“He seems to have quite a few of them. Supersmart, superhot, superdetermined, superserious. Supernice hands.”
“You still have a thing for hands?”
“Is the pope still Catholic?”
That was when Will arrived and Aiden had his brilliant idea. Straight people had to suffer when they had a multitude of exes in the same room, but gay people? Gay people could matchmake. “Hey, Will. Do you know Nate? He’s a junior at Northwestern and he’s agreattennis player. You used to get tired of kicking my ass, but I bet Nate could teach you a thing or two. Nate, this is Will. He’s doing his MBA at University of Chicago. His family has a place in Aspen, not that far from yours. Have you guys ever run into each other?”
It turned out that they had not, but they were both clearly open to the idea of making new friends. Aiden sat back and watched the other two get to know each other. They were both good guys. Nate was a little vacant and Will was a little pompous, but there wasn’t anything reallywrongwith either of them. Aiden wished both of them the best and sincerely hoped that they’d get along and fall in love and get married and adopt many babies.
He tried to imagine feeling that way about Cade. Breaking up with him and walking away without any trauma. Letting go and moving on. He couldn’t imagine it. It was as if healreadyfelt more for Cade than he’d ever felt for either of these two, and surely there was no way he’d end up feelinglessif he actually got the chance to know the man. If Aiden had to let go of Cade in order for Cade to be happy, he could do it. But the thought of fixing Cade up with another guy was ludicrous. And standing back and idly watching while Cade got to know someone else, maybe even started flirting with him, like Nate was definitely starting to do with Will? Impossible.
No, whatever Aiden was feeling for Cade was unprecedented. And important. Aiden needed to follow up on it and take it as far as Cade would allow. That was his absolute priority. Everything else was just filling in the time so Cade didn’t think he was too desperate.
So he let himself be herded over to the head table for dinner, and after that he danced with several lovely young ladies who were mostly pretty nice to talk to, but he was going through the motions. His heart was two and a half hours south of the ballroom, and his body was going to join it as soon as he was able to escape.
Chapter Ten
“I’m thinkingabout trying the tuna salad,” Aiden said. It wasn’t the line he’d planned and it wasn’t even true, really, but it was what had come out of his mouth and now he had to work with it. “But I’m hoping you can talk me out of it.”
Cade stared at him over the sandwich bar. It was Monday, a good day for sandwiches, but Cade still seemed a bit surprised to see Aiden. Or maybe the tuna talk had thrown him off.
“Tuna can be high in mercury,” Cade finally said. “And mercury poisoning can lead to serious illness or even death. Sir Isaac Newton is believed to have died of mercury poisoning.”
“Okay,” Aiden said. “Good. Thanks. Have any famous scientists died of anything related to turkey?”
“Not that I’m aware of.”
“Let’s go for the usual, then. Turkey, avocado, bacon—”
“Havarti, lettuce, tomatoes, and mayonnaise,” Cade finished for him. “I should probably mention that there have been one or two cases of people suffering poor health because of high fat diets.”
“It’s good fat,” Aiden protested.
“The avocado is,” Cade conceded. Then he shifted his apron aside and pulled a white envelope out of his back pocket. He passed it across to Aiden and said, “Thanks for the loan.”
“You made it home okay?” Aiden asked as he shoved the envelope into his own back pocket. He was relieved that Cade had opened the conversation up to topics outside the realm of sandwich toppings.
“Yeah, no problem getting home,” Cade said. “How was your gala?”
“Gala-rific. And no pregnancies, at least that I’m aware of.”
“Excellent. You want a pickle?”
“Always.”
And that was that. There was someone in the line behind Aiden, so he moved on as soon as his sandwich was made, and he tried not to stare atCade while eating, and then he left. There was nothing else to do. Four more days that week found him making more casual, pointless conversation while his sandwich was made and then sitting and staring while he ate, and that was it. That was all he’d come up with. Except on Friday, after he was done eating, he went back into the serving area when there was no one in line.
“Hey,” Aiden said.
Cade looked at him cautiously. “Hey.”
“I was wondering if you wanted to do something. Tonight, maybe, or some other time. I know I should have some sort of plan set up, but I really can’t think of what it would take to convince you to give me a chance. My instinct is to go big and plan some crazy romantic gesture, but I’m pretty sure that would freak you out and make you get a restraining order or something. And I know you’re busy. But I also know you have to eat. Right? You don’t eat a nutrient paste out of a tube like you’re an astronaut, do you?”
“Astronauts don’t eat like that anymore,” Cade said seriously. “Their food tends to be a bit overpackaged by Earth standards, but there’s quite a bit of variety. It’s not a nutrient paste.”
“That’s kind of interesting, but it’s also avoiding the main topic. I know you need to eat dinner and you, like the astronauts, do not eat a nutrient paste, so you need to take time off to eat. Do you want to take time off to eat with me tonight?”
Cade’s expression was hard to read, but his words were crystal clear. “Sorry, no,” he said.
