Chapter Eight
Kai opened the door to Wyatt with a knot of anxiety in the pit of his stomach, not sure how their evening was going to end up. He planned to be on his best behavior, but what he planned and what would actually happen were two different things.
Every other thought left his head when he saw Wyatt, dressed in a wine-colored button-down shirt that was a half-size too small and dark jeans under his coat. His warm brown eyes sparkled, the curve of his lips sweet and inviting.
Kai’s heartbeat sped up, enough for him to notice it.
He’d forgotten, somewhere along the line, that Wyatt was hot. Broad-shouldered and solid, with pretty features and a smile that lit up a room.
Having that smile directed at him for the first time was startling. If Wyatt had actually flirted back while they were filming, Kai would have been helpless.
Wyatt wasn’t even his usual type, not really, but it didn’t matter. Wyatt was everyone’s type.
“Am I early?” Wyatt asked, nudging Kai out of staring at him.
Kai blinked, and then finally stepped back to let the other man inside. “No, uh… I just…”
He wasn’t sure how to finish that sentence, so he let it drop instead. He couldn’t exactly say that he’d been distracted by how gorgeous Wyatt looked.
It was nice of him to make an effort. If this was an effort.
Maybe he dressed like this all the time, and Kai wasn’t special at all.
“There’s a coat rack,” he said, nodding to it.
He watched Wyatt shrug his coat from his broad, square, muscular shoulders, and tried not to drool too openly.
Dammit. This was supposed to be professional.
“Beautiful place,” Wyatt said, passing the bottle of wine Kai had sent him over, and then digging through his coat pockets.
Even with the warmer weather coming in, the wind in Chicago was brutal. Kai had thought growing up by the ocean would have prepared him for it, but it wasn’t the same at all.
Wyatt was probably having an even harder time adjusting, though he’d been here at least as long as Kai had, judging by the length of his television career.
Really, it was a surprise that they hadn’t crossed paths before now. Kai had filmed his show right before Wyatt for two years, and they’d barely said a word to each other.
“Uh, thank you,” Kai said after a few moments. He took pride in his apartment. It was his sanctuary away from the world, and he didn’t invite many people into it.
Wyatt was an exception, because he needed Wyatt. Needed his cooperation if he planned on continuing to be a TV chef.
Which he did plan on doing.
Wyatt finally found whatever he’d been searching his apparently numerous pockets for, presenting Kai with a small but expensive-looking bar of chocolate. “I felt weird coming empty-handed, so… I figured you might appreciate this.”
Kai’s face heated up as he blushed, accepting the bar of chocolate. He tried not to think too hard about the spark that passed between them as his fingers brushed against Wyatt’s.
It was just nice to be paid attention to by an attractive man. That was all.
Since he’d learned that Wyatt was bi, Kai’s imagination had started to get the better of him. He’d stopped it, mostly, but the occasional disturbing thought slipped past his careful guard and lodged itself in his brain.
Disturbing in the sense that Wyatt’s lips looked soft, and his biceps strained the fabric of his shirt. In the sense that he wasn’t supposed to be looking at Wyatt and seeing someone he was actually, genuinely attracted to.
Kai pushed the thought aside.
“You figured right,” he said. “Chocolate is my number-one weakness.”
Well, it was a tie between chocolate and men that were terrible for him, but Wyatt didn’t need to know that.
Especially as he was, potentially, a man who’d be terrible for Kai. They were supposed to be working together. He was the worst possible choice for a casual fling.
“Whatever’s cooking smells amazing,” Wyatt said, turning his gaze toward the kitchen.
Kai’s heart fluttered. He wasn’t used to it doing that, but he did like being complimented on his cooking.
“It’s a Moroccan-style lamb stew,” Kai explained. “I thought you might appreciate something unusual.”
Wyatt made a soft, interested sound. “As long as someone else does the cooking for me, I’m pretty happy.”
Kai chuckled, despite his nerves. “Yeah, that’s… about how I feel,” he said. “Come on through.”
He led the way into the kitchen, aware of Wyatt taking in every detail as he followed. That was fine. There was nothing out here that Kai would have preferred he didn’t see.
The only things he could think of that might have embarrassed him were stored safely in the drawer of his nightstand, and they probably would have embarrassed Wyatt more.
“Martha Stewart eat your heart out,” Wyatt said, nodding to the dining table Kai had set earlier.
He’d been aiming to impress, and judging by Wyatt’s tone, he’d hit the mark.
“You couldn’t think of a more flattering comparison?” Kai complained, but he wasn’t serious. He could tell that was a flattering comparison to Wyatt’s mind, though he liked to think he was a little more stylish and a little less kitsch.
The kitsch had a way of sneaking in, though, and he might have gone a little far in setting a table for what was supposed to be a casual apology dinner.
The hospitality was part of the apology, he told himself.
“First thing that came to mind,” Wyatt said. “Sorry. If you wanna give me a list of compliments you’re okay with…” he trailed off, smirking faintly.
Kai was just starting to get the impression that he was going to end up liking Wyatt. Now that they were making an effort to get along, he was turning out to be good company.
“Well, make yourself at home,” Kai said, gesturing to the table. He heard Wyatt sit down while he focused on taking his stew off the stove top and getting his potatoes out of the oven, making an effort to plate them up in a way that would look as impressive as possible.
He knew Wyatt wouldn’t have actually appreciated anything fancy, which was the only reason he wasn’t carefully drizzling a sauce into complex geometric shapes on the plate right now.
Wyatt would have thought that was showing off, and Kai wanted this to seem effortless. As though he made dinner for people all the time.
He didn’t, but Wyatt didn’t need to know that.
“I was kinda expecting to meet Mr. Jones,” Wyatt said. “Uh… another Mr. Jones, I mean.”
Kai snorted. “I know what you mean, but no. Between filming and preparing and emails and test runs and… occasionally sleeping, where would I find the time? And who’d marry me?”
“Yeah, I hear that,” Wyatt said, wry laughter in his voice. “Should’ve gotten married before all this started. Then I’d have someone to come home to.”
Kai hummed in agreement, but that surprised him. He’d assumed Wyatt would have people lining up to be someone for him to come home to, but he probably didn’t have any more time than Kai did. Wyatt was one of few people who understood what this particular job was like.
“Beats working in a hot kitchen twelve hours a day, though,” Wyatt said.
“Does it?” Kai asked. He’d done his share of time in hot kitchens and long shifts, and some days, he would have done anything to go back. It was high-pressure, but it was a different kind of pressure.
Of course, it was one thing, to think that, to fantasize that the grass was always greener, but...
Most days, he knew he couldn’t have done it again. Not in the kind of restaurant he’d want to work in, anyway, and anywhere else he’d be wasting his talents, which in turn would make him resent his job.
No, this was a better job. Even if sometimes it didn’t feel like it.
Even if he suddenly had to share, which wasn’t actually Wyatt’s fault. He’d been saddled with this just the same as Kai had.
“Kinda miss my bakery back home,” Wyatt said.
“You own a bakery?” Kai asked, surprised again. He had a hard time imagining Wyatt sweating over accounts as well as a hot oven.
“No. God no,” Wyatt said. “The place where I started, I mean. My uncle owns it. Four a.m. starts, long days, couldn’t have a normal social life, but… sometimes, I miss it.”
“Well, the social life part hasn’t changed,” Kai said, lifting both plates and bringing them over. “I assume, anyway.”
Wyatt laughed. “This counts as social,” he said, licking his lips as he looked down at his plate. “Man, look at those potatoes. You need to teach me how to get all those crispy edges.”
Kai preened. Wyatt knew exactly how to pay him a compliment.
Which reminded him…
“I need to apologize for… well, lots of things, but first off for calling you ignorant. And a hick. That was… cruel, and I said it because I knew it would hurt. No excuses. It was the wrong thing to do.”
Kai avoided meeting Wyatt’s eyes as he said it, instead busying himself with opening the wine and pouring them a glass each.
Wyatt shrugged, though Kai could see him shrinking back into himself as he picked up his fork. “It’s fine. Been called worse.”
“No you haven’t,” Kai said. “I mean, maybe objectively, but… I know that hurt. And I’m sorry.”
“Apology accepted,” Wyatt said, cracking the crispy outer layer on a potato and dipping it in the liquid from the stew. “And it really is fine. Consider yourself forgiven. I was overreacting because you made me feel stupid.”
“I didn’t intend to,” Kai said. “I thought you’d flirt back.”
It had stung when he hadn’t, though Kai wasn’t about to admit that part. That Wyatt wouldn’t even play pretend with him hurt. He didn’t think he was that repulsive.
“Would’ve if I’d known what was going on,” Wyatt said, raising his fork to his mouth. He made a soft, surprised sound, his eyes widening as he chewed and swallowed. “What’s on the potatoes?”
“Just salt and sumac,” Kai said. “No point in gilding the lily, potatoes are basically perfect as they are.”
“What’s a sumac when it’s at home?” Wyatt asked.
“Oh, it’s uh… it’s a Middle Eastern spice. Lemony, but without the herbal, earthy notes of lemongrass. I…” he paused. “Could describe it to you in embarrassing detail, or just let you eat.”
“Nothing embarrassing about knowing your shit,” Wyatt said. “They don’t call you the spice master for nothing, right?”
“They call me it mostly because I’m heavy-handed with chili flakes and it’s a good marketing gimmick,” Kai said. “But I have a very strong sense of taste. I’m the kind of asshole who can tell you what side of the vineyard a wine grape was grown on from a single sip, y’know?”
Wyatt chuckled. “Now that, I always thought was bullshit.”
Kai shook his head. “Supertasters are real. There are downsides, though. I can’t stand coffee. Or a lot of vegetables, actually, which is embarrassing for a chef. But on the other hand I can name the component parts of a dish without even having to think about it.”
“Huh,” Wyatt said, nodding. “Guess that’s my something new for the day. Well, that and the sumac.”
“I try to be interesting,” Kai responded, starting in on his own meal. He couldn’t help squirming with pleasure as Wyatt made delighted little sounds while he ate, thrilled that this was going over well.
“So uh… I guess we need to talk about the elephant in the room,” Wyatt said once he’d gotten about a quarter of the way through his plate.
“The show?” Kai asked.
“The ratings, and how we’re supposed to keep them up,” Wyatt clarified. “Apparently we’re in the top five shows on the network and the top if you only count online viewing. After two episodes. So I guess it worked.”
Kai shrugged. “Donna said it would. She knows what she’s doing, so I never doubted it.”
“So… it’s probably something we should keep up then, right?” Wyatt asked.
Kai looked at him carefully. “I thought it made you uncomfortable,” he said.
“Only because I had no idea what was going on,” Wyatt explained. “One minute you were being an ass to me and the next you were… commenting on my ass.”
“I don’t remember making any comments on your ass,” Kai said. “But I take your point.”
“I don’t want this to be my last show. I don’t wanna go home with my tail between my legs,” Wyatt said.
“No, me neither,” Kai agreed. “You might’ve noticed that I’m not great at…”
“Getting along with other people?” Wyatt suggested, but it wasn’t unkind. There was a small smile playing around his lips as he kept eating, still making pleased little sounds from time to time. “Is there cinnamon in this?”
Kai chuckled. “A lot,” he said.
“It’s really good,” Wyatt responded.
“I was going to say not great at flirting,” Kai continued. “I don’t get a lot of practice. I’m not… like you.”
“You could be,” Wyatt said. “It’s a skill you learn like anything else, and you’re probably fine. You’re sharp, so that’ll work in your favor. And I mean… I was going out of my way not to respond naturally, and it still apparently worked for the audience.”
Kai snorted. “So it doesn’t have to be great?”
“Nope. I think… if we’re both on the same page, we can pretend we’re really into each other, right? I mean…”
That wouldn’t have been hard. Wyatt was… not Kai’s type, exactly, but the kind of man Kai wished he thought he had a hope in hell with. Not necessarily Wyatt himself, but Wyatt was gorgeous, and kind, and Kai… usually had to pick between one or the other.
Men who were both tended to be out of his league.
And he had a terrible habit of picking gorgeous over kind, which brought a whole different set of problems with it. Kai had never had a boyfriend who hadn’t treated him badly. Hell, Wyatt didn’t even like him and he was being nicer about it than most of the people Kai had been screwing.
So yeah, he could pretend to be into Wyatt. It wouldn’t be much of a challenge.
“Yeah, I think so,” he agreed. “You’re not completely repulsive.”
Wyatt laughed, pausing to drain his wine glass. Kai poured again automatically, his particular version of hospitality mostly involving making sure everyone’s glass stayed full.
“You’re not completely repulsive, either,” he said kindly. “We could even come out of this friends, maybe.”
“To friendship?” Kai raised his own half-full glass.
“Friendship,” Wyatt agreed, touching their glasses together softly. “And keeping our jobs.”
“And keeping our jobs,” Kai repeated, smiling wryly.
Maybe, if they both worked together, they could manage that.