Jay studied him. “But you drink your coffee black. Why do you have a milk frother?” He took a sip of his latte and hummed. “Mmm, this is good.”
Ryden sat at the counter next to Jay, his cheeks still flushed. “It was a gift.”
Wait a minute. Jay stilled. Was it possible? No, probably just a coincidence. Still. Hehadto know. He jumped out of his seat and darted around the counter to the kitchen cabinets. Where did Ryden keep his mugs? He started opening the doors.
“What’re you lookin’ for?” Ryden asked, confused.
Jay was about to say when he found what he’d been searching for. He plucked the familiar floral mug from the shelf, his stomach doing flips.
Last Christmas, Jay had pulled Ryden’s name for Secret Santa. Knowing Ryden drank nothing but black coffee, Jay decided the guy needed to up his coffee game, so he got Ryden a cappuccino set. It included a beautiful floral mug that said, “Good morning! I see the assassins have failed,” along with a milk frother, French roast coffee, and chocolate dust. He’d expected Ryden to chuck it the moment he got home.
“You kept it.” Jay turned, smiling at Ryden. The flush on the man’s skin was adorable.
“Course I did. Why would I throw out a perfectly good mug?” Ryden murmured.
“Right.” Jay returned the mug to the cabinet and closed the door. He returned to his seat, his heart filled with happiness over such a trivial thing. They’d just finished breakfast when Ryden’s phone buzzed, and a heartbeat later, so did Jay’s. He removed it from his pocket and frowned at the text from King. “King’s back at the office?”
“He texted you that he wanted you to come in?” Ryden asked.
“Yes. That means he came home early.” It was only a day or two, but Jay hoped King hadn’t cut his honeymoon short because of him. He would hate to have done that to Leo.
“We’d better get goin’,” Ryden said, grabbing their plates and sticking them in the dishwasher.
They were both lost in thought on the way back to work, and Jay couldn’t help but wonder if Ryden was thinking about them. What came next? Were they supposed to return to work and act like nothing had happened between them? Was Ryden waiting for Jay to say something, or had last night been about comfort and nothing more? Did Jaywantsomething more? He’d just told himself he wasn’t ready for something more. Damn it. He was going in circles. Jay was no closer to an answer when Ryden pulled into his spot in the Four Kings Security parking lot.
Upstairs, King sat behind Jay’s desk and did a double-take when he saw Jay and Ryden together. His questioning gaze wasn’t as concerning as his sitting behind Jay’s desk.
Several years ago, Jay had picked up a nasty bug and was forced to call in sick. King decided to access his calendar and ended up deleting the company’s entire schedule instead. Thankfully, Jack was able to recover everything. He promptly forbade King from touching Jay’s computer. The man might be an unstoppable force of nature, but he had a talent for breaking technology just by looking at it.
“Hi, King,” Jay cheerfully greeted. “I’m so happy to see you! I hope you had a wonderful honeymoon. What are you doing at my desk?”
King frowned at Jay’s monitor. “I’m trying to access my calendar.”
“Why?” Jay came around to stand next to King. Oh, thank goodness. He hadn’t yet managed to access the scheduling system.
“So I can clear it for the next two weeks.”
“Might I remind you of what happened the last time you tried to access your calendar from my computer?”
King glared at Jay’s monitor as if it had been responsible for what happened. “I do, and it was one time. You keep things in weird places.”
As in, not on his desktop. King’s desktop gave Jay heart palpitations every time he saw it.
“I already cleared your schedule,” Jay said. “Saint will be filling in for you for the three events you had scheduled. Your client meetings have been added to Mason’s schedule, and he and your clients have been notified of the changes. The three in-person meetings that require your attention are now being held virtually. The video conference links have been sent to the clients, who’ve all confirmed their attendance. I also placed an order to restock your fish snack supply. You were running low on Goldfish Crackers. I also ordered the new Crisps for him to try.”
King sighed in relief. “I’m so glad you’re here.” He sat up and frowned. “Wait, there was something else.”
“Yes. Nash’s birthday is next Thursday, and you sent him two prime-seat tickets to the Rolling Stones concert.”
“I did?”
Jay smiled. “By you, I mean me, but from you and the guys, so yes.”
“Outstanding.” King stood and held his arms out, and Jay hugged him tightly.
“Welcome back, King.”
“It’s good to be back.” He squeezed Jay and then released him. When Jay turned, he snickered at Ryden’s floored expression.
