More Than Words - Jerry Cole Page 0,1

had said their vows. And anyway, there had been nothing in the man’s behavior with him to even suggest that they might be able to explore anything more. And why would there be? They were strangers to each other.

Come on, back to work, Benny! Less daydreaming, more sorting.

He took the coffee back into his office and slipped the glasses back over his eyes. Because of his color blindness, he needed these specially-made ones to help him when he was editing. He sipped while he continued working and eventually, he had the album complete. He would upload it as soon as Chandler gave the go-ahead. As he prepared to close the file, one last picture caught his eye. He paused with his finger over the cursor, and then pressed it so the picture was enlarged.

“Fuck! You’re one sexy-assed babe, aren’t you?”

His quiet exclamation at the picture he couldn’t peel his gaze away from was both a statement of fact and an unwilling admission of attraction. Jordan’s bowtie had been loosened, his still-crisp white tuxedo shirt somehow managing to emphasize his broad chest. His suit jacket was stretched even more open by the hand he had raised to catch the separated piece from the oversized ball-and-chain keyring that Ry and Chan had each thrown out to the single guys and ladies in imitation of the ritual among straight couples.

His face creased in a tired smile. Jordan had caught the ball section and Chantal, Chandler’s baby sister, had caught the chain. He could still hear the raucous laughter that greeted her brandishing the chain.

“Hey, watch out there, Jay! Be careful of the jailbait!” Chandler had called out with a wide grin.

“Oh hush it, Chan!” she’d retorted, making everyone laugh again. “Just coz you’re off the market now doesn’t mean you get to stifle my dreams.”

Jordan’s laughter had stirred something in the pit of Bennett’s stomach before he had been distracted by Mrs. Tucker coming to stand next to him with a hunk of wedding cake on a plate.

“I’ve been watching you, Bennett Kincaid, and you have barely eaten anything all evening,” she said reprovingly.

“I’m fine, Mrs. Tucker,” he’d assured her with a smile, but she’d been adamant.

“If you think for one moment that I’ll allow you to work without sustenance, you’ve got a second think coming, young man. Ry would never forgive me if you passed out from hunger.”

The laughter in her eyes told him she was teasing him, but he knew she wouldn’t move until he took the plate and had some of the cake. So he’d taken the plate from her and scarfed down the cake, grateful for the sugar rush it gave him. She’d been right, though…he hadn’t eaten much at all at dinner and after the cake, his stomach rumbled, demanding real food. He went in search of something to eat and the next time he had seen Jordan, he had been leaning casually against the side of the gazebo smiling indulgently down at Chantal, listening to whatever she was telling him with great animation.

As though he felt Bennett’s gaze on him, Jordan had turned his head and looked directly at him. Bennett’s heart skipped a beat again now as he remembered how heat had suffused his whole body at the look and how the smile that followed almost immediately after had left him feeling slightly breathless, as though he’d been hit with a blast of hot air directly in the face. And he had been disturbed to feel his cheeks burning with what was definitely a rare blush.

Come on, Benny! Snap out of it! You’ve got things to do, none of them involving this guy you don’t know and may not see again for a long time.

Moving decisively, he minimized the picture and saved and closed the file, attaching it to an email message that he saved to send to Ry and Chan. That done, he shut off the light in his office, took the empty coffee mug back to the kitchen and rinsed it before putting it in the dishwasher. Then he made sure everything was locked up and went to his bedroom, shucking his clothes and sliding beneath the covers on his bed, dislodging his cat, Claus, who rumbled with displeasure before settling in again right next to his legs. He was too damned tired to shower now. Morning would suffice for that.

Cool sheets soothed his skin but did nothing to calm his thoughts which had returned, like a homing pigeon to its dovecote, to Jordan