Page 41 of Total Creative Control
Aaron risked another glance, wondering what memories Lewis guarded. He wasn’t bold enough to ask and didn’t really have the right. Despite the unexpected shift in their relationship this weekend, there was no way he dared probe into Lewis’s childhood. That was way over the line—too intimate, too dangerous.
And yet…
His skin heated as he remembered the feel of Lewis’s hands on him earlier. It had almost been worth making such an embarrassing hash of climbing over the gate to have Lewis help him down. Even now, he could feel the lingering heat of Lewis’s hands against the bare skin at his waist, the jolting physical connection like a circuit closing.
The intense look he’d seen in Lewis’s eyes before he’d let go.
Predatory, his mind supplied.Hungry. For a frantic moment, Aaron had imagined Lewis might kiss him. He’d felt his hands tighten on his waist, and then…
Well, then nothing.
Because of course Lewis wouldn’t kiss him. He’d made that very clear from day one. Besides, only a month ago, Lewis had been sleeping with Mason Nash, an actual model. Lewis could get anyone he liked into bed—and frequently did—so why the hell would he be interested in Aaron?
More to the point, why would Aaron be interested in Lewis? The last thing he wanted was to be his boss's latest one-hit wonder. It was stupid—not to mention, risky—to even contemplate it.
“There’s a fantastic fish-and-chip restaurant right on the front,” Aaron said, to distract himself from his thoughts, “with loads of outdoor seating. It’s great, but you do have to fend off the seagulls.”
“Fucking seagulls.” Lewis chuckled as he spoke. “Once, in Brighton, one of the buggers snatched a pasty right out of Owen’s hand. Frightened the life out of us. Then Owen started chasing it down the pier, yelling at it to give his bloody pasty back. He was so fucking outraged! I nearly killed myself laughing.”
Aaron grinned at the image. “Did he succeed?”
“Nah, the seagull got it.” He was still smiling though, the expression smoothing out the divot between his brows. He caught Aaron looking and glanced away, still smiling.
Within another ten minutes, they were at the restaurant, which perched on the promenade and overlooked the harbour. Aaron grabbed a picnic table just being vacated by a tired-looking family, while Lewis went up to the counter to order for them both, coming back with two bottles of lager and a buzzer so they’d know when to collect their order.
They sat opposite each other at the picnic table, the sea stretching out to Aaron’s left and the last of the day's sunshine warming his back. Lewis lifted his beer in salute. “Here’s to fasting and meditation.”
Aaron knocked his bottle against Lewis’s. “May your chakras be always aligned.”
Lewis barked a laugh, then tipped back his head to drink. Helplessly, Aaron’s gaze was drawn to those mobile, expressive lips wrapped around the slim neck of the bottle, and to the movement of Lewis’s throat as he swallowed.
Jesus, he was sexy. All the more so because he didn’t even try. He just sat there in his gorgeous sweater with the wind ruffling his hair, looking effortlessly stunning.
Eventually, Lewis lowered the bottle with a satisfied sigh, and Aaron quickly took a gulp of his own beer to hide that he’d been staring. But when he set his bottle back down, he found Lewis’s eyes trained onhim. On his mouth, in fact, before lifting slowly to Aaron’s eyes with an expression Aaron might have described asavidif he hadn’t known better.
He broke their gaze, making a sound painfully like a nervous giggle, which he covered by saying, “We should go paddling, after we’ve eaten.”
“Paddling?”
“Yeah. You can't visit the seaside and not get your feet wet. It’s the law.”
Lewis raised one beautiful eyebrow. “I’ve never heard of that law.”
“Well, luckily for you, I’m here to keep you on the straight and narrow.”
“Ha,” Lewis said, smiling. “Is that what you’re doing?”
Jesus.Was heflirting?
Aaron twisted his bottle on the table, staring at the damp ring it left on the wood. “You know me. Not so much of the straight.”
And washeflirting back?
Across the table, their eyes met again, Lewis’s serious and searching and… Aaron might have saiduncertainif that hadn’t been patently ridiculous. Impossible, in fact. Lewis Hunter was the most certain man Aaron had ever met.
“It would be—” Lewis began, just as the buzzer went off, making them both jump.
Lewis grabbed it and stood up so fast the whole table shook. “I’ll go get the food,” he said, disappearing with the alacrity of a man saved by the bell, leaving Aaron bemused and wondering what, if anything, had just happened.