“So I’ve seen. Zero to eight…inches in less than thirty seconds.” Jake ran an assessing gaze over him, head to toe, and Shea’s cock twitched. Cheeks on fire, he hopped into his jeans. “Yeah, well, okay. So, um, dinner.”
Jake snickered. “What would you like? Something where we have to get dressed up or more down to earth? Pizza? Italian? Chinese? Give me a hint.”
“Pizza.” On cue, his stomach growled. “Yeah. I’ve never really had great pizza, and y’all claim to have the best, so…”
Fully clothed again, Jake was one of those men who looked as delicious dressed as he did naked. He slung the silk tie around his neck. “We don’t claim anything. We know it.” He took Shea’s hand and kissed his cheek. “Come on. I’m ready to take you someplace you’ve never been.”
Jake didn’t realize he already had, and Shea was ready to follow him just about anywhere.
Chapter Ten
More than anything, Jake wanted to go to Shea’s hotel room and spend the night making love to him. God knew the appetizers to their pizza dinner weren’t enough to satisfy him. The moment Shea’s hands skimmed over his body, every nerve ending tingled and caught fire. He’d spent the whole evening staring at Shea’s mouth as he chewed his food and drank wine.
God, he was so screwed.
“You know,” Shea said to him, amusement brimming in his eyes. “You keep lookin’ at me like that, an’ I’m gonna have to take you to my room.”
“Believe me, I wish I could.” He checked his watch. Six o’clock. Terry had assured him she could stay later, but Jake worried Stacey might wonder where he was and get nervous. “If you’d like, we can meet up after you finish shooting tomorrow. I’ll have Stacey, but…” His thoughts raced wildly, and he hated being torn between wanting to see his lover and taking care of his daughter. “Maybe I could introduce you to her. We could have a snack and see how it goes…play it by ear.”
When Shea didn’t answer right away, Jake figured he wasn’t into it, and he couldn’t blame the man. He was gorgeous, a model, and could have his pick of anyone. Why bother to tie himself down to a man with a child who would have to come first?
“You want me to meet her?”
“I’m sorry, that was a dumb idea.”
“Aw, hell no, it’s not. I didn’t say anythin’ ’cause I’m speechless you want to give me that honor. I know how special she is to you.”
It had never occurred to Jake he might need to merge his life with someone else’s again and how he’d manage that. Once Brian left, he figured he’d be alone because he couldn’t separate Jake the father from Jake the man. Now Shea had him thinking there might be a possibility of having both. But first, Shea needed to know the truth.
“You probably think I’m crazy and ridiculously overprotective, but…” Here he hesitated, and Shea set his wineglass down.
“If you don’t want to get into it, I understand. Some things are too personal.”
Jake smiled. “I can’t imagine anything more personal than the times we’ve been together. So let me explain. After Brian—my ex—and I were married, we talked about having a child. After a year or so, we found a surrogate and decided for the first child we’d use my sperm, and for the second, we’d use his.”
“Makes sense. The kids would be as close to full siblings as possible.”
“Yeah, exactly. Everything was fine. We had Stacey, and we were over the moon. Or so I thought. Brian worked from home—he’s a software developer—so he was home while I went to work. We hired our babysitter, Terry, when Stacey turned eighteen months. She became too active and needed too much attention for Brian to watch her and run his business, but he was still there all the time. Things changed when she turned four. She went from being a child who never stopped laughing and dancing and chattering…” The pain rolled through him like a black tide, but he forced it back. He needed to get it out. “She shut down completely.”
“Meaning? I don’t understand.”
“She stopped speaking. Traumatic mutism, the doctor calls it. We have no idea why. She understands everything, and is at or above her grade level for reading comprehension and math, but she does not speak. At all.”
Jake read the shock in Shea’s face and saw him struggle to understand. “Not even one word?”