Which meant he had no opportunity to have a private conversation with Charlie about any of it. And for now, that suited Jeremy just fine.
Because he was hurt, and that was making him pissed. It was probably better to chill his ass out for a while before trying to talk through everything with the man he loved.
When he entered the gym, the first thing he saw was Eileen, lying on her back, legs sticking up everywhere, as she stared at Cy, perched on a high shelf of equipment and glaring down at the puppy. Cy. Jeremy hadn’t even realized he’d settled on a name for their newest resident until just then. Charlie’s name. Of course.
Crossing the gym to the work area in the back corner of the room, Jeremy laid eyes on Charlie for the first time since last night. And just seeing him made Jeremy’s body go haywire.
Red--hot desire spiked his pulse because being inside Charlie last night had been fucking amazing. Soul--deep yearning made his heart pang with want to touch Charlie again, to be with him, to claim him once and for all. And gut--punching hurt wracked through him all over again as his brain unhelpfully replayed the words Jeremy had overheard.
“Hey,” Jeremy said as he approached Marz’s desk. “Sorry I’m late. Overslept.” Hard as it was, Jeremy didn’t look at Charlie. Acting as casual as he could, he rounded the new table of computers and took a seat across from Becca and Nick.
“No worries, hoss,” Marz said in his normal jovial way.
“I’ll just dive back in where I left off last night,” Jeremy said, busying himself with opening the files he needed and pretending to read his notes from the night before.
“Everything okay?” Nick asked.
“Yeah, sure,” Jeremy said. When he realized Nick was staring at him, he finally looked up. “What?”
For a long moment, Jeremy was sure Nick was going to push the issue. Damn brother could be really annoyingly perceptive when you didn’t want him to be. But Nick just shrugged. “Nothing.”
Jeremy meant to look right back down again, but his gaze betrayed him, straying over toward Charlie.
Charlie was looking at him, and his whole face brightened when they made eye contact, his lips lifting into a small smile.
Well, that’s fucking confusing.
Jeremy managed a single nod and ducked his chin, though he didn’t miss the hurt flashing through Charlie’s eyes at the lack of any normal greeting. But Jeremy didn’t have it in him to put on a happy face this morning, not when it was possible that he’d fallen in love with a man who wasn’t anywhere close to being there with him.
The whole morning went on like that. Jeremy would be sure Charlie was staring at him, and would look up only for Charlie to quickly look away. Or Jeremy would find himself staring at Charlie, only to pretend that he was absolutely engrossed in what he was reading on his monitor when Charlie noticed.
“Food break?” Marz asked.
Frowning, Jeremy looked at the little digital clock in the bottom corner of his computer screen to find that it was quarter after twelve.
“I’ll throw some sandwiches together, if you like,” Charlie offered. “I can bring everything back over here with some drinks. Or whatever.”
“That would be awesome,” Marz said.
Charlie rose and nailed Jeremy with a stare. “Wanna help?” He held up his bum hand.
Jeremy’s heart tripped into sprint. The conversation he wanted to have with Charlie couldn’t be compressed into the ten minutes it would take to make lunch. Assuming they’d even be alone over at the apartment. But he also didn’t want to be put in the position of pretending nothing was wrong. “Sorry, but I’m almost done with a section of documents and I’d, uh, really like to finish it.”
He felt like an ass making up the excuse, especially as the words seemed to deflate Charlie.
The guy hugged himself. “Oh, sure. Of course.”
“I’m at a good stopping place,” Becca said. “So I’ll help.” She got up, smiled at Charlie, and they left.
Jeremy tried to focus on reading, but found himself rereading the same lines over and over. By the time he got to the end of the briefing document he’d been working on, he had no idea what it said.
He sighed, and Nick and Marz both turned to him.
“What’s going on?” Nick asked just as Marz said, “What’s up with you and Charlie?”
Nick and Marz were gonna drill him about this?
Kill me now. “Nothing,” Jeremy said, training his gaze at the screen. If he made eye contact with either of them, the jig was gonna be up.
A minute passed, maybe two. Jeremy glanced up to find Nick smirking at him.
“Dude,” Nick said. “You’re so full of shit right now.”
“For real,” Marz said. “Tension’s been so thick in here all morning it’s been hard to breathe.”
Ooooor maybe the jig was already up. Jeremy groaned and hung his head backward. He ground the heels of his palms into his eyes. “Fuck.”
“Does this have anything to do with Charlie walk--of--shaming it outta your room this morning at oh--dark--hundred?” Nick asked.