Trenton had been so stuffed after eating the huge meal Scottie had prepared that he didn’t even think before happily agreeing to move from the dining room table to the sofa in the living room after they ate.
A glass of wine and some plump, plush cushions sounded like the perfect dessert, as far as Trenton was concerned.
Now, though, with Scottie sitting next to him—like, so close Trenton could hear him breathing—it felt like maybe the couch probably wasn’t the best idea after all.
Or maybe it was the best idea…
With Trenton’s mind and heart both racing, it was hard to tell.
“So dinner was good?” Scottie asked for what had to have been the fifth time. “I mean, you can tell me if it wasn’t. I can take it.”
Trenton laughed and shook his head. “It was delicious. And I’m guessing by your apprehensive look that you didn’t call in your celebrity chef this time?”
“No, it was just me.” Scottie sighed. “I didn’t want them to ask too many questions, so I just sort of winged it.”
“What kinds of questions? Are they militant vegetarians or something?” Trenton was mostly joking, of course. He knew who Scottie’s friends were. There was no way Gage had gotten those kinds of muscles without eating more than his fair share of steak.
Scottie snorted. “No, I meant…” He frowned as his voice trailed off, his eyebrows knitting together as he searched Trenton’s eyes. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter. The important part is that the steak actually tasted good. And since you keep saying that it did, I guess I’ll take your word for it.”
“Good, because I meant it.” Trenton smiled, but his mind kept going back to what Scottie had just said.
The look he had given Trenton said more than the words he’d spoken. Whatever questions Scottie’s friends might have had probably had a lot more to do with his choice of dinner guest rather than the dinner itself.
Which, Trenton had to admit, was fair.
He hadn’t exactly been their number one fan, either.
“I’m really glad you came over tonight,” Scottie said, instantly taking Trenton’s mind off anything Gage, Newton, Calvin, and Jack may or may not have said or done. “I was sort of thinking about what you’d mentioned before… about the business stuff?”
“Yeah?” Trenton asked. He’d almost forgotten that had been one of his excuses for talking to Scottie earlier in the week, even though it had probably been the most legitimate excuse of them all. “You’re going to tell me all your secrets?”
Scottie laughed. “That wouldn’t take long, I’m afraid. But Calvin and Jack were just talking to me about doing another photoshoot like we did a couple of months ago… I don’t know if you saw it? That whole marketing push really helped bring a lot of new people in, though.”
Trenton tried to hide his frown. He remembered very well the marketing campaign Scottie was talking about. In fact, Trenton was pretty sure he was the only business owner on Main Street who hadn’t been included.
Again, not that he could blame them, really. Still, it sort of stung to think about.
He was pretty sure it mostly had to do with the fact that he was in favor of repealing the ordinance that kept big businesses out of town, while they were in favor of keeping it.
It seemed like a no-brainer to Trenton—let more businesses into town, and they would attract more people. More people meant more money for all of them.
And if that didn’t work out, it would at least make it easier for anyone who wanted to sell to do so.
It was a win-win situation, as far as Trenton was concerned.
Not that Calvin and his buddies had ever bothered to ask what Trenton’s reasoning was, of course. But then again, if he was going to be totally honest with himself, he had never tried asking about their point of view, either.
Instead, what could have been a civil disagreement had festered until Trenton ended up being persona non grata among the other business owners on Main Street.
Until now, anyway—and even the budding friendship he had with Scottie was probably more tenuous than Trenton would care to admit.
“I remember the ad,” Trenton said, trying to keep his tone as neutral as possible.
“So, I, um, was thinking that…” Scottie swallowed hard, suddenly sounding nervous. “I was thinking that maybe I could ask Jack and Calvin if you could participate in it this time around.” His voice had gone quiet, the last few words barely above a whisper. “That is… if you want to?”
Trenton reached over and placed his hand on Scottie’s leg, just above the knee. He squeezed it a little and smiled as he slowly took a deep breath and exhaled. This whole time, Trenton had been so focused on the mistakes and misunderstandings of his recent past that he had completely missed the fact that Scottie was laying a lot on the line just by bringing this up.
Even if Trenton asked him to go ahead with it, there was no guarantee that Calvin, Jack, or anyone else would be on board with Trenton joining them. And that would no doubt put Scottie in an even more uncomfortable position.
That he would even make the offer meant a lot to Trenton. But there was no way he could accept. He just didn’t want to take the chance of putting Scottie through that kind of hassle and stress.
“I appreciate that you would ask,” Trenton said, still not moving his hand as Scottie’s eyes went slightly wider. Trenton could feel the heat from Scottie’s body and the way it trembled slightly under his touch. Without even thinking, he half-turned to face him, letting his hand ride up just a tiny bit, probably not even an inch. “But I don’t think I should…”
His voice trailed off, but it didn’t really matter. It was hard to hear the words coming out of his own mouth over his racing heartbeat.
“Okay,” Scottie mouthed, but Trenton couldn’t be sure any sound had actually come out. All he could focus on were those full lips as they parted and the rise and fall of Scottie’s chest as his breath hitched.
Trenton leaned in closer and Scottie tilted his head up ever so slightly.
And that was all it took.
Trenton’s eyes closed as their lips met, and it felt even better than he had dared to imagine. Scottie’s lips were surprisingly soft and yielding, and the delicious little noise that came from the back of Scottie’s throat as he opened his mouth to Trenton only made Trenton want to kiss him deeper, harder, longer.
Jesus, Trenton’s cock throbbed so hard it was actually painful as he leaned into the kiss, but that didn’t matter. He would have gone through a lot more pain than that in order to satisfy the curiosity, the craving that had been keeping him up every single night for the past week.
Except then Trenton’s brain kicked in, making his entire body freeze as he realized what he was doing.
“Oh, Jesus,” Trenton whispered, pulling back and taking a breath.
Scottie looked up at him, his pupils blown and his lips still parted invitingly. For a moment, all Trenton could think about was leaning back in for another kiss.
But no.
That couldn’t happen.
This couldn’t happen. Why had he let it happen?
“I have to go,” Trenton said, standing up abruptly and wincing as he saw the confused look flash across Scottie’s face. “I’m sorry. Thank you for dinner, but I just…”
He didn’t even know what to say. What could he say to justify what had just happened between them?
So he didn’t say anything else. Without another word, Trenton turned and crossed the room, only pausing for a moment when he got to the front door. He wanted to look back, wanted to say something to make this right, but… he just couldn’t.
Not now.
Not tonight.
He opened the door and stepped outside before he could change his mind. The cool night air felt like a slap in the face, bringing his mind into focus and only making him freak out even more.
What.
The.
Fuck.
Had he lost his damn mind?
He had just kissed Scottie.
Kissed him!
How was he going to look Scottie in the eye ever again without automatically thinking about that kiss every damn time?
And why—God, why—did he still want to run right back into that house and kiss him again?
Trenton stumbled as he rushed to his car, then nearly dropped the keys as he fished them from his pocket. Going back inside was literally the last thing he should do right now.
But he couldn’t deny it was also the thing he wanted most.
Which only confirmed what Trenton had already suspected.
He really had lost his damn mind.