Reese sat straighter, his face pale. “They knew details about my security. Not just things anyone who’d been to my door would know, like the lock. But about the cameras. The gate.”
David wrapped a hand around Reese’s shoulder. “Yeah, it looks that way.”
“But they had no idea about the panic room. Or where the safe is,” Mati pointed out.
Reese’s shoulders dropped a fraction. “That’s true. Though, no one knows about that room. You didn’t. Just me, Hodges, and Rupert.”
“And the company who installed it,” David added. “Same with the safe. Who knows where it is?” David asked.
“Me, Hodges, Mati, and Rupert. That’s it, as far as I know. I’m not sure if the company that installed it is still around. That was my dad’s handy work.”
“Who is Rupert?” David asked.
“My oldest friend. He used to be my business manager, but now Mati does most of that.”
David arched an eyebrow. “I thought you were his personal assistant?”
She waved her hand. “Same thing, really.”
David was no MBA, but that wasnotthe same thing.
Reese squeezed her hand. “If a person who isn’t a company could have a vice president, she’d be that, too.”
Mati’s smile was radiant. “Thank you.” She glanced over at her stacks of colorful folders and sighed regretfully. “And to that end, I should get back to work. I wouldn’t want to lose my unofficial titles.”
“Not a chance,” Reese said, kissing the back of her hand.
Reese spent the afternoon despairing over his hamster-like attention span. He’d defy anyone to be able to ignore David and Mati for any length of time, and after watching that damn video over and over, he’d needed to see them, to soothe himself with the knowledge they were close.
Turning back to his laptop, again,he tried to crank through some work while Mati was neck-deep in a real estate inventory project and David was puttering around the kitchen. Reese lost at least an hour watching David’s hands while he worked. They were strong, the many small scars and callouses signs of long hours and hard work. But they also were gentle, displaying the great care with which he could apply that strength.
Reese wanted to know what they would feel like against his skin.
It was still strange, how he could want something for the first time this far into his life. Yet the idea of being with David, touching David, also felt like it made perfect sense. Reese didn’t have a doubt in his mind.
Though, he still wanted to speak to Rupert about it. Having forced him to stew for hours, Reese sent a text to say,I’ll call you when I can.
He received two replies almost immediately. One from Rupert that said,I hate you,and another from Christian that read,OMG, please call him so we can get back to our normal lives.
Reese felt guilty, but he still didn’t call right away. Not that he wanted to torture Rupert, but Reese refused, at his age, to call his best friend from the bathroom to have a whispered conversation about boys.
At five o’clock, David slid cheese and bread and wine onto the table and took a seat. Reese and Mati shut their laptops and cleared everything away.
They talked about work, about family, about what was in the paper that day, never digging too hard into any one subject and avoiding anything to do with the break-in. David’s food thing clearly extended beyond his refined taste buds. He closely monitored their first bite or sip of anything, smiling when they smiled, grinning when they exclaimed with delight as he placed the main course in front of them.
Reese bit into the light and deceptively simple bolognese over fresh tagliatelle and let out an uncontrolled moan, his eyes fluttering closed as he savored the flavors.
When he opened his eyes again, David was actuallyblushing.
Reese had somehow forgotten how amazing a homecooked meal was, the flavors bright the way fresh, well-cooked food could be. He and Hodges were terrible in the kitchen, and it wasn’t like anyone delivered out to his house. They ate well enough, but nothing like this.
The pasta was followed by salad and dessert and another bottle of wine. If Reese spent more time complimenting the chef than normal, it was well deserved and had the added benefit of making David’s eyes, his smile, even his cheeks warmer with the praise.
It was barely nine o’clock when the wine, the food, and the poor sleep of the past couple nights conspired against Reese. He yawned widely, and Mati shot him a curious look. He hadn’t told her about David’s dreams, but he would. He hoped David would sleep better now that the space, and the couch, were more familiar. But if not, Reese would try to help again.
“Tired?” David asked.
“Yes,” Reese admitted. “But I don’t want the night to end.”
