Gabe startled when his cell rang. He finished knotting his tie and strode to the nightstand. Relief flashed through him when he saw the caller ID. He picked up the phone and touched the screen.

“Hey,” Cam said across the connection. The sound of traffic and a busy street rose in the background.

“Hey,” Gabe murmured. He glanced at his watch. “Aren’t you supposed to be at the office already?”

“I’m walking to the building right now. We had a late night at work, so I told the team to come in an hour after normal starting time.”

Jealousy stabbed through Gabe at Cam’s words. Although he knew Cam would not cheat on him, the fact that he was spending all his time with men and women who probably wanted to sleep with him made Gabe oddly resentful.

“That’s great,” Gabe said, trying not to grit his teeth. “When do you think you’ll be home?”

Gabe winced at the way his words had come out.

Jesus, I sound like his wife.

There was a pause at the other end of the line.

“Probably not this weekend either. We’re snowed under trying to seal this deal.”

Pain lanced through Gabe’s chest at Cam’s carefully neutral voice. He took a shaky breath, wondering if his lover missed him as much as he did.

“Okay,” Gabe managed. “I’ll be out late tonight, so don’t worry if I don’t answer my phone.”

“Oh.” Surprise tinged Cam’s voice. “You going out with your colleagues?”

Gabe ran a hand through his hair and stared blindly through the glass wall of their bedroom at the sunlit city beyond the terrace that ran the length of their apartment.

“No, I’ll be at Saron.”

Silence descended on the line.

“You’ve been going there a lot lately,” Cam finally said.

Gabe stilled and blinked. “Yeah, so?” he murmured, puzzled by Cam’s strangely bitter undertone.

A sigh sounded on the line.

“So, I don’t like it when you go there without me,” Cam said with frustrated possessiveness.

Gabe’s eyes widened. He stared at his cell for a moment, not quite believing his ears. A bolt of irritation stabbed through him.

This self-centered prick.

Gabe kept his voice cool as he responded to Cam. “And why is that? Joe and Ethan are our friends, so I don’t quite see what you’re objecting to—”

“I don’t like the way the men there look at you, okay?” Cam snapped. “Those guys always strip you with their eyes, even when I’m standing right next to you!”

Gabe nearly dropped the cell in shock. He gaped at the screen, his heart thundering in his chest.

“Gabe, you still there?” Cam barked.

“Yeah,” Gabe mumbled, uncertain of how to react to Cam’s blatant jealousy.

“Don’t go to Saron,” Cam ordered.

Gabe opened and closed his mouth soundlessly at Cam’s haughty command. Fury surged through him in the next instant.

What an asshole!

“That is the most asinine thing you’ve ever said to me, Cam Sorvino!” Gabe hissed. “Now, reflect on your goddamn words and apologize to me when you’ve come to your fucking senses!”

Gabe ended the call and dropped the phone on the bed, his hands shaking.

The cell rang five seconds later. Gabe hesitated before picking it up.

“Yes?”

“I forbid you to go there!” Cam growled.

Gabe scowled. “Oh, yeah? Well, try and stop me, you narcissistic moron!”

Gabe disconnected and turned the phone off when it started blaring again.

* * *

“Wow,” Ethan Skye murmured. “What a giant dick.”

Gabe grimaced as he gazed at the blond bartender.

“I know, right?”

Ethan finished mixing a drink and served it to the man who’d ordered it. He hesitated as he turned to Gabe where the latter sat on a barstool at Saron’s counter, chin resting in his hand while he gloomily nursed his Scotch.

“I kinda know what he means though,” Ethan said. “Not that I’m saying he’s right,” he added at Gabe’s frown. “It’s just—well, there’s no other way to say this.” He took a deep breath. “You’re—”

“An incredible hottie that any man would die to have under him and any woman would kill to have above her,” muttered the handsome guy with black-rimmed specs beside Ethan.

Gabe gaped at Akihito, one of the other bartenders.

Ethan shrugged. “Yup, that pretty much sums it up.”

Akihito waved a finger under Gabe’s stunned face. “And I’m saying this as a happily married man with a kid.” He moved to the other end of the bar and started serving customers.

Gabe groaned and placed his hands over his hot face.

“Maybe you need to teach Cam a lesson,” Ethan said pensively. He narrowed his green eyes at Gabe. “Hey, you tried topping him?”

Gabe’s elbows slipped from the counter as he nearly fell off the barstool.

“No!”

Gabe’s ears flamed as he imagined himself taking Cam. He shook his head vehemently, the mental picture anathema to him.

“Nuh-uh!” he repeated doggedly.

Ethan arched an eyebrow.

“Really? I’ve thought about topping Joe.”

A hand landed on Ethan’s head and briskly ruffled his hair.

“What bullshit are you spouting now?” Joe Cavendish said as he loomed over the bartender.

Ethan brightened and gazed eagerly at his lover.

“I was talking about topping you.”

Joe blinked lazily at Ethan, his unfazed expression eliciting a surge of admiration from Gabe.

“Not happening,” he said gruffly.

Joe turned toward the shelves and grabbed a bottle of Scotch.

“How about I finger you?” Ethan suggested.

Oh God. Gabe considered putting his hands over his ears.

“Nope,” Joe muttered, pouring himself a double serving.

“Lick you?” Ethan proposed.

Gabe groaned. Sweet Jesus.

Joe dropped ice into his tumbler and narrowed his eyes at Ethan.

“No.”

Ethan pursed his lips. “How about if I just look at it?”

“Holy shit,” Gabe mumbled.

Akihito rolled his eyes as he walked past, his expression indicating he’d heard it all before.

Joe grabbed Ethan’s chin and planted a long, hard kiss on his lips.

“Let’s make something clear right now,” he muttered against the bartender’s mouth as the latter melted into him. “The only thing getting penetrated in this relationship is your achingly sweet ass, and the only thing doing the penetrating is my rather splendid dick, capeesh?

Ethan hummed his acquiescence, his expression dazed, his fingers digging into Joe’s shoulders.

“For the love of—Will you two keep it in your pants?!” Akihito hissed at the pair.

Gabe chuckled, his heart lightening for the first time that evening.