The barista drummed his fingers on the register and prompted Aaron with patience honed over a lifetime spent in the service industry. “Size? Hot or iced? Regular milk?”
Aaron stumbled through his order and stepped aside for Jay to swipe his credit card.
“Do you have to run right away, or do you have a few minutes?” Jay asked after they moved to the pickup area.
Aaron checked his watch. “I have some time.”
Once Aaron’s coffee was ready, Jay grabbed it and walked back to his table. After putting away his laptop, he pushed half of a blueberry muffin toward Aaron.
“How have you been?” Aaron asked. He needed an open-ended question that Jay could take a few moments answering while Aaron attacked the muffin.
“Good. Winding down a project at work.” Jay’s eyes trailed Aaron’s fingers as he broke off a piece of the pastry and lifted it to his lips. Aaron didn’t think the act of eating a muffin could be particularly attractive, but he tried to be graceful about it. He licked a piece of blueberry off his thumb, and Jay stilled, his words trailing off. Aaron made a low hum of satisfaction at the sugary treat as well as Jay’s reaction.
Devouring baked goodscouldbe sexy. Good to know.
Jay looked away with a shy smile. “What have you been doing?”
“Unpacking and looking up furniture stores. My ex-husband is visiting with his girlfriend in a few weeks, and I need to make my apartment suitable for visitors.”
“Oh.” Jay shifted in his seat. “That’s…”
Right. The topic of his divorce made Jay uncomfortable for some reason. Aaron searched for something to say to break the tension, but Jay’s next words did the trick. “Do you need a fake boyfriend to rub in his face? I know a guy who’s done some underwear modeling. He’d make great arm candy.”
A bark of laughter escaped Aaron’s lips at the unexpected offer, a mix of amusement and relief.
“I guess that’s a no?” Jay smirked.
“Alright.” Aaron straightened his spine and took a deep breath. “I know people are weird about divorce, and it’s usually a tragic event.”
Jay watched him closely, his dark, intense stare distracting Aaron from his train of thought. Something about Jay’s eyes looked different…
“Are your eyes purple?”
“Color contacts,” Jay said, waving his hand dismissively. “It’s casual Friday. Please, go on.”
Unsettling at first, the purple grew on Aaron. He’d tried fun contacts in the past, but both the bright blue and the dark brown had startled him every time he looked in the mirror, so he went back to his usual dailies. Maybe he should have tried a different color. The rich amethyst Jay chose for himself was fitting, a shade so similar to his own that it was only noticeable with close eye contact.
“It gives you a subtle alien vibe. I love it.” Aaron forced himself to focus, trying to remember what he was saying.“Anyway, it’s not like that with Mark. We’ve been best friends for close to two decades, married for sixteen years, and we will always be best friends. The divorce wasn’t because of cheating, or some big emotional betrayal, or anything like that. One day, we had a conversation about our futures and realized that they no longer matched up. So we signed the papers, I moved to Chicago, we sold the house, he met the woman of his dreams, and now we’re living our best lives. Ta-da!” Aaron swept his hands wide with a flourish and took a long sip of coffee.
“That actually sounds very healthy,” Jay said.
“It is. What’s not healthy is forcing me to unpack and furnish my apartment in the next few weeks.”
“What kind of furniture are you looking for?”
“Will you judge me if I respond withall of it? I have a bed. And a nightstand.”
“At least you have your priorities in place.” Jay winked at him. He kept doing that. Aaron had never been around someone who could pull off so much winking.
It was infuriating. And hot. So hot.
Aaron sipped his drink and reflexively glanced at his watch. He wished he could stay longer, but his schedule was packed.
“Do you have to go?” Jay asked.
“Soon.” Aaron offered an apologetic smile. “I can stay a few more minutes, but then I gotta run to prep for my eight-thirty.”
“I don’t want to keep you from work, but…” Jay paused with a hesitant expression on his face, then dragged his chair around the table until he was right next to Aaron. “Do you have any experience with shibari?”
