Well, bills save for the one receipt on top.
The receipt for his donation to the museum.
“Tax write-off,” he murmured.
“Sebastian.”
Remington stood up and ran his fingers through his hair, shoving the strands away from his face, only for them to immediately fall back against his forehead. He took a step away from the breakfast bar and turned. Sebastian watched the way the muscles of Remington’s back shifted and tightened under his skin, then he reached for the sheet of paper from Jeremiah and crumpled it into a ball, throwing it against the cabinets.
“You should have told me.” Remington straightened and inhaled.
“That would kind of defeat the purpose of an anonymous donation,” he mumbled.
Remington turned, practically bringing him to his knees with the sharp look he wore. Sebastian trembled, closing his eyes and begging his knees to not give out for the desire to grovel at Remington’s feet. As if his brain thought that to be a reasonable idea, his stare flickered downward, landing on Remington’s long and slender toes. He licked his lips, nearly giving into the urge.
Fuck.
“This is a massive conflict of interest,” Remington said.
He hadn’t moved from the middle of the living room, though, and Sebastian took it as a good sign that Remington wasn’t snatching up his clothes and getting ready to flee.
Yet.
“We weren’t…” He gestured toward the air. “We weren’t a thing before.”
“We’re barely a thing now.”
That hurt more than Sebastian was ready to admit, but he knew those feelings needed to be tabled for another time. Like, they’d just basically taken each other’s same sex virginities, and that wasbarelya thing?
Come on.
“Is this a deal breaker?” he asked, sighing and folding his arms over his stomach to hold himself together. He’d been looking forward to his omelet, and now he had no appetite. What a waste of farm fresh eggs.
“I don’t know.”
“Are you being serious right now?” Sebastian’s gut churned. “It’s anonymous, Remington. You weren’t ever supposed to know.”
“But now I do.”
“So, is it a deal breaker?” he asked again.
Sebastian rubbed the bridge of his nose, staring down at the floor to avoid Remington’s disappointed expression. This was just like him. He’d gotten so close to something he wanted, only to lose it. His whole life was nothing more than a series of near misses. How different would things have been for him if he’d been born first? If he’d had the same attention Rhys had received growing up. Would he have turned out like his brother? He hoped not. He liked to pretend that he was better than Rhys, at least fundamentally so. But how much had their circumstances shaped their personalities and their lives?
“You know,” he started to speak before he could second-guess himself, “I’m not like my brother. He treats everyone like the help whether he pays them or not. He hoards his money like he can take it with him, and that’s never been me. You came to the coffee shop that day, and you were so upset about the funding for your department. That money, Remington, that money isn’t anything to me. I don’t need it, you did. It’s yours. Well, indirectly, but still. If I wanted you beholden over it, I wouldn’t have done it anonymously.”
He looked up, catching Remington’s stare, which had softened. Barely. But it had softened. God, Remington was hot. And he didn’t even know it. Sure, he was nerdy, with his button-ups and his bow ties, but beneath the surface Sebastian saw the other side of him. A little brooding and inquisitive, careful and thoughtful, all of this tension and feeling, barely restrained. Sebastian had gotten a glimpse of it the night before in bed. When Remington walked his fingers up Sebastian’s thigh and wondered aloud about the things they could do to each other. Then more when Remington’s slippery fingers entered him. Even more when that thick cock had fucked him.
His eyelashes fluttered, and he stared up through them toward the ceiling.
“What was that?” Remington asked.
“What was what?” he murmured.
“Whatever you just thought about. Your entire face…” Remington’s expression softened further. “It changed.”
“Did it?” Heat rose in Sebastian’s cheeks, and he covered them with his hands.
“Tell me.”
