Page 92 of Should Our Hearts Catch Fire

At the sound of his name, Ash’s attention turns to him. “I see you’ve talked about me.” He walks forward, all leisurely like he hasn’t a care in the world, and holds his hand out. “You must be Ellis.”

Oh. Gabriel has talked about him too?

“Yes.” He takes Ash’s hand. “It’s nice to meet you.” Mostly true. He’s not sure how he feels about Ash’s intense scrutiny.

“It really is,” Ash drawls, his grip tightening a notch. Ellis has a strange sensation of being dissected.

“Ash!” Gabriel barks. “Cut it out.”

Ellis frowns, not sure what Gabriel is referring to. Ash isn’t really doing anything apart from making Ellis vaguely uncomfortable.

Ash, however, holds his hands up, his face the picture of innocence. His grin is shark-like when he speaks to Ellis. “I’ve hearda lotabout you.”

If Gabriel’s flushed cheeks are anything to go by, Ellis can easily guess what that conversation entailed.

Getting the impression that Ash loves to make people uncomfortable, Ellis wills his expression to remain impassive. He smiles a little.

“Only the worst, I hope.”

Ash lets out a hearty laugh, then looks at Gabriel. “I like him.”

“Don’t.”

Ellis covers his smile by taking a sip of his drink. Something about seeing Gabriel all grumpy and irritated makes him want to laugh.

“Wow.” Zeke pops up next to Gabriel. “What did you do to Kieran? I haven’t seen anything that entertaining in a while.”

“Nothing,” Ash says in a way that makes it obvious it was something. “He’s so highly strung, I don’t even have to try to get him riled up.”

“And why do you want to get him riled up?”

Ash just grins, and asks, “When was the last time you saw something entertaining?”

Zeke purses his lips and taps his chin. “Probably when Gabby lost control of his mouth andtold the loverboy over here he’d like to eat his ass.”

With a sharp inhale, the coffee shoots down the wrong pipe and Ellis chokes, coughing up a storm. Through the burning in his nose and the pain of his lungs being torn apart, he hears Gabriel sputtering.

“I didn’t—that’s not—” He turns pleading eyes to Ellis before fixing them on Zeke with a look of utter loathing. The effect is diminished by the bright-red color of his face. “I hate you.”

Zeke doesn’t seem to be taking it personally.

Ash, on the other hand, looks like all he needs is a bowl of popcorn and a comfortable chair.

“Um. Excuse me?” comes a meek voice. They all turn towards it, finding a young man standing awkwardly in front of the till. The look on his face suggests he overheard the whole thing. “Could I get a coffee, please?”

“Oh my god,” Gabriel cries, folding his arms on the countertop and hiding his face in them. “Kill me now. Make it quick.”

Zeke laughs, pats him on the back and leaves to serve the customer.

Now that he’s recovered from the violent coughing fit, Ellis’ mind races. He scours his brain, but while Gabriel seems fond of making ass jokes, he never actually insinuated…well,that.Zeke was just taking the piss and enjoying making Gabriel lose his composure.

Except…Gabriel’s reaction wasn’t an outright denial.

Maybe Ellis is just dumb and oblivious and completely missed the mark? Because if he did and Gabriel has actually been hinting at…um…doing that to him…

He fidgets, his skin hot and tight under his suit. He pulls at his tie, loosening the knot as unbidden images flood his mind. The idea feels weird and…just weird. He’s not a prude, not really, but he probably leans towards the more vanilla side of things. He’s not sure why Gabriel would want to dothat. What would he get out of having Ellis naked and spread out on the bed, lying on his stomach as Gabriel gently pulls his cheeks apart and leans in to lick—

Ellis snaps back to reality, stunned by his own raging imagination. He takes a quick drink of his coffee to moisturize his Sahara-dry throat and adjusts his stance to cover up the growing erection in his pants. When he chances a look at Gabriel, he finds him watching Ellis with a surprised expression. Shit. Just how strongly was he projecting his emotions? Did he…did Gabriel feel that?