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Alec smiled. “I promise not to laugh.”
Ed’s limp was a little worse as they walked along the street outside their hotel.
Alec slowed his pace to match Ed’s. “Are you okay to walk? We can grab a taxi if you need?”
“No. I love cities at night. I’d rather see it from the street than through a taxi window.”
They strolled slowly through the bustling streets where the shops were still open and lit up. Their route took them up a hill, away from the castle, and gradually the streets got quieter and narrower.
“We’re nearly there,” Alec said to Ed, who was clearly uncomfortable but trying to hide it.
“Is it that obvious?” he asked wryly. “It’s really not too bad considering I’ve walked on it a lot today. You know how cuts hurt more when they start to heal? I feel it every time I put weight on it. But it’ll be fine in a day or two.”
The restaurant was small and cosy. Alec had eaten there once before, a couple of years ago when he was up in Edinburgh with Belinda for the Festival, and while he’d remembered the food was good, he’d forgotten the intimacy of the setting. Run by a Scottish-Italian family, it was all dim lights and candles, with sumptuous dark-red-and-gold decor. At least half of the other tables were already occupied and the rest of the diners were exclusively couples.
Their waiter, a beautiful young man with dark hair and eyes, led them to a table for two in a secluded corner. Alec’s skin prickled as he felt the young man assessing and cataloguing them. He wondered what assumptions he might be making.
The waiter handed them menus and a wine list, and Ed smiled and thanked him. Alec nodded more curtly. His cheeks and neck were hot with a blush. He hoped it wasn’t visible in the candlelight.
When the waiter had gone, Ed said, “This place is nice.”
Alec met his gaze over the flickering candle. There was a single red rose in a vase on their table.
“It’s a little more… romantic than I remembered,” Alec admitted. “I think we’re the only people in here who aren’t on a date.”
“Well, that’s not too surprising.”
Alec frowned. “Um, why?”
Ed grinned. “It’s Valentine’s Day on Sunday.”
“Oh God, of course.”
“I guess Belinda doesn’t expect a card from you, then?”
Alec chuckled. “Not so much, no.”
“I can’t believe you didn’t realise. And here I was thinking you were trying to woo me.” Ed’s voice was light and teasing, but the heat in his eyes made Alec’s heart surge.
There was a long drawn-out pause while Alec wrestled with himself. Ed was flirting. He was there for the taking if Alec wanted, and God… Alec wanted him so much. Was it madness to go there again? Was it fair on either of them when it could only be another hookup? They could have another night together, but then what? It would only make things harder.
Ed smiled at him, a slow, dirty twist of his lips as he raised his eyebrows in unspoken challenge. I’m here. I want you. What are you going to do about it?
Ed might as well have spoken the words out loud because they were written all over his face.
Alec licked his lips and Ed’s eyes tracked the movement. “Do you want me to woo you?” Alec managed. Not his smoothest line, but the best he could come up with over the thud of his pulse in his ears.
“I’m not averse to a bit of wooing. It would make a nice change from a quickie in the office.”
They were putting their cards on the table, then. Okay, if Ed was brave enough to be honest, Alec could respond in kind. “It can only be tonight. Just one more night, Ed.” Alec’s chest hurt as he said the words. “I can’t offer you more than that.”
“I know. But I’ll take it.” Ed’s face softened. “Just for tonight, can we imagine none of the other complicated shit exists? Pretend we’re two normal guys on a Valentine’s date and see what happens?”
Alec wanted that so much. “I’ve never been on a date before.”
“Well, if it’s your first time, I promise to be gentle. So, can we?”
Alec hesitated for a few seconds more, but then his desire for connection, for romance, for Ed won out over his fears. “Yes,” he said softly. Relief and happiness flooded him as he dismantled the walls around himself to allow Ed in—at least temporarily. “Yes. Let’s try it.”
It turned out to be so much easier than he expected. They ordered food and a bottle of red, and Ed banned all work-related talk. So they talked more about their families and their childhoods.
Ed’s background was so different to Alec’s. His family lived hand-to-mouth rather than enjoying the money and privilege Alec had grown up taking for granted. Yet the way Ed spoke about his mum and stepdad made Alec ache for that easy acceptance, the unconditional love he’d never felt from his own parents.
