For Vik. He was excited for Vik.
It took his breath away and he paused mid-sentence, just staring into Temple’s eyes. He couldn’t help himself. Temple touched him too, as if he was also helpless, putting a hand on Vik’s knee and squeezing.
“I’m happy for you,” he told Vik. “I know how much you’d wanted to do that. Own a coffee shop.”
Vik nodded. “Henry encouraged me, you know? But I was scared of quitting my job and taking that leap.” He swallowed. “Then when he was gone, I was filled with so much regret that I hadn’t followed my dreams. And I questioned if I should at all because he wouldn’t be around to see it.”
“But he’s around.” Temple squeezed his knee again and warmth spread throughout Vik’s body at that contact. “I believe he’s with you.”
“And you.” Vik smiled. “You don’t think he’d leave you alone, do you? He loved you so much.”
Temple’s Adam’s apple bobbed. “I loved him, too.”
“I know.” Vik couldn’t recall when or how his hand ended up on Temple’s jaw, cupping him, but there it was. He had a brief moment to experience the roughness of Temple’s scruffy beard before jerking himself away and getting to his feet. “Um, how long will you be in town?”
Temple stood as well, shrugging broad shoulders. His eyes were laser-focused on Vik when he said, “I’ve got no plans to leave, but that can change if a job comes up that I can’t say no to.”
Vik nodded. Disappointment made the butterflies floating around in his chest deflate. “Right.”
Temple opened his mouth, closed it, then opened it again. “I should go.”
Vik glanced over at the time. Damn. They’d been talking for almost two hours. He bit his tongue against asking the other man to stay just a little bit longer. There’d been no one in his house, except for that one repairman who’d come by when the pipes in the guest bathroom burst last winter. That it was Temple and he was making Vik feel things…
He shook that off. “Thanks for coming by. And for listening.”
Temple’s gaze could’ve been mistaken for a caress, the way it lingered on his face. “Any time.”
After one last look, Vik led him back the way they’d entered, to the front door. “Hey, the guys at Java noticed you hadn’t visited in a couple of days.” He grinned. “You made an impression and I think they miss you now.”
Temple released the door handle and faced him. He wasn’t smiling. “Did you miss me?”
The question shocked Vik, but as he stared at the other man standing there, his presence taking up so much space as he prepared to walk out the door, Vik found himself nodding. “I did.” But it wasn’t about that day. It was about the past two years. Temple had been a constant in his life for the five years Vik shared with Henry, then Vik chased Temple away. “I missed you, Temple.”
Watching him intently, Temple flipped the hood of his jacket over his head. “I missed you too, Vik.” Then he opened the door and slipped out soundlessly.
Four
Since returning to Hadley Cove, every morning without fail, Temple would get to the Java Bean. But ever since coming face to face with Vik and especially after that talk they’d had at Vik’s place, he couldn’t bring himself to return to the coffee shop. He couldn’t stop replaying the conversation he had with Vik, how easy it was to share, to confide that he still wasn’t over Henry’s death.
If there was anyone to understand it would be Vik.
Temple hadn’t expected to get an apology from Vik, though. He’d seen how much it meant to Vik, having the chance to say what he’d needed to. His vulnerability made Temple’s chest ache, even now, and he rubbed that spot as he sat on his couch staring at nothing.
There’d been a moment, maybe more than a moment, talking to Vik, when he’d felt a pull, a connection. Something that filled him with guilt now that he thought about it. In the five years that Vik was with Henry, Temple been successful in hiding his attraction for the other man. Vik had never been anything but out of his league. He’d never been anyone other than Henry’s Vik. Temple had no issues with that. It’d been a crush that he’d smothered into nothingness.
He’d thought.
The thumping of his heart when Vik had touched his face, when he found the courage to touch the other man back… It wasn’t right, was it? How could it be? Vik was Henry’s fiancé. Temple wasn’t supposed to feel what he felt. He’d thought himself free of that. But no.
His phone rang from where he’d placed it atop the coffee table and he picked it up, answering quickly when he saw the identity of the caller. “Yeah.”
“You don’t sound like a man on vacation.”
He rolled his eyes, shoving agitated fingers through his hair. It was as if Syren Rua had a sixth sense for when Temple was at his lowest. “What do you need?”
“How is, uh…Vik, correct?” Syren asked.
“Don’t act like you don’t know his name.” There wasn’t a thing Syren didn’t know about the people that worked for him or even came close to his orbit. Temple and the other freelancers had worked on and off for the Brazilian for years, doing whatever he needed. Sometimes they were bodyguards, investigators. They’d even acted as bounty hunters for him at one point or another.
About six months after Henry’s death, Temple and the remaining freelancers had reunited for another job, but it’d been too much. That had been the last time he’d worked with them. Instead, he’d decided to go solo for a while, work as a personal bodyguard to Syren’s teenage daughter, traveling back and forth with the family between Costa Rica and Atlanta. Dealing with Syren and his husband Kane, Temple had developed a friendship with the man, as much as anyone can have a friendship with one of the most unassumingly dangerous men Temple had ever met.
“How was the reunion with your dead best friend’s fiancé?” Every question Syren asked came out sounding as if he already knew the answer. With the reach and power he had, Temple put nothing past the small man with his white-blond hair and purple eyes.
“Why are you calling?” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I know it’s not to check up on me.”
Syren chuckled. “Of course it is.” He paused. “It’s also to offer you a job. I’d need you in Costa Rica by next week.”
“No.” The idea of leaving, of not being close to Vik, was suddenly so abhorrent to Temple that he had to get to his feet and start pacing. “I can’t.”
“Hmm.” Syren didn’t sound even the tiniest bit surprised. “You should give it some thought. There are some people in need of rescue. Aren’t you in the rescue business?”
Technically, Temple was in any and all business. But right now, he couldn’t leave. Not when he recalled the look in Vik’s eyes when he admitted to missing Temple. As if it weren’t that simple. As if it went far beyond just missing his physical presence. He had no business feeling the way he felt for Vik. It was the worst kind of betrayal, but he wanted to see Vik again.
To touch him. See if he’d lower his guard and touch Temple again. Fuck. What was he thinking? He scratched his jaw and told Syren, “I can’t.”