Page 95 of All Tied Up

There were three little biscuit hearts sitting along the edge.

Ty was watching him with amusement, and Jamie glared at him. “You’re such an asshole.”

Ty just cackled and went back to wiping down the stove.

14

Neil

Neil sighed as he turned back to the laptop screen in front of him. He’d already read the same page twice over, and right now he couldn’t even make his eyes focus on the words.

Usually he was so driven that he worked late into the night checking every fact and potential loophole, but right now he just couldn’t concentrate.

The rain streaming down the double-story windows was glorious. When the wind whipped through the trees and the lightning flashed it felt like he was right in the middle of the storm. Now that it had hit a lull, it was cozy and soothing.

That feeling was aided by the mug of hot chocolate by his elbow and the fuzzy blanket Sebastian had tucked around his knees. While Neil was working, Sebastian had been in and out, bringing him little treats or dropping kisses on his head as he passed.

There were other guests at the lodge now, including several families with kids, so everything was rated PG. But Neil still felt like he was wrapped in Sebastian’s presence every moment.

Sebastian had worked beside him for an hour in the morning, quietly tapping on his laptop. At lunch time, Sebastian had insisted he take a break and the three of them had eaten in the kitchen with Ty and Maria.

It had been fun getting that behind-the-scenes look at the hotel, being invited into the kitchen where no one else was allowed. Neil could see how much all of the staff enjoyed and respected each other, which was rare in a workplace. Maria was a gorgeous Latina woman who peppered her words with Spanish because, she explained, everyone ought to learn a foreign language and today might as well be the day.

Sebastian clearly understood more Spanish than he let on, answering her with a quick sí or no and laughing at her jokes. Neil had discovered, though he shouldn’t have been surprised, that Sebastian’s name was actually Sebastián Carlos. Maria pronounced it with a beautiful flow of liquid sounds

It made him realize how little he knew about the attractive Daddy. It also made him wonder if Sebastian would like people to use the Spanish pronunciation, and a million other tiny details.

Jamie, meanwhile, launched full steam ahead into mangled Spanish sentences.

So far, Neil had learned that ham sandwich was almost the same in both languages. However, pelotas de carne apparently sounded like baseballs made of raw meat, not the word albóndigas that Jamie had intended for his meatball sub. Jamie had fun tittering over that one while Maria teased him.

Altogether, it had felt more like a gathering of friends than a hurried meal shared by coworkers. They’d all dispersed to their separate tasks after lunch, but Neil could see that Jamie and Sebastian had truly created something special here.

It made Neil’s imminent trip home feel even more dismal, and not just because of the rain.

How could he ever go back to his dreary existence after this? His only good friends were Levi and Saul, and he did whatever he could to avoid eating lunch with his colleagues.

So Neil kept plowing through the contract, half of his mind plotting all kinds of implausible schemes. The most responsible, but still completely crazy, was renting a room here and commuting in to work each day. The most romantic was Sebastian and Jamie professing their undying love for him and asking him to never spend another night outside of their bed.

Somewhere in the middle was the fragile hope that the two of them might want to see him again.

The only thing that Neil had to go on there was that Jamie had asked him to stay two more days, and Sebastian had seemed delighted to hear it. But did that mean anything else?

It was just so hard to separate the pampering and affection that was part of their Daddy-boy agreement from anything bigger.

Which was why Neil kept watching the rain and reading the same page without comprehension.

A splash of color caught Neil’s attention and he looked up to find Jamie striding toward him with his characteristic hitching gait. Jamie was wearing a clinging pink t-shirt, a pair of short jean shorts, and a heavy leather toolbelt, complete with a dozen tools. His lips were berry pink and his eyelids glistened with a pastel touch of color, making his green eyes look wide and innocent.

Just when he thought Jamie couldn’t get any sexier, he showed up like this. Yeah, the toolbelt and the lipstick were really doing it for him.

“Hey,” Jamie greeted him. “Did you miss me?”

“Yeah,” Neil returned quietly. It was true. Neither the fact that he’d only met Jamie five days ago nor the fact that they’d only been apart for a few hours changed the feeling in his chest.

When Jamie and Sebastian were gone, he could do nothing but think about them. When either of them came back, it was like his heart eased. Having both of them was even better.

Neil caught that look on Jamie’s face again, though. Like he was hopeful and surprised that Neil wanted to spend time with him.