Heat Stroke (Beach Kingdom, #2)(44)

“Did Andrew call you in early?” Marcus tugged his cell out of his pocket and checked the time. “Your shift at the bar isn’t until five.”

“I’m not working tonight. There’s a last-minute school faculty thing I have to attend. Kind of a business dinner, I guess?” Jamie shrugged. “Some of my fellow teachers want to discuss a change the school board just issued about the curriculum.”

Marcus’s stomach dropped. A whole night without Jamie? “Where is the dinner?”

“A Thai restaurant near the school.” Jamie circled around behind the counter and opened the built-in refrigerator, taking out a container of carrots Marcus had chopped earlier. “Actually, I’m kind of looking forward to it. I eat at this Thai place all the time during the school year. They have the best potstickers, but I can’t justify an hour on the train to Brooklyn just for potstickers. Tonight gives me an excuse.”

“You like Thai food that much?”

“Love it.”

It was on the tip of Marcus’s tongue to say they could get Thai takeout some time, but God, it already sounded so lame in his head. He should be taking Jamie out to restaurants. Jamie was going to eat his favorite potstickers tonight and Marcus wouldn’t even get to see his reaction. Would he smile around his first bite? No, not Jamie. He’d probably act indifferent. If Marcus was there, he’d nudge him under the table, though, until he did smile. “Um…” The night stretched out in front of Marcus like a black ocean with no sound. “What time is the dinner over? Can I see you afterwards?”

Weariness danced in Jamie’s eyes before he swallowed it up. “Yeah, I’ll probably be home before your shift at the Castle Gate ends. You know where to find me.”

A hollow cavity opened in Marcus’s chest. Yeah, he knew where to find Jamie. The same place he’d been finding him all week. Every night when the sun went down or everyone had gone to bed, he showed up at Jamie’s front door like a beggar. It wasn’t enough. He could see it wasn’t enough for his boyfriend and now it wasn’t enough for Marcus, either. “Come to my place,” he said, digging his key ring out of his pocket and searching for the spares to his building and apartment. When he found them, he cursed the clumsiness of his huge sausage fingers while struggling through the process of removing the keys off their little, silver ring. “Here.” Satisfaction filled in the hole in his chest when he folded the apartment keys into Jamie’s hand. “Come over after your teacher dinner. Wait for me there.”

Jamie’s expression was mostly unreadable, except for a spark of surprise he couldn’t subdue and Marcus lived for that spark. Wanted to drown himself in it. “Marcus…are you sure? I don’t mind meeting at my place.”

“You should mind. And I can see that you do.”

His boyfriend was silent for a moment while he stowed the keys in his pocket. “I’m sorry. Why can’t I just be cool about this? It’s only been a goddamn week.”

“Because it has been so much longer than a week for us, Jamie.” Wow. He’d surprised Jamie again. Surprised himself, too, and he swore if he leapt right now, he could land on the roof of the tallest building. Was it a risk meeting Jamie at his place? Jesus Christ, yeah, it was. His brother and father had keys. Came and went as they pleased. But the risk was worth making Jamie happy. The risk was worth bringing the warmth back to Jamie’s eyes. “Will you come over and wait for me?”

After a beat, Jamie nodded. “Yes.” A smile breezed across his lips. “Now let’s juice.”

Marcus slapped a hand over his chest. “I thought you’d never ask.” He joined Jamie behind the counter, barely checking the urge to tuck Jamie’s ass into his lap. To kiss his neck until their zippers inevitably came down. There would be time for that later, though. In his bed. Jamie was going to be in his bed. “So, okay,” he rasped, taking a folded piece of paper out of his back pocket, laying it on the counter and smoothing the wrinkles with his flattened palm. “Been working on these recipes all week and I think this is the final menu.”

Jamie leaned down and scanned the page, reading off the names Marcus had come up with. “Hangover Cure, Fight the Flu, Berry Boost, Post Workout Replenishment…Sex Machine?”

“That one has pineapple in it.” Jamie gave him a blank look and Marcus’s jaw dropped. “It makes your spunk taste better. You didn’t know this? Do you have any idea how much pineapple I’ve been drinking for you, babe? Nice of you to notice my efforts.”

“Where did you come across this science?”

“The internet told me.”

“Of course it did.” Jamie shook his head. “Doesn’t matter anyway. I don’t have tastebuds in the back of my throat, Diesel.”

Marcus’s grin was so huge, it hurt his face. “Aww. You calling my cock huge? All’s forgiven.” He reached down to adjust his ever-present erection, giving it a little extra squeeze for being such a champ. “Hey, Jamie. Do they make dick cages? Is that a thing?”

Jamie slowly looked up from the menu. “A couple weeks ago, you were watching straight porn. What rabbit hole have you fallen down?”

“So it is a thing?”

“Everything is a thing.”

Marcus turned toward Jamie, leaning a hip against the counter. “Because I was thinking, someday when we start going out in public together, I’m going to need to get my wood problem under control.” He reached down and fisted his cock through his pants. “Any time we’re in the same room, it turns into the fucking Washington Monument. How am I supposed to take you anywhere respectable?”