think I even helped Donut take you down a peg or two.”
“You try fighting a battle on multiple fronts,” Aubrey faux grumbled.
Jess laughed and waved them off as she disappeared down the hall.
“But seriously,” Jackson said once she’d gone out of earshot, “is it always like that between the two of you? Because you give off enough sexual tension to power a small country.”
Aubrey twitched and automatically checked over his shoulder. Kelly had snagged Nate the second the interview was over, and Aubrey didn’t want him overhearing anything. “Shut up,” he hissed. Then: “How would that even work?”
Jackson opened his mouth to reply, but as they passed a conference room, a high-pitched giggle cut him off. He raised an eyebrow at Aubrey, who shrugged.
Together they peered into the conference room, where Nate was sitting—still in his suit—next to a dark-eyed toddler who had two hands over his mouth.
“I don’t believe it,” Nate said. He was holding one of the old-style interview mics they never used as a prop, Aubrey guessed, to interview the kid. “Tell me really. What’s your mom’s favorite sport to watch on TV?”
“Pillow fights!” the kid exclaimed through his giggles.
“That’s not a sport!” Nate protested.
“Yes!” said the kid, nodding emphatically now. Apparently he didn’t like to be called a liar. “Her favorite is Shady Godiva.”
Shady Godiva. Aubrey watched Nate mouth the words and come to the obvious conclusion that the kid hadn’t made that up.
“I have obviously been watching the wrong sports all my life,” Jackson murmured.
Aubrey stepped on his foot. “Don’t be such a horndog.”
In truth, he was impressed he managed to say anything. His brain was still stuck on how cute this was.
“What about you?” Nate finally asked, recovering from his shock. He didn’t seem to have noticed Aubrey and Jackson yet. “Do you have a favorite pillow fighter?”
More emphatic nodding. “Lynn Somnia.”
Jackson had his phone out. “I don’t know whether I should be recording this or googling ‘pillow fight league.’”
Actually, recording it probably wasn’t a terrible idea—they could save it for a show with an unexpected break… assuming they could get this kid’s parents to sign off on it. The problem, of course, was that in order for Aubrey to suggest that, he’d have to reveal himself to Nate, and….
Jackson looked up from his phone, glanced at Aubrey, and winced. “Dude. Literal heart eyes right now. Take it down a notch, you’re at work.”
“I can’t help it,” Aubrey hissed furiously, very tempted to clutch his face.
“Lynn Somnia, of course,” Nate repeated, completely engrossed in this fictional interview. Aubrey wanted to die. “She sounds pretty great. Do you have any pillow-fighting tips?” He held the mic to the kid’s face.
Before the kid could respond, a voice from behind Aubrey made him jump about three feet in the air. “Oh, hey, Aubrey, have you seen Nate—”
Aubrey whirled around, his finger instinctively to his lips. Kelly was behind him, wearing a bemused expression.
“What?” she said quietly.
Aubrey jerked his thumb toward the door.
Kelly peered around it, smiled, and retreated. “My kid’s a natural, huh? Takes after me. Born to be on camera.”
That explained where he’d come from. “That’s Carter?” Aubrey asked. “He’s cute.”
“He’s a charmer,” Kelly confirmed. “He sure has Uncle Nate wrapped around his finger too.”
“Uncle Nate,” Aubrey repeated aloud, completely without meaning to. That just fucking figured. His crush had been bad enough before Uncle Nate turned out to be a natural dad type. Aubrey had never been into that in his life.
This personal-growth shit was for the birds.
“Mama!” Carter exclaimed, and whoops, time to put on his game face. Aubrey schooled his features as Nate looked up and smiled at them.
“Thanks for looking after him,” Kelly said, swinging Carter up into her arms and then smacking a wet kiss to his cheek. “I take it everything was fine?”
“Of course. We’re looking forward to our next guys’ night, right, Carter?”
Guys’ night, Aubrey thought, dying a little inside. He wondered if Nate babysat when Kelly and Caley needed an adult break.
“Yeah,” Carter said, but he looked pretty content in Mom’s arms too.
Kelly and Carter said their goodbyes, leaving Aubrey, Jackson, and Nate without an obvious conversational direction. Shit.
Floundering, he said, “So… dinner?”
Only after the words were out of his mouth did he realize that he’d have to include Nate or else risk being unforgivably rude. He forced his face into a smile and raised his eyebrows in question.
“I’ve been wanting to try that place you talked about—what’s it called again? Sharky’s?”
Nate looked at his watch and shook his head. “Not without a reservation.”
Jackson blanched. “Even on a Wednesday?”
“Two-for-one appetizers,” Aubrey and Nate chorused.
Aubrey’s ears went hot.
“They do takeout, though,” Nate offered before the silence could get too awkward. “My place?”
“Hell yes.” Jackson grinned. “Just don’t tell my nutritionist.”
If someone had told Nate after their first meeting that he would willingly invite Aubrey into his apartment for dinner, he would have laughed in their face.
Yet here he was, unlocking the door for his guests, feeling only the slight hint of butterflies because he was an idiot who wanted to sleep with his coworker.
Honestly. He hardly recognized himself.
Both Aubrey and Jackson took their shoes off by the door—most of Nate’s Canadian teammates had habitually done the same—and followed him into the apartment.
Jackson whistled. “Nice view.”
Nate had a clear line of sight to Lake Michigan, with the Shedd Aquarium and the Fields Museum in the background. “Thanks.”
Aubrey, on the other hand, presumably had a similar view, so his attention focused… elsewhere. “Oh my God,” he said, staring at the vase on Nate’s living room table.
Ah. Well, Nate couldn’t blame him for taking issue with that. Though he wished he’d realized they might come back here. He’d have hidden the damn thing if he’d known he was going to have to explain it.
Aubrey walked closer to stand next to the sculpture. “I know it’s a stereotype that we homos all got the interior-decorating gene,” he said seriously. “But this”—he gestured expansively—“is not the way to fight the stereotype, Nate.”
Two weeks ago Nate wouldn’t have been able to laugh at that either. It was uncomfortable—nobody liked bringing up their ex to people they were sexually interested in—but he made himself behave normally. He decided to have a little fun. “Marty and I bought it on our honeymoon,” he said coolly.
Gratifyingly, the color went out of Aubrey’s face, and Jackson made a poorly concealed noise of amusement at his friend’s misstep as Aubrey opened his mouth to backpedal. “Uh, I mean… taste is so personal,” he offered pathetically. “Just because something’s not really my style….”
Nate finally grinned, shark-sharp, putting him out of his misery.
Aubrey sagged. “Oh, you asshole. You had me going. Seriously, why do you have this?”
That was a fair question, actually. “I don’t know. Haven’t gotten around to buying something else. Plus I don’t know if you can just recycle something that big.”
“I don’t think Goodwill would take it,” said Jackson.
Nate rolled his eyes for real this time and raised the bag of takeout. “Are we going to critique my interior-design choices or are we going to eat while the food’s hot?”
It turned into a nice evening. Jackson made a good buffer, keeping dinner from feeling like work or its opposite, a date. With the pressure off, Nate could relax.
But relaxing became a problem of its own when, on his third glass of wine, he found himself unable to tear his eyes from the smudge of sauce at the corner of Aubrey’s mouth.
Aubrey had a nice mouth, plush pink lips that perpetually hid the hint of a smirk.
It shouldn’t have been attractive, but then again, Nate’s libido had just woken up after a long nap, apparently.
Nate should tell him about the sauce, probably. But then he’d be admitting he was looking at Aubrey’s mouth. Out loud. He didn’t want to do that.
“You’ve got a little something,” Jackson said for him, motioning.
Nate expected Aubrey to reach for his napkin. He’d never shown anything less than perfect table manners, whatever other trespasses he committed.
But maybe the wine had loosened him up too, because he swiped at it with his thumb and then sucked it off.
A strangled noise attempted to escape Nate’s throat. He covered it with a cough and reached for his wineglass to wash down a phantom tickle.
Jackson glanced at him sidelong. “Are you okay?”
“Fine,” Nate rasped, blinking rapidly so he could pretend his eyes were watering.
When the wheels touched down in Winnipeg, the sky had already taken on a foreboding iron-blue hue. Aubrey shivered as the driver put his carry-on in the back of the SUV next to Nate’s. Winter here seemed to be a few strides ahead of Chicago.
“Hope you brought your snow boots,” the driver commented as he pulled into traffic. “Forecast calls for six inches by tomorrow morning.”
Aubrey automatically opened his mouth to make a joke, then second-guessed himself. He’d already crossed the line with Nate before, and that had gone badly.