I’m going to cancel.
Paul officially knew better. He shouldn’t go to Steven’s on Saturday, even if it meant pissing off his brother. Even if it made him a chicken.
Sometimes, retreat was the wisest option. Especially when you can’t resist the enemy.
Of course, Ace wasn’t the enemy. He was more like the spoils of war.
If only he could figure out what he was fighting against.
Paul checked the appointment calendar on his computer. One more scheduled for this afternoon. Mrs. Donaldson, a sweet old lady who had been coming to see him consistently for a few years now. Reminded him of his mom, who was the whole reason he got into chiropractic in the first place. A nice way to end a Friday afternoon.
Friday. It had been a week since the Sparks Incident. Only a week? It felt much longer. Probably because he’d been thinking about it so much in the seven days since he’d first spotted Ace.
And even more in the two days since their lives intersected again.
Maybe he could erase Ace from his mind in another back room? There were other places to go, after all. Ace wasn’t the only beautiful man out there.
No! Rules!
And who was he kidding? At this point, he wouldn’t be satisfied unless he had the real thing. And that thought was leading him down an even more dangerous road.
He wasn’t going to go. Full stop. He just wanted Ace too much to be able to stop himself if it came down to it. His self-control was well maintained and able to withstand years of frustrating temptation. But one more day with Ace would be more than he could handle.
Instead, he would spend Saturday working on Mr. Phipps’s back and then distract himself with reorganizing his office. It could use a new arrangement, now that he looked around his small interior office. Like his own condo, it was a functional space, just not very interesting. He had a photo of himself with Steven on the desk, and a kill-proof plant up on one of the large bookshelves filled with medical texts. And that was the extent of his decorating touches.
But maybe a change in the furniture would do the trick. He could angle the desk to face the door, the way Steven’s bed looked in the master bedroom. Ace could probably tell him what he could-
God. Damn. It. The man had completely infected his brain.
He stepped out into the waiting area to stretch his legs and check with Nicole on any new messages. He half expected Steven to start calling to bug him about tomorrow.
Nicole Pratt was a good secretary, if a little chatty. Not that Paul blamed her. Because she often had only herself for company in the office, she filled her time talking to every friend and relative she had ever met. Or so it seemed to Paul.
She was a tiny little thing, at least a foot shorter than Paul with a happy mess of curly brown hair framing an equally happy face. Nicole was also – what was Steven’s word? Avid. She clearly wanted to be more than a secretary for Paul. Fortunately, he could fall back on the boss-employee relationship clause, and not the real reason that would never happen.
“Hey Nicole. How were the phones today?”
“Pretty quiet. You’re booked but not too booked next week. Plenty of wiggle room for emergencies and, you know, long lunch breaks or something.”
Nicole’s favorite verbal qualifier was “or something.” Once Steven had pointed it out to him, it was all Paul could hear in her conversations.
“Sounds good. Listen, after Mrs. Donaldson shows up, you can probably take off for the weekend. Get an early start on it.”
“Well, not really,” she said. He frowned, not getting it. “I’ll be in tomorrow when you are, for your morning appointment,” she continued. “Remember?”
Right. His escape route.
His phone buzzed in his pocket with a text message. Steven, of course.
Yo. Coming tomorrow? 9am dont frgt
Now would be the time to tell him he couldn’t make it. He really did have an appointment scheduled. He wouldn’t even have to lie. I’m a doctor, after all. Steven will understand.
Bzzzz.
And no appt bullshit. 9am
Stupid mind-reading little brother.
Bzzzz.
Z. you gotta
Paul knew he gotta. When it came to Steven, he always gotta. He wished he could tell his brother why he shouldn’t. He wished one other person in the world understood how hard this was for him.
But Steven would freak. His parents would freak. Ace was the only other gay man he knew, and talking about his fears wasn’t exactly tops on the list of things he wanted to do with that delicious blond beauty.
“So,” Nicole said, leaning deeply over the reception counter, throwing out the wrong kind of bait. “You have just that one appointment at 10:30 tomorrow. And I was wondering if you maybe wanted to grab some lunch afterwards or something?”
Paul opened his mouth but didn’t know how to tell her, uh, no. Not without potentially hurting her feelings. And he really didn’t need things to get awkward at work once he’d made it clear that he wasn’t interested.
Man, you can’t settle anything, can you, McDonnell? You just leave her in limbo like everything else in your life.
While he considered his next words, his phone buzzed again.
Dont make me sic Holly on you
That made Paul smile – but he knew if Holly pushed him, he wouldn’t be able to say no.
“We could do Free State Brewery?” Nicole continued, still hopeful. “They do a fun Science Beer thing on Saturdays, all about the chemistry of beer or something. Do you like beer?”
“Um, yeah, beer is good, but um-”
Saved by the buzz. This one was from Holly.
Darling, we need a big strong man tomorrow. U R the only 1 we know.
Paul chuckled. Then he considered: If Ace was serious about moving that giant TV to the basement, they really would need another pair of hands to shepherd it down the stairs. Maybe he could help with just that, then escape?
Bzzzz.
I can go 2 ways from here. Bribery or threats. U pick.
“Is that a new girlfriend who keeps texting you or something?” Nicole asked, her voice just a little tight. “She’s awfully persistent.”
She’s not the only one, chick, he thought.