In a loud whisper, Gino said, “You might want to change out of that shirt.”
Face burning, Jeremy gave him a good-natured shove. “Get outta here.” He did, however, pull off the stained tee and toss it on the sofa.
While Gino went to get the delivery guy, Jeremy slipped on another shirt, then set aside the files on his desk with all the information he’d discovered on juice bars. Later on he wanted to run a few things past Blake before he spoke to Carter, including what he knew, if anything, about Carter and his business.
By the time Gino came back with the delivery man and the food, Blake had sat down on one side of the desk and poured each of them a cup of water. Gone was the blissed-out, sated man from only minutes before, and Jeremy watched Blake carefully, searching for a reason his boyfriend once again acted so preoccupied. He hated the thought that Blake kept secrets from him; Jeremy was an open book in their relationship.
When it was only the two of them in the office, they removed the tin containers from the bags, and Jeremy sniffed appreciatively. “No one makes better food than Nora.”
Blake had already dived into the garlic bread and chewed a thick slice with gusto as he opened his dinner. “Mmm. So good.” His eyes lit up at his dish of chicken marsala. “I think she might’ve gone overboard. There’s enough food here for at least three people.”
“She knows how much you love it.”
They split their dishes on each other’s plates, and Jeremy dug into his chicken parmigiana. Thank God he worked out as hard as he did; he’d never be able to eat this if he didn’t. He chewed and swallowed.
“So, listen to this. Remember I told you I’d briefly spoken to Michelle’s friend Carter? The guy we met at her house? We talked about the juice-bar idea I’ve been researching, and he has some great ideas and a potential client and deal for me.” Jeremy opened his desk drawer for his wallet and pulled out the card and read from it. “‘Carter Haywood. Public Relations and Marketing.’ What do you think? Is it crazy to hire a public-relations person?”
No answer, and Jeremy gazed up to note that dull expression had entered Blake’s eyes again. Jeremy officially decided he hated tax season in more ways than one. The stress that job heaped on Blake was fucking nuts.
“Uh, Carter? Yeah, I know him. His little brother plays with Henry. Michelle said he runs some hot-shot publicity firm.”
“Yeah, babe. I know. What do you think? Should I talk to him about the juice-bar concept?”
Blake stared down at his plate. “What? Oh yeah, sorry. Why not? If he wanted to talk to you, he must have an idea.”
Jeremy opened his mouth to ask Blake what he thought of the idea as a whole but changed his mind. The last thing Blake needed now was more work to think about. Besides, only he knew what was best for his business. He’d handle it on his own and show everyone he wasn’t only about looking good.
They ate in companionable silence for a little while until Jeremy lazed back in his chair and let out a contented sigh. Despite his earlier claims of being hungry, Blake merely pushed the food around on the plate with his fork and had only taken a few bites.
“Okay. Spit it out.”
“Huh?” Blake’s brows knit together.
“You’re not eating. You’re staring off into space. Something’s bugging you.”
Those big blue eyes that only minutes ago had been glazed with desire, widened with surprise, then shut down. Hard. A forced smile, one Jeremy hated seeing, touched his lips.
“It’s nothing you need to worry about. Just work stuff.” As if to prove Jeremy wrong, Blake cut a piece of chicken and shoved it into his mouth, chewing loudly. “I’m fine.”
Annoyed at the brush-off, Jeremy refused to let it go. “Like what kind of work stuff? Maybe if you talk it out with me, I can help.”
“You can’t help me with this. It’s tax time. The work piles up, and we have only so many hours in the day to complete it all.”
“I don’t get it, though.” Something didn’t add up. “Why’re you here if you’re so swamped?”
Visibly agitated now, Blake avoided his eyes. “Can we just eat? The last thing I want to do is think about how much work I have waiting for me when I get back to the office.”
But Jeremy wouldn’t give up. “You know, I run the gym on my own, yet you always brush me off when it comes to discussing business. Talk to me. Maybe I can help.”
“That’s sweet, but I deal with huge financial institutions. It’s not the same thing as a little gym. I’ll handle it. Besides, when I’m with you, I don’t want to think about my job or anything important. I want to relax and have fun. Can you stop?”
The slightly snide tone was one he hadn’t heard before from Blake, but Jeremy recognized it all too well. Blake’s comments brought him right back to that place of mistrust and self-doubt he hated. Of being eye candy and nothing else. Yeah, he loved having fun, but there was more to him than muscles and a nice smile. At least he thought so. Jeremy gnawed on his lower lip, upset that despite being with Blake all these months, with the utterance of that one little sentence, nothing had changed inside.
He didn’t like the road this argument was shaping up to take, so he chose to table it instead of fighting. Avoidance, Noah would call it. And Jeremy freely admitted it because Blake’s words hurt and he wasn’t yet ready to call him out on it. He chewed, the food tasting bitter in his mouth.
Their relationshipwasimportant; for him it was more than sex and fun. He enjoyed Blake’s sharp mind, and their talks spurred him to take risks in his own business. Hearing Blake say out loud that he didn’t want to think about important things when they were together made Jeremy second-guess himself. Wasn’t he important to Blake?
“I’m sorry.” Perhaps sensing he’d overstepped or upset him, Blake ran his foot up Jeremy’s leg. “I say we go back to your place and have coffee and dessert. I really do want to be only with you. This is fun being here, but I’d rather it be just us. Alone.”
