Love in Tandem

by Natalie Arden

  He looked too good to resist. Scott swept him up into another kiss. Startled, Eamon’s body was stiff for a moment, melting as Scott pulled him close and leaned in, his lips offering no resistance at all. Their mouths moved against one another, a pinpoint of heat in the cold air. This close, Scott could smell Eamon’s cologne, rich and sharp all at once. He wanted to bury his face in Eamon’s neck and just sniff. He wanted to lick his way down the column of Eamon’s throat and see what made him squirm.

  He wanted a lot of things.

  The second kiss was even harder to break than the first. This time, Eamon stepped away, his hands smoothing down the front of Scott’s jacket as if he regretted having to leave, his smile soft and warm.

  Scott shoved his hands in his pockets again to keep from reaching for Eamon one more time. “I’ll see you soon,” he promised again. “And you know where to find me anyway.”

  “I do,” Eamon agreed. “Keep an eye out, will you?”

  “Always,” Scott said, watching Eamon’s face dip in and out of light and shadow as he spoke. Every angle, every changing configuration of light and dark seemed to suit him. It was very unfair.

  “Good,” Eamon said and strode off into the night, looking steadier on his feet than he had in hours and Scott was left thinking that right out in front of the Wick wasn’t such a bad place to have a first kiss after all.

  17

  Eamon

  Eamon sobered up around two in the morning, still lying dazed on his couch and laughing to himself. He’d never thought things would go that well with Scott: it had seemed impossible that the two of them could be so much on the same page. But apparently they were, and they’d kissed in the street and the only regret Eamon had was that he hadn’t demanded Scott take him home.

  Not that it wasn’t sweet how careful Scott was being – and admittedly, Eamon was pretty sure Scott had to be up for work the next morning.

  That didn’t mean he had to be careful though, and he sent Scott a text (Miss you already) before rolling over and passing out, unintentionally, on the couch.

  He awoke to the sun streaming through the blinds and the memory of a loud noise too close to his ear that, when he finally placed it, turned out to be the text notification on his phone.

  “What time is it?” he mumbled to no one, and made a disgusted noise when his phone screen told him it was only seven. Somehow, the days of getting up at five in order to be the first person in the office didn’t seem so urgent anymore. Was getting more sleep mellowing him out? He was going to be very angry at someone – he’d decide who later – if going on sabbatical had actually done something good for him.

  Of course, it had given him a chance to meet Scott. Eamon wasn’t totally convinced by Scott’s new habit of texting him this early in the morning, but once he’d actually looked at the message – You’re sweet. Feel free to drop in anytime, you know where I am. – it was hard to stay annoyed and not dissolve instantly into a puddle of affection.

  I’ll see you later, he sent back and dragged himself upstairs to chug a glass of water and crawl back into bed.

  After a few hours of sleep, Eamon was feeling a lot more human, though still just as incredulous about the night before. So many things he’d been afraid of had all happened at once: telling Scott about his disgraceful exit from CarreSys, explaining why he was in town, admitting to his feelings for Scott...

  Somehow this seemed to have landed him everything he’d wanted.

  Scott understood that he’d spent so much time on CarreSys and wanted it to thrive. That he couldn’t just step back when things were going wrong, even if sometimes that meant pushing too hard. Scott thought it was a good thing that he was in town. And Scott felt something for him in return.

  Life wasn’t perfect – there was still the small matter of the board to deal with – but life was pretty damn good.

  He checked his phone again. Another text from Scott – Looking forward to it – and an email from Kevin promising to give him a call this evening. Normally, he’d have been furious at the wait, but today, it didn’t seem to matter so much. The board probably hadn’t had another meeting, so this was most likely an update on all the things that were falling behind schedule. Infuriating, but also something that Eamon could do very little about.

  Besides, now he had plans for his afternoon.

  Sellis Creek Cycle Works was empty when Eamon opened the door around noon. Behind the counter, Scott scrambled to hide something that crinkled like paper, and Eamon was pretty sure he’d caught him reading cycling magazines behind the counter. As he waved, Scott’s face went from professional customer service smile to something softer and more genuine and Eamon’s heart began to melt.

  “I brought lunch,” he said, holding up the paper bag from the Pie Chart.

  Scott beamed at him. “You’re a lifesaver. I woke up late this morning and rushed out of the house so fast I didn’t have time to pack something.”

  “Late?” Eamon laughed. “I got your text and went right back to sleep because it was too damn early for me.”

  “Some people aren’t executives living lives of luxury,” Scott said teasingly.

  “I mean, I’m living at my parents’ place,” Eamon pointed out. “So luxury doesn’t really come into it.” He came closer and leaned on the counter. “There’s chicken pie and pork pie. Your choice.

  “I’m down with either.” Scott glanced around the shop, and looked back up at Eamon, apologetic. “The only trouble is, I still haven’t actually gotten a second chair for the shop yet?”

  Eamon laughed, and Scott scrunched up his face adorably. “There’s still no room back here, is the thing.”

  “It’s fine.” Eamon waved him off. “I can eat standing up for a while.” He bit his lip, watching Scott intently. “I just wanted to see you.”

  “Me too,” Scott said, reaching out to touch Eamon’s hand. “I wanted to see you too.”

  Eamon tangled his fingers with Scott’s for a moment and then pulled back, taking the foil-wrapped pastries out of their paper bag. “So! Pork or chicken?”

  “Are they labelled?” Scott said, eyeing the packages with interest.

  “She said pork on the bottom,” Eamon told him. “Which means... it could be either one now.” He shrugged. “Ready for a surprise pie?”

  “I could eat a surprise,” Scott said solemnly and grinned.

  They were very good pies, Eamon found. He had pork, which was full to bursting with meat and onion; a smudge of gravy sliding down his hand as he forgot himself and used the pie to gesture with at a crucial conversational moment. It was a little awkward to eat leaning on the counter, but being able to watch Scott more than made up for it.

  “You must be getting tired,” Scott said after a while, when the pies were long gone and the wrappers long since gone into the trash. “I shouldn’t keep you here too long.”

  “I don’t mind,” Eamon said, but the crack of his back as he straightened up betrayed him.

  “I’m stuck here until six-thirty, probably,” Scott said, “But around after that if you wanted to get something to eat?”

  “Can’t.” Eamon had never regretted a work obligation more. “Kevin’s got something new for me and he needs to talk this evening.”

  “It’s all good.” Scott shrugged. “Work is work, right?” He chuckled. “But let me know how it goes?”

  “Oh, definitely,” Eamon said. He shook his head. “It’ll probably be more mess, frankly.”

  “The worst,” Scott agreed. “You tell this Kevin guy he’s got to sort these people out, okay? Isn’t that his job or something?”

  Eamon laughed. “Not exactly. But I’m sure he’s doing his best.”

  “He’d better be,” Scott said, pretending to shake a fist at nothing in particular.

  Eamon leaned across the counter, rising up on his toes, and brushed a kiss over Scott’s cheek. “You’re sweet. But don’t worry about Kevin. I’m sure it’ll be fine – or at least only more of the same
mess. I’ll tell you all about it soon.”

  “I’ll think up something good for our first real date,” Scott told him. “So you’d better be around for that.”

  “It’s one phone call,” Eamon said laughing. “How long could it take?”

  18

  Scott

  A phone call was not supposed to mean two days in Columbus, Scott grumbled to himself, but he could hardly blame Eamon for going where he was needed. Why Eamon was suddenly needed in the city when he was supposedly still banned from the office didn’t make much sense, but Scott figured maybe the ban had been lifted.

  The possibility made his heart sink, but he wasn’t going to push Eamon to give up on this, not when being kicked out of the decision-making loop at the company he’d built from the ground up was tearing him apart inside. If Eamon needed to go home – needed his home to be somewhere else – Scott could let him go, however sad that made him.

  At the very least, he wasn’t expecting to hear from Eamon anytime soon. There was so much to do in the city, and Eamon hadn’t been back there for weeks. He’d have people to see, things to catch up on. He’d have to squeeze it in around work to be sure, but that would only make him busier.

  He was not expecting to be called at 8 p.m. on a Friday night.

  “Everything okay?” Scott said into the phone, hurriedly pushing himself out of his chair in the bar and holding up a finger to forestall Lennox’s comments.

  “Yeah.” Eamon’s sigh sounded like a gust of wind over the phone connection. “Just bored. You?”

  “Going to see some friends later,” Scott said callously, leaning against a wall at the back of the bar and watching his friends glance over at him every thirty seconds then put their heads together to talk. They were definitely gossiping about him, but he could have cared less. He cradled the phone in his hand. “All the time in the world now. How’s it going in town?”

  “Not sure yet,” Eamon said, disappointed. “Kevin made all this fuss about me coming into town right away, but he managed to get away for maybe a fifteen minute meeting? Says there’s someone else who wants to see me tomorrow, though, so things might be looking up.”

  “That sounds promising!” Scott said. “Any idea who?”

  “Could be anyone,” Eamon said. Scott could practically see the shrug. “Hoping it’s someone from the board though. Maybe Harris. He understands the system better than anyone, so maybe he’ll have something sensible to say about the way they’re ruining it.”

  “I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you,” Scott said, completely in the dark.

  “Thanks.” Eamon’s voice was always like dark honey, but, tinged with gratitude, it was even smoother.

  Scott repressed the shiver running down his spine. “So, what’s your plan for the night then?”

  “I’ve got some takeout,” Eamon said vaguely. “There’s nothing in my kitchen right now. Might see what’s on TV.”

  “But you haven’t been back to the city in ages!”

  “So?” Eamon sounded perplexed.

  “So there’s got to be something to do on a Friday night.”

  “I usually stay late at the office,” Eamon said slowly. “Everyone else clears out, so it’s nice and quiet. But I can’t do that right now, obviously.” He sighed. “Sorry, I’m probably getting in your way. You said you had plans, right?”

  “Don’t go,” Scott blurted out. “I’m sorry. I just assumed. You don’t seem like the stay-at-home type is all.” He looked up at the ceiling, feeling heat creep up the edges of his ears and added, softly, “I always want to talk to you.”

  “I’m the stay-at-work type, I’m afraid,” Eamon said. “I thought you knew.”

  “Don’t sell yourself short,” Scott said with an embarrassed laugh. “You know how to have fun.”

  “I manage from time to time.” Eamon sounded amused now, instead of mildly annoyed, which was a significant improvement.

  “Exactly.” Scott grinned at nothing. “I’d have thought you’d be glad to be back in the city, is all.”

  A long pause, an exhale of breath. “It’s boring without you.”

  “Want me to drive up and surprise you?” Scott said. “Wait, it wouldn’t be a surprise then, would it. Huh.”

  “You’d just be bored when I have to go to these meetings tomorrow,” Eamon said ruefully. “Some other time. Go have fun with your friends.”

  “Anytime you get bored,” Scott promised him. “Just remember I’m here.”

  “As if I could forget.” Eamon’s delicious voice was fond in Scott’s ear.

  “Let me know when you get back,” Scott said as they said their good-byes. “We’ll have our date after that.”

  “I’m looking forward to it,” Eamon promised him, and the phone clicked off.

  Scott straightened up, looking back at the table where his friends sat with a dubious expression. His friends, who had clearly been watching him right up until this moment, were intently talking now. Probably gossip. But there was no way of getting away from it entirely, so Scott might as well give in now.

  “Sorry about that,” he said, as he slipped back into his abandoned chair.

  “No problem,” Tony said.

  Lennox was less subtle. “So, was that your boyfriend?”

  “Could have been,” Scott allowed drily.

  “Does he want to come out tonight?” Tony asked. “He can join if he wants. He’s cool.”

  “He’s in the city for a couple days,” Scott said with a shrug.

  “Back in the big city, huh?” Lennox crowed. “Calling to tell you not to worry before he hits up a club, right? You know you can’t trust those big city boys.”

  “He’s at home with some takeout,” Scott said. “He’s not that type.”

  “Well, boring does sound like your perfect match,” Tony replied cheerfully, and ducked out of the way of Scott’s playful swat.

  “He’s there on business,” Scott explained.

  “I thought he was on sabbatical?” It was very annoying how much Lennox could remember when he actually cared enough – or when he thought there was something gossip-worthy in it.

  “There’s still some stuff his company needs him for,” Scott replied, hoping they’d drop the subject. It had clearly been hard for Eamon to explain his situation to Scott, and he had to know that Scott would never judge him for other people’s failures. Scott wasn’t going to betray that trust.

  “And on a weekend too!” Lennox whistled. “He’s the head guy after all, huh?”

  “That’s what a CEO is, yes,” Scott said, eyebrow raised.

  “As your friends, it’s important to make sure no one’s telling you tall tales to win your heart,” Lennox said cheerfully.

  Putting his head in his hands, Scott groaned aloud.

  “So, I’m guessing all this means you took my advice,” Tony said smugly.

  Scott groaned harder.

  19

  Eamon

  ”So, you’re saying you don’t think I should come back to work anytime soon,” Eamon snapped, unable to help himself.

  Across the table, Harris looked sorrowfully at Eamon. He was so fucking full of shit. The back room at the restaurant was semi-private and Eamon was pretty sure that was the only thing keeping him from fully cussing out this mealy-mouthed tool.

  “We need you back to full capacity,” Harris said placidly. “These kinds of outbursts. Are they really doing anything to help your position?” He slid a card across the table. “You’ve done so much for CarreSys. Let us help you.”

  “What’s this?” Eamon said, peering at the card suspiciously.

  “A very discreet therapist. Lots of experience in helping executives deal with the stress of their positions.”

  “I tell you that the company is being run into the ground and you think I need to see a shrink?” Eamon rose in his chair, furious.

  “The board feels it might improve their ability to trust you again...” Kevin began, his gaze flicking between Harr
is and Eamon.

  “So not that discreet,” Eamon spat. “Not if they’re going to report everything I say back to you.”

  “This hostility is a real problem,” Harris began, pompous as always.

  “You’re insulting me.” Eamon sat down, his hands resting on the edge of the table and unconsciously curling into fists. “And the problem is that I’m hostile?”

  “Your technical skills are well known,” Harris replied, looking entirely unfazed. “But you need to work on the softer side of your job. Or we can get someone else in to take over that part of the job, if you’d prefer...”

  “Cutting me out of my own company?” Eamon snapped. “I’m done with this meeting, thanks.” He rose from the table, his food unfinished at his place.

  Kevin followed him in silence as Eamon stalked to the host’s station and dropped his credit card in front of a startled member of the staff, tapping his foot as they scrambled to find the correct bill.

  “What was the point of this exercise?” Eamon said icily as he strode out of the restaurant, Kevin falling behind.

  “I didn’t know he was going to spring that on you,” Kevin said. “I’m sorry about that. I thought he was coming to his senses.”

  Eamon made a disgusted noise. “So, he’s on the side of the hostile takeover then?”

  “Looks like it,” Kevin said cautiously.

  “So, who else is part of his crew?”

  “Let me figure that out,” Kevin said, stopping as they reached Eamon’s parked car. “I’ll keep you updated.”

  Eamon sighed. “I appreciate that you’re trying,” he told Kevin. “But being blindsided like that... For a second time!”

  Kevin nodded grimly. “I’ll try to screen them more carefully if they want to see you again.”

  “What about you?” Eamon said, suddenly realizing that Kevin had played his hand. “He knows you’re still in contact with me now. Presumably he’ll alert the board.”