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Jesse held everything in his right hand as he twined the fingers of his left with Lake’s hand. “Come with me, please.”

“Okay.”

The trust that Lake showed him still surprised him sometimes. Jesse didn’t know what he’d done to deserve such a sweet boy by his side. He led Lake back to the elevator. Using his watch, he opened the elevator and programmed it to go up to the penthouse.

“The penthouse?” Lake asked. “Fancy!”

Jesse laughed. “I’ve been staying there since I sold my last house.”

“You live here too?” Lake questioned.

“It seemed like a good idea at the time,” Jesse told him. “I’ll eventually find a new house.”

Lake squeezed his fingers. “You should have a separation between work and home.”

“I know.” Jesse laughed. “I’ve been working on it. Or I have a reason to work on it now.”

The boy flushed.

“Yes.” Jesse leaned closer. “I’m talking about you.” He brushed his lips gently against Lake’s.

Lake sighed against his mouth as the elevator dinged.

With regret Jesse pulled away. “Come on.” He pulled Lake from the elevator.

Very few people had access to the penthouse with Jesse staying there and he was always alerted if someone did access the floor.

Lake gasped as he looked around with wide eyes filled with wonder. “It’s so big.”

Jesse was embarrassed. “It’s more room than I need, for sure.”

“Dining room?” Lake asked, pointing to the basket that Jesse had set on the counter.

“It looks like you packed for a picnic though.”

Lake shrugged. “I thought we would picnic on your office floor. I didn’t want to disturb your work but wanted to see you.”

“I am so glad that you did,” Jesse said sincerely. He loosened his tie before unbuttoning the top two buttons of his shirt. “But why don’t we still have a picnic?”

“Really?” Lake bounced a little.

“It’s romantic,” Jesse said. “And I think it's a great idea.”

“I thought it was romantic too!” Lake said.

Jesse rolled up the sleeves of his shirt. He’d left his suit jacket on the back of his chair in the office.

Lake had been looking around the open space but froze staring at him.

Jesse stopped what he was doing. “Lake?”

“You have tattoos?”

He looked down. Jesse had just exposed his forearms to Lake. That wasn’t something he ever did. Jesse hadn’t even thought about it. He was so comfortable around the other man. “I do. There are still a few things you don’t know about me.”

Instead of laughing like Jesse had planned, Lake’s eyes filled with tears.

“Baby!” Jesse rushed forward. “I was just kidding. Please don’t cry!” Did Lake hate tattoos or something? It wasn’t like Jesse could get rid of an entire body full.