Going Up! by Amy Lane Read Free Book Online Page A

exchanged glances of relief. “Anyway—I’m sorry my personal life—”
    “What personal life?” Edward, the first lawyer he’d ever hired, said from the back. Edward was a nice guy, with long Midwestern features, dark hair, and blue eyes, who was also wild for his college professor boyfriend, and had a way of being kind when clients were more hysterical than helpful.
    “Well, yeah, that was sort of the point,” Zach said, and the laughter, again, was helpful. “Anyway—”
    And that was when he saw the cash changing hands, most of it ending up with Leah.
    “You had a pool on me?” he asked, amused. “You had inside information!”
    Leah smirked. They were all in jeans today, but hers were lime green. Her T-shirt was fuchsia. “Yeah, but the pool started before you and me got tight. And I waited until you came out to the office yourself to collect, so karmically, I’m good.” He grinned at her, loving all of her color and vibrancy. When he thought of his life earlier this year, it had been all charcoal gray, like his suits, but color and motion—that was attractive. It’s why he loved… uhm….
    “It’s only karmically good if you get lunch today,” he decided before he could finish that thought, and suddenly he really was everyone’s favorite boss. Leah’s included.
     
     
    H E SAW Sean that night, for the first time in a month since the benefit at Golden Gate Park. God, had he really been that busy?
    He must have been, getting up early, coming home at midnight, and now, here they were, on a Saturday night, both of them staggering in around eleven. Zach still had on the jeans and old college sweatshirt he’d worn while packing, his hair was mussed, and he was well aware the circles under his eyes were dark and deep. So Zach was still tired from being a workaholic, but he couldn’t be sure where Sean had been.
    “I worked a late show,” Sean said, as they hit the lobby together. It was like he’d read Zach’s mind. “What the hell happened to you?”
    Zach smiled, almost giddy to see him after their last trip in the elevator. “Work,” he said serenely. “I didn’t get evicted, but my whole office had to move to… crap. I forget the address. It’s down by Brannan somewhere. I’ll remember when all our letterhead changes. Jesus. I need to get Leah right on that.”
    Leah would be happy to change their letterhead and stationery—he just needed to remember to ask. He smiled at Sean beatifically as he leaned against the back of the elevator, and he was so tired, his eyes drifted shut between the ground floor and….
    Ding!
    His eyes flew open. “We’re here?” he whined, and knew it for a whine. “Fourteenth floor already? Damn. Damn. I haven’t seen you in a month. I just wanted to…. God. I’m sorry. We can ride the elevator again later,” he promised. “I swear. I’ll be witty. I will. I’ll make you want to talk to me. Just not today.” Oh, hell. He’d been a rock over the last month. He’d been a pillar of grown-up fortitude and “we’re fighting the good fight!” rhetoric, but, dammit, the whole time, when he’d been coming out to his parents, when he’d been dealing with the paperwork asking him to vacate—and the hurt that came from knowing his father’s political career really was more important than his own son—he’d been promising himself, what?
    “You were going to be my dessert,” he said soberly.
    Sean’s eyes widened. His mouth quirked up a little too, and he shook his head while he guided Zach out of the main elevator and over to the express elevator. He hit the “door closed” button and positioned Zach a little more closely to him. “You are either really stoned, or you’re dog tired. I’m going to vote on the second one, since I haven’t seen you for a month.”
    “We had to move,” Zach said, watching as the numbers on the readout went up, and Sean was still in the car with him. Wow. He’d had dreams about this. They’d been going up,