Love in Tandem

by Natalie Arden

  “So they just kicked you out of your own company?” Scott asked. “That’s fucked up.”

  “Tell me about it.” Eamon let out a disgusted sigh. “Not technically kicked out, I guess. I’m still on the board. Still technically CEO. But it doesn’t do any good if I can’t talk to anyone in the company.” He thought a moment and revised. “Well, almost anyone.”

  “Like, the board members?”

  Eamon snorted. “No, they’re pretty ticked off with me right now. But my second in command. Vice President. He’s been passing me information. Which is how I know that just getting me out of the way wasn’t good enough for them. They want to buy me out.”

  “Can they do that?” Scott’s brow was furrowed.

  “If they get the votes, and I have to believe that they have the votes if they’re already going this far.”

  “Yeah, they’d have to. I can see that.” Scott rubbed a hand over his jaw. “That sounds super rough, man.” The corner of his mouth turned upwards. “And here I’ve been bugging you with my website problems when you had real shit going on!”

  “No, no, don’t apologize!” Eamon said quickly. “It’s been amazing having something to distract me. There’s basically nothing I can do at work until I’ve given everyone some time to cool off, so having something to do around here has been a literal lifesaver.” He shut his mouth firmly before he could blurt out the other truth, that having Scott around was distracting in other ways, that having a little crush was another thing keeping him sane. Scott seemed okay with the revelations he’d brought to light so far: no need to go overboard.

  “I guess.” Scott seemed unconvinced. “If you love tech support that much?”

  “I like having a problem to fix,” Eamon said with a shrug. “That’s what coding is all about after all: seeing a problem and figuring out how to solve it. Just because your problem wasn’t quite as involved as mine is, that doesn’t make it less satisfying.” Frankly, it probably made it more satisfying. There were too many individuals involved in Eamon’s problems, too many people who needed to get what they wanted out of a solution. Scott’s website had a single issue: get those appointments in the calendar. No feelings necessary.

  Except of course, everything he was feeling now for the handsome man sitting across the table. He wanted to solve all of Scott’s problems, to give Scott everything he could think of and everything Scott had ever wanted.

  That is, if Scott even wanted anything from him after he’d admitted to fucking up badly enough back home in Columbus to get kicked out of his own building. Just because he knew someone was trying to humiliate him didn’t mean it didn’t work.

  “Does any of that make sense?” he asked, smiling apologetically.

  “Perfect sense.” Scott grinned back. Eamon could have kissed him. “That’s exactly what it’s like in the shop. The rental stuff I could take or leave, but actually figuring out what’s making this bike do something weird – if it’s a chain that’s not tight enough or a frame that’s subtly bent wrong or whatever – that’s the stuff I got into this business for. When you get a good one, it’s like a puzzle, and the rest of the time...well, there’s a satisfaction in knowing how to fix something right away, right?”

  “I mean, it depends on how many times they ask you,” Eamon joked. Did Scott really understand? His heart was singing, though that might have been the influence of the beer. “Have you never had to ‘fix’ your parents’ wifi eighteen times in a week bc they just kept forgetting where to click?”

  Scott’s laugh was music to Eamon’s ears. “You’ve got me there,” he said, pointing at Eamon with his glass. “Though I’ve stayed out of it mostly. Turning on the wifi is the high point of my computer skills.”

  “You set up your own system,” Eamon pointed out. “Don’t sell yourself short.”

  “It’s a very simple system.” Scott looked amused.

  “Simple systems are better.” Eamon leaned in earnestly. “You can always add bells and whistles later, but knowing what’s at the core of your system, the real core, is so important.” He flicked his eyes away from Scott’s, embarrassed. “Sorry, I get a little too lecture-y about these things. I just spend a lot of time trying to convince clients that they should be focusing on their core principles in the system they want. It means a lot to me.”

  Looking up again, he realized Scott was biting at his lower lip. Was he trying not to laugh? Oh god, he could feel himself blushing already. This was terrible.

  “That’s really kind of you,” Scott said. He didn’t sound like he was making fun of Eamon, though Eamon couldn’t quite place the warmth in his tone. He grinned. “I’m sure your salespeople hate you, though.”

  “I have people to deal with them,” Eamon said, surprised. “And the dev team are grateful, I assure you. It’s way easier to deal with a client who actually knows what they want than someone who wants all the frills they saw in someone else’s system and barely knows what the system is for.”

  Scott chuckled, lifting his glass in salute. “I never know what to make of you, Eamon. One minute, you’re knee deep in what has to be the littlest tech project you’ve done in years, and the next you’re talking about how you have people to keep you away from the sales team. Which one are you, really?”

  “They’re the same guy,” Eamon protested. “I’ve always been the same guy. I just needed more people around me to do things on a larger scale and they just kind of... accumulated?” He lifted his hands helplessly.

  “So you’re saying you’re the same guy you were back in English class?” Scott teased.

  Eamon winced. “Don’t tell me you remember something from that far back now.”

  “Not a thing,” Scott assured him. “I just wonder sometimes if we should have been friends.”

  “Nah.” Eamon huffed a laugh. “I’ll admit to being kind of a pain back then. Better to meet me now, when I’ve got some sense.”

  “Some sense?” Scott looked amused. “That’s not the first way I’d think to describe you.”

  How was Eamon supposed to explain that he didn’t have any sense when it came to Scott? That seeing Scott’s face had bowled him over once, and then getting to talk to him had knocked Eamon flat a second time? He was sure that he used to have sense, and now all he wanted to do was involve himself in someone else’s business, pushing for every scrap of connection between the two of them.

  “Maybe that’s your good influence,” he murmured.

  “I’ll have you know that I’m a respected member of the business community in town,” Scott crowed, clearly delighted.

  “How well do they know you?” Eamon retorted.

  “I’m related to a really inconvenient number of them, so brag retracted,” Scott said, laughing. “Please don’t ask any of them about me.”

  A warm glow suffused Eamon’s chest. “Wait, for real? You’ve never said that before! Please tell me they have baby pictures.”

  Scott waved a hand vaguely. “Oh, well, if you want baby pictures, I’ve got a million of those. Just don’t go asking around town.” He leaned in and said conspiratorially, “I’m hoping they’ll forget eventually.”

  “Forget what?” Eamon demanded. “You can’t just drop a bomb like that and walk away!”

  “Look, I love the place,” Scott said desperately. “But people have known me around here for a long time, right? Long enough to see me do some truly stupid shit.”

  Eamon grinned back. “I’m going to need better details than that, if you want me to leave this alone.”

  “All right, all right.” Scott didn’t really look any too distressed to be telling this story, and Eamon found himself leaning closer, not wanting to miss a word. “Let me tell you about the time someone convinced me to try doing BMX tricks on my road bike.”

  “What?!”

  “I was maybe fifteen?” Scott shrugged. “Let me tell you...”

  16

  Scott

  A couple more beers and several more stories about Scot
t’s misspent youth later, Scott began to realize how easily Eamon had turned the conversation away from himself and his problems. As Scott brought the story of the goose in the park who was in love with him to a close – the goose had been relocated, to everyone else’s intense amusement – he stopped to watch Eamon in the low light of the bar.

  Eamon looked looser now, less indefatigably upright. Even his scrupulously tailored clothes seemed to hang easier on him like this as he snorted a laugh, pounding on the table next to his beer. His hair should have been too short to mess up much, but with the way he’d been running his hands through it, it looked a little out of place.

  The only thing Scott wanted was to mess him up more.

  He’d had the thought before, of course, but never when he’d had this much beer, feeling that loose-limbed state of relaxation that made it so easy to lean over and say...

  Say what, exactly? That Eamon had done him a huge favor and would he like Scott’s body in return?

  The very idea of it cracked him up, and when he lifted his head, Eamon was regarding him curiously.

  “Surely you’ve told that one about the goose before?” Eamon joked.

  “It, uh, gets me every time?” Scott lied.

  “You’re ridiculous,” Eamon said affectionately and Scott wanted nothing more than to kiss him right here, right now.

  Except that if he did that, it would be all over town by tomorrow morning and he’d like to keep his business a tiny bit private for the moment, thanks. So instead he leaned back in his chair and gestured at Eamon.

  “I’ve been going on and on about myself,” he said apologetically. “I didn’t mean to drag the conversation away from all your problems.”

  “Oh, those.” Eamon’s face fell and Scott could have kicked himself. “Honestly, I’d rather talk about almost anything else.”

  “That bad, huh?”

  “Dealing with the board is always the worst,” Eamon said firmly. “But at the very least, I thought they respected me, you know? And then I find out they’re conspiring to oust me behind my back, as though I wasn’t the one who built the company? It’s enough to make me want to wash my hands of them entirely. Stay here. See how well they can do without me at the helm.”

  “Why not do it?” Scott suggested, just drunk enough to say whatever he wanted without thinking it through first. “Stick around: make them sweat.”

  “Maybe I will,” Eamon declared, laughing aloud. “Maybe I’ll stay where people appreciate me. Be a silent partner, you know? They barely let me touch the code these days anyway.”

  “You can do it! Show them all!” Scott cheered, raising his glass to Eamon.

  Eamon lifted his own glass and clinked it against Scott’s. For a moment, he was almost glowing in the dim light, and then his face fell. “Of course, first I have to prevent this hostile takeover.”

  “You’ve got that too,” Scott told him firmly, on the basis of very little evidence. But he’d seen Eamon’s determination firsthand and it seemed like nothing could faze the other man. “You’ve got that one guy in your corner, right? Keith something?”

  “Who?” Eamon’s face twisted with confusion. “Oh! Kevin!” He beamed at Scott.

  “That’s the one!”

  “Kevin’s been so great,” Eamon said earnestly. “He’s still giving me updates, though I don’t know what we’re going to do next. But he calls me anyway! None of those other bastards have called me even once.” He glowered, though it looked a little unsteady through the haze of beer.

  “He sounds great,” Scott assured him. An absolutely repulsive thought hit him. “You two aren’t...? You know.”

  “What?” Eamon sounded scandalized. “He’s my employee.”

  The outrage in his voice was too much to bear, and Scott collapsed in fits of laughter on the table. Eamon looked puzzled. “What? He is!”

  “You’re a good boss,” Scott told him, when he had his voice back. “I don’t know why they’d want to get rid of you in the first place.”

  “I know!” Once again, Eamon’s passion was too much and Scott fell back into giggles, Eamon’s eyes on him the whole time.

  It wasn’t just Eamon’s impassioned defense that was making Scott break down like this, it was also sheer relief. He could feel himself falling for Eamon with every moment they spent together: he could admit that to himself now. But that didn’t mean it wouldn’t hurt if Eamon up and left town again when they were just working things out between them. But it didn’t seem like Eamon was poised to leave at any minute anymore, and that meant that Scott could let himself drift all he wanted.

  “I don’t know why you’re laughing,” Eamon said, but maybe relief was infectious, because he started to join in a moment later.

  From the bar, Ramona called out, “I’m cutting you two off!”

  “We’re fine!” Scott called back, but it came out awfully giggly and he was pretty sure she wasn’t going to take him seriously after that. Besides, what was he really going to do? Explain that he was infatuated and relieved and everything was wonderful tonight?

  “Still cut off!”

  Scott shrugged and looked back at Eamon. “Shall we go then?”

  “We could go,” Eamon agreed. He started to get to his feet, weaving gently.

  “Sit down, sit down,” Scott told him. “My treat, remember?”

  “Honestly, it was a pleasure to work on,” Eamon protested, but Scott was already at the bar.

  From Ramona’s knowing smile she already knew exactly what was going on between them, but thankfully, she kept her mouth shut while Scott paid, restraining herself to nothing more than an extremely smug, “Take him home then.”

  “Good night,” Scott said, hopefully quellingly, but he feared the grin that kept spreading over his features took a lot of the sting out of that.

  “Good night!” she replied cheerfully, shooing him off.

  There was definitely going to be gossip going around tomorrow, but at least it wasn’t going to say that they had their first kiss at a table in the Wick.

  “Ready?” Scott asked Eamon as he approached the table again and held out a hand to help Eamon up.

  “Ready,” Eamon agreed. His hand was heavy on Scott’s forearm as he levered himself up, but he dropped the grip as soon as he was on his feet. His eyes still shone as though the laugh was only barely contained behind them, ready to burst out again at any minute.

  “I had a good time tonight,” Eamon said as the heavy front door of the Wick closed behind them.

  “Me too.” Scott shoved his hands deep in his jacket pockets, looking down at Eamon with only a slight wobble to his stance.

  Eamon reached out like he might try to steady Scott, despite his own wobble, pulled his hand back, came closer. He was a little shorter than Scott, but still well in range to go in for the kiss. That is, if that’s where he was going with this. He was awfully close for anything else, Scott thought, but that might be wishful thinking.

  “You know,” Eamon said haltingly. He looked up as though the rest of his sentence might be in the stars above them, down at the pavement, and back to Scott’s face. “You know what that felt like?”

  Scott thought he probably did know, was elated at the thought that Eamon was feeling it too, but he wanted to hear Eamon say that, to hear that deep, smooth voice say the words aloud. “What?” he said, biting at his lip, overflowing with affection.

  “That felt a lot like a date,” Eamon said, and he smiled like nothing Scott had seen before.

  Boom, whatever was left of Scott’s defences were gone, blown out and away and destroyed utterly. “I think it might have been a date,” he allowed, letting his own grin blossom.

  “I’m glad,” Eamon said. He leaned in closer, arms still hanging loose at his sides, and Scott couldn’t take waiting any longer.

  “Me too,” he said, and reached out to touch Eamon’s chin, tipping it upright and leaning down. Their lips met, warm in the chill spring air, Eamon’s mouth plush and welcomi
ng. Scott’s free arm snaked around Eamon’s waist and Eamon melted into him, pressing up against him, mouth opening under the pressure of Scott’s lips.

  He sighed when Scott’s tongue flicked into his mouth and out again, eyes closed, hands coming up to cling to Scott’s old jacket like he never wanted to let go. His mouth was perfect. His body, wound in close to Scott, felt as good as Scott knew it would, like something that should have been there all along, like coming home.

  Scott wanted to get closer, to feel Eamon better. He slipped a hand under the hem of Eamon’s leather jacket, the leather just as buttery soft as it had looked, and touched the small of Eamon’s back, pulling him in further. Eamon groaned gently, a sound that Scott was convinced he was never going to forget.

  It was only when their groins began to press up against each other and Scott felt a stirring of heat flow through him that he realized they had to stop. Whatever they were doing now, they couldn’t do it here, in the middle of the street, where literally anyone could walk by at any moment.

  He pulled back, releasing Eamon’s mouth, relaxing the tight hug that entwined them both. Eamon seemed to realized what was happening, relinquishing his own furious grip on Scott’s jacket, his look of dazed contentment slipping into something sharper.

  “That was good. That was very good,” Scott said, still a little dazed himself from looking at Eamon’s face, his eyes alight in the glow of the streetlamp, his lips glistening wet.

  “It was,” Eamon agreed, laughing a little. “I should go home thought.”

  “I want to see you soon,” Scott said, taking Eamon’s hands and squeezing them.

  “I want to see you too.” Eamon’s kiss-swollen lips quirked into a smile.

  “I don’t know when yet, but I’ll figure something out,” Scott promised. “I’ll text you.”

  Eamon laughed lightly. “I’ll be waiting.”