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He laughs. “Sure, mate. But it never hurts to ask if he needs something else from you from time to time. Check in, you know? I mean, if you’re willing.”
“I’d do anything for him,” I say.
Jeremy’s smile is wistful, and I catch a glimpse of a tall, handsome man striding up the sidewalk looking right at me. I bite my lip and wonder if it’s too late to hide my cigarette. Drew comes to a stop in front of Jeremy and me and looks between us both.
“Haven’t seen you in a while,” Jeremy says to him. “Have you been on holiday?”
“No,” Drew says. “I quit a month ago.” He nods at me. “This one didn’t like me working nights.”
Jeremy’s eyes widen, and he grins as he puts two and two together. He gives me a wink. “I’m afraid I know a bit more about you than you may like, then. He’s been testing some theories out. You should ask him about them.”
“Jesus,” I mutter, dropping my half-smoked cigarette onto the ground and crushing it beneath my shoe.
Drew’s brows are raised in curiosity.
“I wasn’t testing anything. I was getting some advice from someone who actually knows how to be gay right.”
“What’d you learn? I could probably use some tips, too.”
“You’re perfect,” I say before Jeremy has a chance to jump in.
“There’s no right or wrong way as long as you care about each other. And talk from time to time.”
“See?” I say to Drew. “He knows things.”
“You should get his number. I’m gonna go inside. I’ve had too much water today.”
“I’ll see you in a minute.” I do want Jeremy’s number, so I let Drew go up without me.
“Christ,” my new friend says. “I can see why you switched teams.”
My cheeks heat. It makes me wonder if any man would ever be jealous of Drew for having landed me. But I’m well aware of what an indisputable fact Drew’s hotness is. I have to look at him all the time. Granted, in terms of first-world problems, having someone who looks like Drew in my bed is a nice one to have, but I’m not going to lie and say it doesn’t torture me from time to time. He has a personality, too. One I love for sure but is also challenging.
I get Jeremy’s number and tell him I’ll invite him up one night for dinner and drinks. Elodie and I go out only about twice a week now, but the rest of our nights we spend in—her with Matthew when he’s available, and me, of course, with Drew, whom I can’t seem to get enough of.
When I come into the penthouse, he’s got his new book open on the kitchen island to show Mallory and Elodie. Jealousy that I wasn’t the first one to see it has me shoving my way between them and turning the large pages back to the beginning.
I’m fucking blown away.
“Jesus, Drew.”
“You don’t like it?” he asks.
“No—I—fuck…look at you.” I swallow past a thick lump in my throat as Drew’s brutally beautiful new headshot stares back at me with those bright gray-blue eyes and jaw squared for the camera. His hair is perfect. His skin glows. Steam practically radiates from the page.
“You do like it.”
I turn the pages to see him in a suit. A tank. Bare-chested in jeans, then naked. His body and his dark, passionate spirit so perfectly captured, my eyes fill with tears.
“What do you think?” I manage to whisper, because that’s what really matters. That he feels good about these. That he’s confident again.
“I think what I always think,” he says. “I look old.”
Elodie snaps her head up and glares at him. “You are not old!”
Mallory agrees. “As someone older, I’m actually offended.”
“Mal,” I admonish. “Stop. This is a big deal.”
