A Mended Man (The Men of Halfway House Book 4) (48 page)

Aidan repeatedly checked his watch as he scanned the menu.

Jessie placed a calming hand on his arm. "It's fine. And if we're a little late, it's okay."

"No, it's not." Aidan closed the menu and set it aside. "I want it to be perfect."

Jessie placed his hand on Aidan's knee. "Here with you, like this, it is. You've already got a few points."

"Yeah?" Aidan immediately perked up. "How many?"

Jessie laughed as he reviewed the menu. "You're so competitive."

"Hey, being here with you is enough. The fact that I got something right and earned a point is a major plus."

Jessie sighed and closed his menu. "And that, Mr. Calloway, earned you another point."

Aidan shook his head and chuckled. "See? I don't even know what the hell I did to earn a point. I think you make this shit up as you go along to keep me on my toes."

They laughed easing in to the comfortable privacy when the server reentered the room with their salads and noted their orders with a promise for prompt service. They finished their salads a few moments later and set their dishes aside.

Aidan withdrew a small, wrapped box from his inside jacket pocket. "I figure we've got a few minutes before dinner arrives." He hesitated for a moment, then awkwardly handed the box to Jessie. "This…uh, this is for you. Happy birthday."

Jessie's heart fluttered wildly in his chest. He took the small, flat box with shaky fingers and pulled on the bow tied around the wrapping paper. He glanced up at Aidan, then quickly focused on the box again, slowly separating the paper to avoid appearing too anxious. He slid off the box lid and unfolded the tissue paper inside.

His lips parted with a quiet gasp. He ghosted his fingers over the piece. A key. Not a normal key but a charm-like piece of jewelry. A key that would suit the restaurant's medieval setting almost perfectly—intentionally designed to appear rustic, somewhat primitive, not refined yet still elegant. He reached into the box, withdrawing the charm and the attached necklace. The weight, definitely platinum. The top of the key in the shape of a heart, threaded through a Figaro link chain in matching platinum. He tried to swallow past the knot in his throat. "A key?"

Aidan shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "When we started this whole
us
thing, I had a talk with Ty. Well, it was supposed to be a talk with Ty, but Cole jumped in. Anyway, they said something that stuck with me."

"What did they say?" Jessie asked, curious as to what made Aidan fidget so much.

"That I needed to give you a skeleton key to get inside me. So that's what that is. It's not a perfect, pretty key, but I had it done to match me. It's a little rough around the edges and looks like it would fit in that iron gate thing you're always joking about." Aidan shrugged. "Kinda stupid, now that I think about it. You're already inside so it's not like you need the key." His lips thinned and a frown made an appearance. "Fuck. I'm never going to get this shit right." He muffled a curse and frowned.

Jessie set the box on the table and cupped Aidan's face. "You just earned so many points they won't fit on your virtual scorecard." He reached into the box and retrieved the necklace and charm. He turned one of Aidan's hands and dropped the necklace in his palm. "Put it on me."

Aidan immediately grabbed the two ends of the necklace as Jessie leaned forward. He peeked over Jessie's shoulder, clicking the necklace in place. Aidan inched back and stared at the small key. An odd mix of emotions washed over Aidan's features, but a hint of a smile sparked in his eyes.

Jessie reached up and touched the key, hanging just below his Adam's apple—in the dip between his neck and collarbone. He held the key, running his finger along the top and sliding it across the chain link. He leaned in and pitched his voice low. "Later on tonight, you know what I'm going to be thinking about?"

"What's that?" Aidan asked with an unmistakable playfulness in his eyes.

"How much I love my key when it's all I'm wearing while you blow me for my birthday dessert."

A slow smile spread across Aidan's face. "Hopefully you won't be thinking of much of anything while that's happening."

Jessie lowered his head and bit his lip, still sliding the key along the necklace, unable to let go of the small key whose symbolic nature meant so much more.

The server walked in with dinner, and they quietly ate, sharing a cheesecake before finally slipping out of the restaurant and back into the car and onto the highway.

"Are we going to be late?"

Aidan glanced at his wristwatch for the hundredth time. "I think we'll be fine."

They drove on the turnpike speeding along, flying by exit after exit. "Are you still not going to tell me where we're going?"

"You'll know soon enough." Aidan exited the interstate and drove through backroads, turning onto a main street.

Jessie gasped when the spotlights flashed across the sky, highlighting the arena. "Are we…"

No way would Aidan get that many bonus points on his own.

"We are," Aidan said smugly.

"How did you get tickets? Today's show was sold out months ago." He craned his neck and lowered his head to get a peek at the tall sign, smiling with each new digital frame of the scrolling arena billboard. He'd always wanted to attend the traveling theatrical acrobatic show but couldn't overcome the awkwardness of going to one alone. He had finally decided this would be the year since the tour coincided with his birthday. He'd hunted for tickets, figuring he could somehow bribe Aidan to attend with him even though it was probably the last place on earth he'd like to be. Unfortunately, the show had sold out quickly.

After flagging a few attendants along his path and flashing his tickets like a magic wand, Aidan had worked their way into a private entrance of a parking garage.

"You can park in any space, sir. You will see another attendant by the arena entrance door. He will guide you where to go."

"Thanks," Aidan said, driving into the garage and easily finding a spot near the second waiting attendant.

"Consider yourself lucky tonight. You've got carte blanche on anything you want done to you," Jessie said.

"I'm lucky every night I'm with you," Aidan said, shifting the SUV in park and switching off the engine.

Jessie turned toward Aidan. "I don't think you have enough scorecards tonight."

A huge smile split Aidan's face. "Go Team Calloway. C'mon," Aidan said, exiting the truck.

Jessie immediately unclipped his seat belt and followed Aidan to the attendant.

"This way, sir," the man said, leading them through another door to a hallway. "Follow this hallway until you find your room. The number on the room door will match the seat number on your ticket."

They walked down the hallway and opened the door to their room. Jessie walked through the entryway and paused. The room had a small round table in the center and a bar table setup on the side with a few glasses and bottled waters in a bucket of ice. Jessie gasped at the private section with four seats at the far end of the room. The space extended slightly in the construction, as if the seating area were deliberately built farther out than the standard section, blocking the view of people from above or below. Privacy walls to the left and right of the seating area but open to the front, facing the main stage, silenced much of the noise from the chatter of the entering crowd around them. Jessie followed Aidan to the front row with only two chairs. The oversized recliner seats offered more comfortable spacing than the standard stadium seating he spotted in the distance for the crowd filing in.

"Is it just the two of us or are two other people joining us?"

"Just the two of us."

"Do I want to know what you did to get these tickets?" Jessie asked, settling next to Aidan.

Aidan grinned. "I called in a favor."

Jessie gripped the cushioned armrests and pivoted his head in every possible direction, observing every detail and watching the crowd across the arena trickle in and fill the stadium seats. He glanced over at Aidan who carefully watched him, his hazel eyes more a mix of pale green and amber tonight accented with the rich gold flecks. "How did you know?"

Aidan peeked over the front edge of their seating area at the crowd gathering below them before returning his focus to Jessie. "You left your browser window open a couple of months ago on your laptop. So I knew you were interested. I didn't see the charge come in on my card so I knew you hadn't gotten the tickets. When I looked it up, I saw it was sold out so I made a few phone calls."

Jessie looked around at the seating and chuckled when a server quietly entered the room for a moment to refill the ice bucket then left again. "VIP? Do you do anything half-assed?"

"Where's the fun in that?"

The lights dimmed in the arena and the music began to echo in the theater. Within moments, everything was pitch black and the only lights came from the stage, now filled with performers. A flutter of excitement bubbled in Jessie's chest, either from the acrobatic performers swinging across the stage or the strong hand that covered his in the dark. No one could see anything in the darkness, but it didn't matter. Aidan was with him, at a show he knew Aidan wouldn't have attended otherwise. The music boomed and the light show queued the transition to the next sequence of performers gathering on stage. A juggler joined the group, circled by dancers and gymnasts in an expertly choreographed synchronized display of art and elegance.

"Do you like the show?" Aidan whispered in his ear.

Jessie turned to him in the dark, reaching up to touch the trimmed stubble. He leaned in and placed a kiss on the lips he imagined were smiling at him. "I love the show."

"I knew you would as soon as the juggler came on stage. He had tons of balls."

Jessie buried his face at the side of Aidan's neck to disguise his laugh before returning his focus back to the show and the night he would always remember.

Jessie fisted the bedsheet as his body arched, seeking Aidan's touch. He whimpered and canted his hips, needing friction to calm the fire coursing through his veins with each tender brush of lips and the slow, torturous trail of kisses up his neck and along his jawline. He had respected Aidan's boundaries, but that hadn't stopped Aidan from pushing those limits every night for the last month and a half, exploring, and discovering every sensitive inch of Jessie's body.

And Jessie sure as hell didn't object.

An animalistic rumble rose from deep within Aidan's chest as he gripped the back of Jessie's head and forcefully pulled him in, plundering his mouth in a searing, branding kiss. Jessie grappled for purchase, tugging Aidan's T-shirt, twisting the fabric tightly in his hand for balance as Aidan feasted on his willing mouth. They frantically dug into each other's flesh and pulled one another closer, seeking a deeper connection, craving the slide of tongues and the passionate bite and suck of swollen lips. They finally separated from the kiss, both fighting to inhale enough air between them.

"I…I want you to fuck me."

Jessie stilled. Through his lust-fogged mind, he must have heard wrong. He looked up into Aidan's eyes and gasped a deep breath at the desire, worry, frustration, and…was that fear? He reached up and brushed Aidan's stubble with his fingertips, focusing on the prickling sensation under the pads of his fingers to try to calm the stir of need swirling around them. "I'm sorry. What did you—"

"I want you to fuck me," Aidan said in a rush of words before smashing his lips to Jessie's in a desperate kiss.

Jessie's lips numbed with the force and their teeth clacked together. All his internal red flags waved, flashed, and set off sirens. He cupped Aidan's face and slowly broke away from the kiss. "Aidan?" he said, between breaths.

Aidan rose from the bed and paced. He raked his hand through his hair and his scowl deepened with each step. "You don't want to fuck?"

The alarming tension vibrating off Aidan's body and the desperation in his step and tone, a clear message something ate away at him. "Aidan, stop pacing please."

He stilled at Jessie's request, staring for a moment at him before wincing then looking away. "You don't want to," he said more as a statement than a question, tightly wrapping his arms around his midsection, folding into himself. "Shit."

"Come here," Jessie said, sitting up on the bed and patting the space beside him. Aidan obediently sat and stared at a spot on the floor. Jessie grabbed Aidan's arms, tugging them away from his body. "Of course I want to be with you. You know that. So don't think for a single moment my hesitation means I don't want you."

Aidan glanced up at him then looked away again, the vulnerability in the gesture squeezed Jessie's heart.

He stroked the back of Aidan's neck, hoping to soothe the tension in his body. "I'm not a top. I tried once, and it's just not… It's not me. So I'm worried I'm going to screw it up. Why don't you tell me what's going on and we'll figure out what to do. Because honestly, you look like you're about to bolt out of here, so I don't think this is what you really want. And I…I don't want you to hate me."