Scottie followed Trenton out of the office and back through the front of Steamin’ Beans. This visit had been completely unexpected, but in the best possible way.
For one, Scottie really had been starving. And if he was being completely honest, he hadn’t been looking forward to the prospect of making his own lunch and then eating it alone in his office.
But he had also just been thinking about Trenton—not a surprise, since that seemed to be his new favorite thing to do.
And then Trenton had shown up, as if he had somehow been summoned from across the street by Scottie’s thoughts.
It had been perfect.
Perfect timing.
Perfect food.
Just… perfect.
“Thanks for coming over,” Scottie said as he held the door open for Trenton. “And thank you again for lunch. That sandwich was amazing.”
“I’m really glad you liked it,” Trenton said, smiling. “And thank you for the dinner invitation. I’ll see you on Tuesday.”
“Can’t wait,” Scottie said, his own smile growing even wider at the thought. “Enjoy the rest of your day.”
“You do the same,” Trenton said, waving goodbye as he walked out the door.
For a moment, Scottie just stood there, watching him walk back across the street. Every once in a while, he still found himself being surprised that Trenton had turned out to be a genuinely nice guy under that strict, no-nonsense exterior.
A nice, cute guy who could make a damn good sandwich.
“Was that Trenton Lewis who was just leaving here?” Calvin’s voice startled Scottie as he walked through the door. “I had to ask Jack to take a look, just in case my eyes were playing tricks on me.” His face suddenly went serious. “Please don’t tell me he came here to complain about something.”
“No, not at all,” Scottie answered immediately. “He was just, um…”
Calvin gave him a funny look as his voice trailed off, but luckily Jack had caught up just in time to distract Calvin before he could question Scottie further.
“That was Trenton, wasn’t it?” Jack asked, looking from Calvin to Scottie and back again. “You took off so fast down here, I thought maybe there had been a Beyoncé sighting or something.”
“Now that would have been worth the rush.” Calvin smiled at Jack before turning his attention back to Scottie. “But seriously, what did Trenton want? If he wasn’t complaining, then… I guess I’ve never known him to do anything else, honestly.”
“He was thanking me for dinner the other night,” Scottie said, feeling defensive on Trenton’s behalf. Because while Calvin did have a point—he really had only seen that side of Trenton up to this point—Scottie knew first-hand that there was more to Trenton Lewis than that. This wasn’t the time or place to try and convince Calvin and Jack, though. “He was really nice, as a matter of fact. He brought me some food, and then he stayed and talked to me for a few minutes.”
Which was technically all one hundred percent true. He was just leaving out the tiny part about inviting Trenton over for dinner again.
But if Calvin couldn’t imagine Trenton coming over and being nice for a few minutes in the middle of the day, he really wasn’t going to be able to wrap his head around dinner.
Scottie was pretty sure the only reason he’d gotten away with it the first time without answering too many questions was because of Sasha. He’d been on the verge of tears for at least seventy-two hours the week before, so everyone had given him plenty of love and support.
Now, though?
There would definitely be questions if Scottie mentioned the possibility of a second dinner with Trenton.
And they were questions he wasn’t sure he had the answers to.
“Have you eaten lunch yet?” Calvin asked, changing the subject even though Scottie could tell from his expression he still had more he wanted to say. “Jack and I thought we could talk about the new photoshoot we’ve got planned with Newton if you have time. Since the last one worked out so well, we’re hoping everyone will want to try it again.”
“Sure,” Scottie said, nodding toward a nearby table. “Grab a seat and I’ll get you some food going. The usual?”
“Yes, please,” Jack answered, grinning as he pulled out a chair for Calvin before sitting down himself. “You know us too well, Scottie.”
Scottie returned the smile before heading to the back to grab them some food. He did know them both really well. He knew what they liked and what they didn’t. He could usually tell what they thought about any given subject just from the looks on their faces.
Which was exactly why he wasn’t going to mention anything else about Trenton today unless they specifically asked.
He already knew what each of them thought.
Scottie grimaced as he looked into his bathroom mirror and inspected what looked like the beginning of a pimple on his chin.
Stress, most likely.
It felt like he’d been living sort of a double life the past couple of days—pretending that he wasn’t actually thinking about Trenton constantly when his friends were around, while secretly counting down the hours until it was time for Trenton to come over again for dinner.
He didn’t know how actual double agents managed to pull it off without breaking under the pressure. It had only been forty-eight hours, and Scottie was exhausted.
And then there was the issue of not being able to share his anxiety and excitement with the people closest to him. He was terrible at keeping secrets on the best of days, but this felt different.
It wasn’t like he could even do anything about his little crush on Trenton, but it still would have been nice to tell his friends about it.
Still, this was probably for the best.
Sooner or later, Scottie was going to have to get over the crush he’d been holding onto and move on to someone who he might actually have a chance with. Someone who might actually like him back.
But talking to Trenton made it easy to forget that any of that mattered. Trenton made it easy to forget about everything except those gorgeous eyes and that surprisingly gentle, caring smile that always seemed to catch Scottie off guard and take his breath away all at once.
Trenton might be straight, but damn if he didn’t make Scottie want to believe otherwise sometimes.
Or all the time, really.
Huffing out a short breath, Scottie tried to look past the blemish on his face and make sure the rest of him actually looked okay.
Hair was in place.
Clothes were nice but not too much for a quiet dinner at home.
All in all, he felt good and didn’t look too bad.
Not that any of that really mattered. Not that it was a date or anything, even if it did sort of feel like one.
He moved quickly from the bathroom through the rest of the house, stopping to check on Sasha and give her some love before continuing on to the kitchen.
At least he could say that he was responsible for all of tonight’s meal, but whether or not it was actually going to be something worth bragging about remained to be seen.
He had taken Gage’s suggestion from last time, preparing steak, potatoes, and vegetables for the meal tonight.
And how hard could that be, right?
A little while longer and it should all be done—just in time for Trenton to get there and enjoy it.
Hopefully.
Please, God, don’t let me mess up this meal.
With a determined nod, he opened the fridge and pulled out the dish that he’d been using to marinate the steaks. He could do this. It would be good.
And if it wasn’t, well… hopefully Trenton would at least bring some more of that wine.
It might come in handy this time.