Page 21

Okay, I’ve been here since eight in the morning, so four hours early.

Still, I found it instantly peaceful with the sweet scents mixed with the coffee, and I wandered over to the tables inside the fenced-off area that has been full of dogs the whole time.

I’m glad I brought my laptop so I could get some work done. The few adjustments still left to review before we can launch an alpha version of the app will take us a few weeks, but we’re getting through them easily enough.

I texted Carter last night once my siblings left my apartment. Just as I was about to go to sleep, actually, and he wrote back right away asking when I had time for us to meet.

I informed him I’d be busy all of Thursday and Friday because of the booking I’d just received earlier, and he asked me to meet him here at noon so we’d have today and the weekend to get ready for the ball.

He was more than accommodating, and so were his bosses when he informed them he’d need some time off today for a personal matter.

Though considering his bosses are his college best friend and the husband of his other college best friend—who I’m sure Carter considers a good friend as well—I imagine he did tell them the truth about why he’ll be busy today.

I need to ask, though, because I want him to know I trust him to tell whoever he feels needs to know.

In any case, I’ve been productive today, talking back and forth with Tristan about how high the chances are of actually getting Michelle Blackwell to become an investor.

He’s told me he thinks they’re high, and he also assured me he’ll be at the ball with his husband as well, so I’ll have some support besides Carter and my parents. Though Tristan offers a different kind of support for me.

My hope is to only need one investor since William and Parker, my two programmers, will also receive a small percentage of ESoothe once it launches, and like I told Carter, Harvard has a thirty percent ownership.

To be fair, I like Harvard.

I think they’re a great institution that, despite the cost and pedigree, strives toward education and seeking the truth in this world.

I don’t necessarily mind the fact that they own a part of my research, since it’s thanks to their belief in me that I managed to make it in the first place, but I’m just always aware of the fact that this isn’t up for grabs.

I also want to protect ESoothe and my algorithm. I’ve maintained that I want to keep it as secret as possible so no one can use it for nefarious purposes. It could—in theory—be used to manipulate people’s emotional state to the point of physical pain. Not that I’ve told anyone that.

Like has been happening since I parked myself at this table hours ago, a dog comes over and distracts me—not that I was getting any work done, I’m well aware that I was lost in thought.

The cute little dachshund does his best to keep his legs perched on the table, but he keeps falling over, so I look around for his owner and see an older woman smiling at us, and she nods. I lean down and pick him up without taking off my earbuds.

“You’re cute,” I murmur, while rubbing behind his ears and along his back.

I’ve always loved dogs, all kinds really, and all day I’ve been thankful for the distraction so I don’t think about Carter too much. Sonny especially, who passed a long time ago, has been on my mind a lot.

So much so that I went looking on my phone and found a bunch of pictures of us together.

He was the best.

“Is he yours?” I hear Carter’s soothing voice over the music since I don’t have the noise cancelling option turned on.

I look up to see him smiling at us. Today he’s wearing a dark gray button down with dark brown chinos that are clearly tailored since he’s not wearing a belt and they fit perfectly.

His rich black hair is parted in the middle, the front bits almost covering his curved eyebrows and somehow making his dark eyes stand out even more than usual.

“No,” I tell him quickly. “He just came over to say hello.”

“You make a picture of happiness, the two of you,” he tells me, then points behind him. “I’m going to grab something to eat, and I thought we could say hi to Theo, then maybe go out for a walk?”

“Yeah, sure. I’ll need to wash my hands.”

“Sure, the bathroom is through there.” He points to the back left corner of the bakery. You want me to get you a refill?” He nods at my empty cup.

“Please. It’s a simple iced cappuccino, but please get me a decaf.”

“You got it.”

He walks away, and after another moment, I regretfully put down the dog then start packing my stuff into my backpack.

I meet him by the register when I get back from the bathroom, and he smiles at me again, so relaxed, like he doesn’t... like he’s actually glad to see me.

I don’t understand how it’s possible after everything that happened yesterday afternoon, but I don’t think questioning it now is a good idea.

“Hello,” I hear Theo call out as soon as Carter walks through the swinging door behind the counter. “Sebas told me this morning you’d swing by,” he says happily. I can see I’ve interpreted his tone correctly when I too walk into the bakery’s kitchen.

“I just thought we could catch up,” Carter tells him, and leans in for a quick hug that Theo can’t reciprocate because his hands are buried in a huge ball of dough. “You remember Liam, right?”

“Of course. Sorry, I’ll greet you properly in about five minutes.”

“It’s okay,” I tell him softly, and I get a small smile in return.

“So I thought you’d be the first person for us to talk to about this.” Carter’s tone is brisk, and when he smiles I can tell it’s not…usual. My frown is instant, and so is Theo’s, but he doesn’t look up from his worktable.

“What’s this ?” he asks.

“Liam and I have to pretend we’re boyfriends, like long-term boyfriends, next Monday.”

Theo’s body freezes for a second, and then, like he’s been rebooted, he keeps moving.

“You can’t say shit like that when I’m not supposed to stop kneading, Carter. Shit, what the hell are you talking about?” He looks back at him, and then at me, though I can tell he tones down his frown for me.

“It’s a long story, but you told me about Harrison and Tristan, and I thought if we explain all of this to you, then you can tell us if we need professional help to pull this off, or if you think we can sell it by ourselves.”

I hadn’t thought about asking Tristan for help with this situation. In truth, I was kind of hoping he’d never hear about it, so now I’m invested in Theo’s answer.

“Just tell me what happened,” he says softly and focuses his gaze back on his hands. “And don’t leave any details out, okay?”

So Carter does. Well, he hesitates when he gets to the part about all the awful shit Dirk said, but Theo was still snickering at Carter’s grave robbing and necrophilia jokes, so I doubt he noticed how I nodded at Carter in acceptance.

If he trusts Theo, then so do I, and if this goes well and it means I won’t have to tell someone whose business I retain about my personal life, then all the better.

Carter finishes with the details of the NDA my parents had Dirk sign when I told them we’d become romantically involved back when we were both at Juilliard.

“Okay, that means you’re kind of covered there, and I suppose you already called those lawyers?” He doesn’t look up, but I understand from context that he’s asking me.

“Yes, my parents talked to him last night, and the lawyer said the NDA prohibits Dirk from talking to any media outlets about his relationship with me, or about our family. It doesn’t say anything about physically staying away from me or mentioning we were together while in a public space.”

Theo hums thoughtfully, kneads the dough one more time before shaping it into a perfect round ball, then dumps it into a bowl and covers it with cellophane. Only once the bowl is inside the commercial refrigerator does he look at both of us.

“I think you should tell Tristan,” he says decisively and I want to groan.

“Mainly because he’ll figure out a way to get this asshole to sign a way better NDA.

I’ve seen him do that, and it’s pretty impressive what clauses he can come up with on the fly.

” He sighs and walks over to Carter, then leans his hip against the counter.

“I do think you can fake it without his help, though. But you need to figure out where you met, why you started dating, why you love each other, and you probably need to get to know each other a lot better. Pet peeves, likes and dislikes. Favorite foods, colors, movies, TV shows, sports teams. All of it. If you were with this dick for a decade, there’s a good chance he’ll be able to spot a chink in your armor right away.

” He points at Carter then turns to me. “But you can basically make up whatever you want about Carter if you’re put on the spot because he doesn’t know shit about Carter. ”

“That makes sense,” Carter muses. Our eyes lock and I can’t look away, knowing and dreading the main thing I need to tell him for Dirk to believe we’re in a relationship.

I have no idea how it’s going to go when I tell Carter that when I’m in love with a man, I want to be touching him all the time.

And will I like it?