Chapter Eight
“I WISHyou didn’t have to go,” Zach murmured, sifting his fingers through Asher’s hair as Asher held him pinned against the door. He knew Asher couldn’t avoid going out of town for a consultation, but it would be their first night apart since Derek and Caroline’s party four days ago. Zach had quickly grown addicted to waking up next to Asher, and he hated the thought of spending a night away from him for any reason. But work was work, and it was just one night, so he would have to deal with it.
“I do too.” Asher nuzzled kisses along Zach’s jaw and tightened his arms around Zach’s waist. “But it’s only one night. We’re grown men. We can survive that long… I think,” he added, a teasing note in his voice as he nipped Zach’s earlobe.
Zach chuckled and leaned into the nuzzling. “It’ll be hard, but I think we’ll manage,” he replied. “You’re not making it any easier for me to go. Here I am, being all noble and leaving early so you can get some work done without me distracting you.”
“I do seem to forget about work when you’re around.” Asher drew back and brushed a kiss to Zach’s lips before releasing him with a wry smile. “I wasn’t making it any easier for myself either, if that helps.”
“It does.” Zach returned the smile, then reached for the doorknob. “You’ll call me when you get to DC? I know it will be late, but I’ll try to stay up. I’d feel better knowing you got there all right. Which is probably stupid, isn’t it?” He shook his head. “Here I am, acting like you haven’t done this a thousand times before.”
But Asher didn’t seem annoyed by the request. “I’ll call when I get there,” he promised. “It’s not stupid. Things happen all the time, and it’s nice having someone concerned enough to want me to check in.” He stroked Zach’s cheek lightly and smiled, his expression full of fond affection. “It’s nice to know you care.”
Zach suppressed the urge to tell Asher how much he cared. Though their relationship was going well, he still hesitated to push Asher’s boundaries too hard. He also still had a hard time believing that out of everyone in the world, Asher had picked him. Zach still didn’t feel like he was special enough to warrant Asher’s affection, and part of him was afraid Asher would wake up and realize it.
“I do,” Zach said softly, leaning into the caress. “If I don’t go now, you’ll find me packed in your luggage.” He captured Asher’s hand and pressed a kiss into his palm. “All right, I’m going. Have a safe flight, and good luck, and I’ll see you when you get back.”
“Thanks,” Asher said, squeezing Zach’s fingers. “I’ll see you soon.”
“Soon,” Zach agreed, then opened the door and stepped out of the apartment, resisting the urge to look back. He was old enough to not be acting like a teenager, but it was still hard to overcome the impulses to act like a giddy boy in love for the first time.
Now he had to go home and occupy himself until it was time to go to bed. It was Wednesday, and he had work the next day, so at least that would keep him busy until Asher’s return. He rode the elevator down to the lobby, then smiled at the guard before heading toward the building’s entrance. He stepped outside into a bitterly cold evening, and he was about to raise his hand to hail a cab when he realized he didn’t have his briefcase. He’d come to Asher’s apartment directly after work, as he’d done for the last three days, and he’d developed a habit of leaving his briefcase in Asher’s bedroom until they left for work in the morning.
“Damn.” Shaking his head in annoyance, he headed back inside, showing the guard his empty hands. “I would forget my head if it wasn’t attached,” he said, and the guard chuckled and waved him toward the elevators.
He didn’t want to have to part from Asher again, so he rang the bell and waited for Martha to answer. When she opened the door, he gave her a rueful smile. “I forgot my briefcase,” he admitted. “I don’t want Asher to know I’m back, though, so I’ll sneak to the bedroom and get it.”
“You boys,” Martha said, but she was smiling. She seemed to approve of his and Asher’s relationship, which was a good thing in Zach’s opinion, since Martha seemed to be a surrogate mother to Asher. Zach liked her, too, and he blew her a kiss as he hurried past her.
“Please don’t worry about letting me out. Go back to what you were doing, and I’ll make sure I lock the door,” he said, and when she nodded, he turned and headed quickly but silently toward the bedroom.
On his way, he passed Asher’s office, and he heard Asher on the phone.
“How soon can you get here?” Asher asked. “It’ll have to be quick. I’ve got a plane to catch.”
Zach wasn’t the type of person to eavesdrop on someone’s conversation, but something about the tone of Asher’s voice, low and urgent, caught his attention. A chill of foreboding went down his spine, and he stopped, wondering what Asher was so intent about needing that night. Paperwork, maybe? Or something else?
“I’ll pay double,” Asher continued, then chuckled in response to whatever the other person said. “No, you’re worth it, and I really want this to happen tonight before I leave.”
Zach put one hand over his mouth to stifle a moan of pain. It sounded as though Asher were arranging for an escort to come to his apartment, but Zach couldn’t believe it. Asher had changed from the man he was a month before… hadn’t he? Asher claimed Zach was all he needed, and Zach had been so careful to not be demanding, to be supportive without seeming needy or clingy, but maybe he’d done something wrong.
The feeling that Asher was arranging an assignation grew even stronger when Asher’s tone became a purr of satisfaction as whoever he was talking to apparently acquiesced to his request. With a “Good… I’ll see you soon!” Asher ended the call, and Zach turned and fled down the hall, desperately needing to get out of the apartment. If he didn’t leave now, he’d do something foolish like throw himself at Asher’s feet and beg Asher to say he wasn’t arranging an escort to pleasure him in the same bed where he and Zach had made love that very morning.
Zach left the apartment and punched the button on the elevator frantically, worried that Asher would find out he’d overheard the conversation. What would Asher do? Laugh? Beg him to understand? Deny everything? Zach didn’t want to know. Maybe he’d had been fooling himself all along and what he’d thought was real was only a case of wishful thinking. Or maybe Asherdidwant the stability and respectability of a long-term relationship, but still wanted the variety provided by a parade of different, hot young men in his bed whenever he could arrange it.
On the ride down to the lobby, Zach wanted to throw up. He couldn’t believe Asher would do this to him, but he couldn’t think of any other explanation for what he’d overheard. But whoever was meeting Asher was going to arrive soon, and Zachhadto know.
He quickly pressed the button for the second floor before he could second-guess himself. When the elevator stopped he stepped out, then turned and headed for the stairwell, which exited via a door behind the desk where the guard sat in the lobby. He walked down to the first floor, then carefully cracked the door, peeking out to see the guard’s back only ten feet away. He’d rarely seen anyone take the stairs, so he wedged the tip of his shoe into the crack to hold the door open, then waited, heart pounding, unable to believe he’d sunk so low as to creep around like a stalker to see who was visiting Asher.
“This is stupid,” he told himself firmly, and yet he couldn’t force his hand to open the door so he could leave the building. Zach had been in plenty of trials where someone thought their significant other was cheating on them, and he knew logic and emotion often had little to do with each other. He’d never expected to find himself in a situation straight out of one of his cases, where he was the one who was trying to find out the truth and at the same time desperately praying his worst fears wouldn’t come true.
Please let the person be an old man, or someone from the firm, or even some woman, Zach found himself repeating silently.Please let it not be what I think it is.
“Hello, I’m here to see Mr. Asher Caldwell.”
The voice caught Zach by surprise. Whoever it was had arrived even more quickly than Zach expected. He peeked out of the stairwell, and his held breath escaped him in a low, pained moan. The man standing in front of the guard’s desk was tall, lean, and absolutely gorgeous. He was buff and blond, perhaps in his midthirties, and Zach had never seen him at Caldwell & Monroe.
“Are you Mr. Colin James?” the guard asked, consulting a tablet computer. Residents of the building could enter the names of expected visitors in an app to make it easier for the guards to verify who had legitimate access.
