Elijah leaned back in his chair, the muscles in his mouth trying hard to stave off the smile blooming across his lips. It was just a silly game they were playing. How could it make him feel so tethered to the man sitting across from him, smiling openly, making the cold dark spaces of Elijah’s soul feel warmth for the first time in a long while?
Yeah, it was only a game. Elijah had to remember that none of this was real. However, when his suspicion and disbelief tried to horn their way in on the good time he was having, Elijah’s smile burgeoned until he couldn’t hide it any longer. And if he was completely honest, he had no desire to hide how happy he was in that moment.
Chapter Sixteen
ELIJAHturned on the hot water at his double-basin kitchen sink. A few squirts of dish detergent, and the dirty dishes were quickly swallowed by a mountain of suds.
He was still sailing on his Spades win against his brother, and then later his parents. Never in his history of family tournaments had Elijah fared so well. He glanced to his right and found Camden standing near the table, smiling in Elijah’s direction.
“I take it you’re still happy about beating your brother?”
That was an understatement. Spending all these years as a substitute for any of the major players because he didn’t have a partner cut Elijah in ways he’d never been able to voice. However, spending the day playing with Camden as his backup gave Elijah a sense of pride he’d never thought he’d experience outside of work.
“It’s never a bad time when I get to shut my brother down.” Elijah returned his attention to the sink just in time to keep the water from spilling over the sides. “Thanks for the help with the game. I gotta admit I never thought you’d be able to play like that. Where’d you learn?”
“In college.” His answer sounded final, as if there was nothing left to share. No story to help understand. After the way they’d connected playing cards with his family all day, Elijah assumed Camden would show him a little more of himself. He began to give in to the idea that perhaps he was wrong until Camden said, “My roommate in college wasn’t part of the trust fund club, so many of our classmates didn’t exactly jump over themselves to reach out and make him feel welcome. I invited him to a poker tournament to kind of break the ice, but he couldn’t play. I taught him; he played and made a little pocket money. A week later, he’d invited friends over, and they played Spades. Noticing my fascination with the game, he taught me.”
Elijah was thankful to whoever that roommate was. The day spent playing had done more than give Elijah a chance to beat his brother, or even bond with his family. It had given him the chance to see a little sliver of the real Camden.
“You had a good teacher.”
Camden nodded his head while emptying the rest of the dishes still sitting on the table. A sight that should have seemed foreign to Elijah, but the spark of fire igniting in his belly as he watched the man do something as simple as scrape dirty dishes in his kitchen was more than right. It was natural. As if it should happen every night after a shared meal between them.
“Need help?”
Elijah turned his head to watch Camden bringing the discarded dishes from the table to the sink. He raised a skeptical brow at Camden’s offer. “You wash dishes?”
Camden added the pile of dishes to the already halfway-full sink and sighed. “I’m uncertain if it’s a task that requires that much skill. Soapy water and a scrubbing brush usually do the trick.” Again, Elijah warmed at the thought of Camden in his home doing simple domestic things with him. Why the idea of sharing something so mundane with Camden made his fingers itch to pull him in and hold him close, Elijah didn’t know. “If you have gloves, that would be great.” Camden displayed his neatly trimmed fingernails, giving them a serious, assessing look. “Suds are hell on a manicure.”
Elijah shook his head and gazed up at the ceiling for a few moments. There was the real Camden: proper, prissy, and too damn delicate to work with his hands. Elijah dried his wet hands on the towel, hung it over his shoulder, and moved out of Camden’s way. “I wasn’t asking if you knew how. I was asking if you did. It’s hard to believe a pampered preppy like you would know anything about picking up after himself. You don’t have a maid?”
Elijah saw the smile on Camden’s face, and relief spread through him. He wasn’t trying to offend him. He was genuinely curious about Camden’s background. Right now, all he had to work on were his assumptions.
“If I still lived at either of my parents’ homes, then yes, there is a full house staff at my disposal. But I live in a one-bedroom in Brooklyn Heights. There’s not enough space for a live-in maid. I have a cleaning lady who comes in once a week to keep the place tidy, but the day-to-day cleaning of it falls on my shoulders.”
Camden’s smile faltered a little as he stole a quick glance at him. “You think so little of me, Elijah. Don’t you? I mean, as a human being.”
Elijah took the freshly scrubbed dish Camden handed him and dried it with a nearby towel. “I don’t know you, Camden. You never gave me the chance.”
Elijah could see the bob of Camden’s Adam’s apple and wondered if his statement was too blunt. It was the truth. Camden had disappeared from Elijah’s life after one amazing night together. The only things he knew about Camden were the intimate details about his lovemaking, but nothing more.
Elijah knew how sensitive the skin was at the base of Camden’s neck. Every time Elijah touched it, Camden would shiver with need. Elijah knew how much Camden enjoyed having the underside of his balls licked. He’d damn near lost his load when Elijah traced his tongue across them, begging for Elijah not to stop. He knew Camden loved facing his partner during sex whether he was being fucked or doing the fucking. Any position that would allow him to kiss his lover senseless always increased his enjoyment. He knew Camden didn’t believe the false narrative that a strong man like Elijah wouldn’t enjoy being bent over and fucked relentlessly. That, paired with the fact that Camden liked giving as much as he did receiving had made their one night unforgettable.
He knew so many intimate things about Camden. Had savored learning every single one of them too. But he knew almost nothing about who Camden was on the inside, and what made him tick.
“I suppose running off the way I did didn’t leave much opportunity for you to get to know me, did it?”
The man wasn’t lying.
Elijah saw tight lines appear around the profile of Camden’s jaw and wondered if he was pressing too hard.
“Cam, I didn’t mean to upset you.”
Camden placed the dirty dish he was holding into the water and turned to Elijah. His eyes were cast down and shoulders drooped just slightly, ruining whatever charm school lesson about perfect posture Elijah was sure someone like Camden would’ve been taught. In Camden’s world, Elijah imagined it was a rule you had to walk around impeccably put together. But here and now, Elijah didn’t see something to be scolded over. He saw vulnerability that made him want to scoop Camden up and protect him from everyone, including himself.
“No, I can’t get upset with you for telling the truth. The way I left was inexcusable. I owed you better than that.”
“I don’t know about you owing me anything.” Elijah threw his drying towel over his shoulder and faced Camden. “I never understood why you disappeared the way you did. After our date, I thought we connected. The way we were in bed….” He remembered the sensation of being so in sync with another person’s body. “I didn’t understand what happened. Then I realized you were just slumming, and building something beyond that night wasn’t on your agenda.”
