Page 39 of Just A Little Magic

Do you have plans for lunch?

Barrett

No, why?

Jakob

Meet Rory and me at Stone and Vine at noon.

Barrett

Am I going to regret this?

Jakob

We would never steer you wrong. See you at noon.

I wasn’t surprised that the boys picked Stone and Vine for our meeting. It was a favorite of Rory’s since it was where he and his Daddy, Gabe, hatched their cover story for an ill-fated fake dating plan. I’d been filling in at the counter because our regular person had been out sick, and I’d known they were besotted from the beginning. It was beyond me why they’d thought it wouldn’t turn real immediately. They’d spent the whole date making heart eyes at each other.

They were relationship goals. Gabriel was thrilled to have a partner who traveled with him, and Rory found someone who unapologetically cheered him on.

Jakob and Reed were just as in love. They’d met several years ago when Jakob ran into Reed with his car. It had absolutely been Jakob’s fault, and he’d decided on the spot that it was fate.

Jakob was like a dog with a bone when he pursued Reed. The doc never had a chance. As I remember, he didn’t try hard to get away. Jakob was sweet, but that man had more depth than people realized. Between his genius IQ and a backbone of steel, I didn’t relish the idea of getting on his bad side.

Rory and Jakob were already there when I arrived. Their heads were together as they worked on a shared coloring book at one of the back tables. Rory always liked to sit close to the fireplace because he said it gave him the best views of the muralOwen had painted on the walls. As I approached the table, I saw it was the custom coloring book we kept in stock that had images from the mural. I was struck by how jealous I was of their Daddies, and that came with more than a dash of shame. I wasn’t begrudging their happiness but damned if I didn’t want some for myself.

“Hey, guys, sorry I’m late. I couldn’t find parking.”

They both looked up and gave the most suspicious smiles I’d ever seen on them. I felt like prey for two Cheshire cats. Whatever reason they’d summoned me for, I knew I’d have to accept it. The gleam in their eyes told me my fate had been sealed and there was no point in pretending we were on equal footing.

“Oh, no worries, I never mind spending time here,” Rory said with a fond smile.

“But we need to have an important conversation,” Jakob interjected.

Before I could ask what the important conversation entailed, our server interrupted to bring the drinks the boys had already ordered and my usual cup of black coffee. We ordered our lunch and waited until the server moved away to continue our conversation. The wait was about to send me over the edge.

“Is someone going to tell me what’s going on?” Blunt, yes, but I couldn’t make myself wait any longer.

“You know Owen is signed up for the date auction, right?” Rory started.

I nodded.

“Do you know he signed up for the vanilla date option? No kink, and he threw in a design consult. I think it’s going to raise a lot of money.”

“Okay…” I said warily.

“You also know I will have the totals, right?” Jakob asked

I nodded slowly at his words. “Yeah, the bids are online, and the winners are announced at the club, right?”

“Correct,” Rory said crisply, but his faux-seriousness was ruined by the mischievous sparkle in his bright-green eyes.

“For an appropriate donation, we can make sure you win,” Jakob said in a rush when the secret plan became too much to be held in. “But it has to be triple since it’s for charity.”

“Done.”Holy shit.Ihad been thinking about the auction, and my original plan was to donate a shitload and hope it was stupid high enough to win.

The thought of Owen on a date, even one for charity, made every nerve in my body twitch, and not in a good way. I knew we were destined to be more than best friends, and I just needed to figure out how to make him see that too.

---