Chapter 4
AARON
On Tuesday morning, Aaron sat at his desk and googled every sushi place within a five-block radius, scouring their menus for a deep-fried spicy tuna roll. He needed to find Jay’s lunch spot. With multiple early-morning meetings scheduled for the week ahead, he wouldn’t have an opportunity to visit Chain Reaction until the weekend, and he didn’t want to go that long without seeing Jay.
After spending Friday night talking to Jay, Aaron was hooked. He’d gone back the next night, pleased to see Jay waiting for him on their couch.
Their couch.
Ridiculous. Aaron wasn’t even sure if Jay was gay, let alone if he was interested in Aaron beyond friendship, and yet that black leather sofa where hundreds of people had probably had sex was forever theirs in his mind.
Jay had taken it upon himself to give Aaron the grand tour of the club with stops along the way to introduce him to the regulars. Everyone was friendly, smiling and making small talk to make him feel included, but no one could hold a candle to Jay. Being with Jay carried a thrill of warmth and excitement—a stark contrast to Aaron’s routine of spending his days either working or alone in his halfway-unpacked apartment. Usually, Aaron enjoyed, and often craved, solitude, but ever since moving to Chicago, he’d been feeling uneasy. Restless. Like he was onthe verge of something big. Something momentous. Something slightly out of reach and blurry around the edges.
Now it was two days later, and Aaron already missed Jay. He wanted to see him soon. Today. Right now. Aaron craved his easy companionship and effortless conversation, addicted to memorizing Jay’s face and softly tracing each feature with his eyes. Why hadn’t he asked for his phone number?
The next best option was to show up at Jay’s favorite lunch spot and hope he was there.
He left his office a few minutes before noon, hoping to beat the rush. On a whim, he stuck his head next door to check on Zoe, their director of HR. “I’m going out for lunch. Want anything?” he asked, pausing as his eyes wandered over the room. He hadn’t expected the burst of color—the vibrant prints on the walls, the tiny plants lining the windowsill, the cheerful chaos of books and trinkets. They had been neighbors for months, and Aaron had never been inside her office before. A tendril of guilt slithered through him.
He would try to be a better coworker going forward.
Zoe quirked an eyebrow at Aaron’s question. “You’ve been here for…three months? And this is the first time you’re leaving the office during the day, or even acknowledging lunch, for that matter.”
“It’s nice to take a break once in a while,” Aaron said with a smile. He already liked Zoe’s dry sense of humor.
“Yeah, the rest of us have already figured that out,” she teased. “I’m leaving in a few minutes myself, so nothing for me, but thank you for checking.”
Aaron nodded and walked to the elevators. Zoe wasn’t wrong. It was unusual for him to leave during the day. He wasn’t a workaholic by any means, but this new job had forced him to dive into multiple projects on day one, and he’d barely surfacedfor a breath. He could only imagine what his coworkers thought of him.
The sushi place turned out to be a casual sit-down restaurant. Most tables were empty, but there was already a steady stream of people walking in and flagging down the host.
Aaron wasn’t sure what to do next. After seating himself, making sure he had a clear view of the door, he cracked open the menu. Maybe if he took his time, fate would take care of the rest.
Fate didn’t make him wait long. As soon as he set down the menu, Jay’s voice cut across the restaurant, “Aaron?”
Aaron’s head snapped up against his will, heart thudding a little too fast. Jay was threading his way between half-full tables toward him. His black tee wasn’t as tight as the ones he wore to the club, but otherwise, he looked the same—black shirt, black jeans, delicious dark stubble dotting his jawline.
Aaron tried not to drool.
“Anyone sitting here?” Jay asked, gesturing at the other chair. His surprised expression had morphed into a playful smile as he waited for Aaron’s response.
“Go ahead.” Aaron gestured to the seat, his mood suddenly soaring. He studied Jay’s face, noticing every detail in the full light of day. Jay’s eyes, so dark in the dim lighting of the club, were actually a beautiful brown, the color rich and warm under the jet-black of his long eyelashes.
“I almost didn’t recognize you. Had to do a double take.” Jay leaned forward. “You look very different in a suit. In a good way.”
Aaron offered a shy smile in exchange for the compliment. Business casual had always been the norm at work, but Aaron liked how suits made him feel—a little stronger, a little more put together. None of them were particularly expensive or designer, but each one was tailored to highlight his frame instead ofoverwhelming it, so Jay’s compliment flattered him more than he would admit.
Before he could respond, a harried server dropped off a menu in front of Jay without slowing down. Aaron watched her zigzag across the restaurant, a stack of laminated sheets in one arm, a pitcher of water in the other. The place was filling up fast. The air vibrated with the overlapping chatter of multiple conversations, making it impossible to hear anything from more than a few feet away. “This place is really busy. Must be fantastic.”
“It’s one of my favorites. I usually come here for lunch when I’m in the office.” Jay glanced at the list of lunch specials before pushing it to the side. “I always get the same thing.”
“The deep-fried mouthgasm. I remember.” Aaron shot Jay a mischievous smile. “That’s how I found you.”
Jay tilted his head in confusion. “You remembered a random thing I said about my favorite lunch place and managed to track me down based on that?”
“Well, you made it sound too delicious to resist,” Aaron chuckled, choosing to sidestep the question. He was too old to play games and pretend he was there by coincidence, but that didn’t mean he had to be completely honest about how much he’d wanted to see Jay.
“What would you like?” The server appeared out of nowhere, pen poised over her battered notepad.
