When I returned to the table, I noticed Ellison had moved to my seat, which meant I was relegated to the seat farthest from the conversation. That was fine by me. I grabbed the plate with my scone crumbs on it and helped myself to another one.
I wasn’t paying attention to the conversation, so when Ellison’s hand reached for mine under the table, I blinked over at him in surprise. He was in the middle of talking to Jake, who was asking Ellison questions about how we’d met. Jake’s sister had wandered off to talk to someone at another table.
Jake’s eyes met mine. They carried the same heat and promise he’d looked at me with last night. I kept my face as neutral as possible.
Ellison responded to the man’s question. “It took me a while to stop thinking of him as that kid I’d kind of known at Yale,” he admitted. “I realized people can change a lot in fifteen years. Grey certainly has.”
“How so?” Jake asked, keeping his hungry eyes on me.
Ellison’s hand tightened in mine. “Unfortunately, he’s harder to impress. He doesn’t trust as easily. But he’s also incredibly kind and generous. He’s charity-minded, which he may have been back then and I just didn’t realize it. He’s also…” He glanced at me before looking back at Jake with a pointed stare. “Rabidly monogamous.”
It took my brain a beat to process what he’d said, and then I had to fight not to laugh. I leaned in and whispered in his ear. “If there’s going to be a catfight here, save me a seat in the front row.”
His eyes were angry slits when he turned his glare on me. God, he was sexy as fuck, especially when annoyed. I loved that he was pretending to be jealous over a fictional relationship.
“Message received,” Jake said with dancing eyes. “But if you know your house party history, you’ll admit sometimes the rules were meant to be broken in the pursuit of entertainment.”
I ran the tip of my nose down the thin skin behind Ellison’s ear to his neck, where I nuzzled him and pressed kisses. “Mm. Not me,” I said. “Not sure I could handle more entertainment than what Ellison provides.”
Ellison’s skin flushed dark pink, and I noticed the growing bulge between his legs under the edge of the table.
Well, shit.
Was that for me? Either Ells was one hell of a Method actor, or he was a lot more interested in me than I’d allowed myself to believe, and that knowledge made my throat go dry.
I desperately wished I could take it further, secret him back upstairs and continue this ruse behind closed doors. But I knew that wasn’t possible.
Eyes on the prize, Blackwood. I was at this party to acquire a building, not to get laid.
Not that I believed for a minute that getting laid was actually on the table, whether Ellison was attracted to me or not.
Jake laughed and made a teasing comment about Ellison’s red-faced discomfort. Instead of ignoring the pompous ass, Ellison said, “I’m just remembering some entertainment we got up to last night when Grey walked into the bathroom while I was in the shower and— Sorry, that’s too much information.”
I noticed Ellison’s palm had turned damp in mine. I let go of it to put my arm around him instead. “Jake doesn’t want to hear about our shenanigans, sweetie,” I said before pressing a kiss to Ells’s cheek.
Jake must have thought all of this was a kind of flirting. “Not true. I’d like to hear about it or join it. Just let me know what room you’re in, and I’ll be happy to add to the entertainment.”
Thankfully, Binnie’s niece Cate joined us before I could growl out a warning for Jake to stay the fuck away from Ellison.
“I love this place so much,” she exclaimed. “I wish I could come more often. Remember when Aunt Binnie let us paint the boardwalk for Fourth of July that one year?”
The conversation turned to childhood memories of previous visits here. Jake eventually wandered off to find more interesting people to talk to, and I felt Ellison’s body lose some tension at his departure. I wondered if he only cared out of concern for our reputations here or if it was possible there was another reason. For all I knew, it was his habit to be jealous of someone flirting with his partner regardless of who it was and how serious he was about them.
Against my best interest, I enjoyed the fictional jealousy. It was nice to have someone claim possession of me, even if it was all for show.
I removed my arm from around his shoulder so I could finish my scone and coffee. After a few minutes of listening to Cate and Ellison talk about their favorite memories, I realized Ellison had taken my hand again. I wasn’t even sure he realized he’d done it. It felt natural to sit there like that with him, and when I needed to use my hand again, I pulled his hand over and rested it on my thigh while I reached for the pot of strawberry preserves in the center of the table. It was awfully domestic for someone like me, but I liked it.
Until I tuned back into the conversation between Ellison and Cate.
“Fair warning, Mom wants you to escort me to the Ballard’s charity ball in November, and she’s hoping you’ll come to Thanksgiving at the house in Connecticut since your parents have plans to do some traveling in the Mediterranean that week.”
“Sounds good,” Ellison said before taking a big bite of scone.
I cleared my throat and returned my hand to his with a squeeze, reminding him of my existence. If we were truly dating, I wouldn’t be able to let this conversation go without participating. Also, I wouldn’t exactly be thrilled hearing about all of the damned dating events they’d been to together. “Actually, sweetheart, my mother is expecting us for Thanksgiving. Let me talk to her and see if we can change our plans.”
Ellison nearly choked on the scone. “Shit, er, crap. I mean, sorry. Of course. Sorry.” His stammering was actually kind of adorable. I loved it when he was thrown off-balance. “Yes, we’ll check with… with your mom before making any solid plans. I’d, uh, hate to disappoint her.”
I smiled serenely at Cate. “Thanks for the invitation.” Not that you invited me.
She was obviously embarrassed by the oversight, but I wasn’t quite that quick to forgive. It was a common experience the gay men I knew in relationships had mentioned before, having the relationship completely ignored when making social plans, but experiencing it here now was still startling.
“I’m so sorry,” she said. “Of course you’re welcome. And feel free to bring your mother too!”
“That’s not necessary,” Ellison assured her before looking at me with an apology in his eyes. “I assumed your mom would be on one of her cruises. We’ll have to ask her what she has planned for the holidays.”
I smiled at Cate with my most polite mask on. “It’s true. My mother can’t get enough of cruises. She’s on one right now on the Danube. Says it’s beautiful this time of year.”
She seemed relieved at my change of subject and proceeded to ask questions about other cruises my mom and her friends had been on. Her parents had been on some of the same trips, so we were able to speak comfortably enough until a uniformed server invited us to help ourselves to the breakfast buffet they’d laid out on the sideboard. I quickly offered to make Ellison a plate so I could stand up and make a temporary escape.