Page 59 of The Way Home

The corner of Caleb’s lips twitched, but his eyes were sad. “You’ve always said that. But you’ll learn that sometimes I’m not brave. I’m just impulsive. And I can’t always keep my emotions in check.”

“I think you’re brave,” Jamie said, lifting his chin. “And your father sounds like a git.”

Caleb’s eyes twinkled with fondness and amusement.

“How is Tay doing? Is she still in California?”

“Yep. She is doing well, I think. I owe her a phone call.” He paused for a moment. “Actually, she would love it if we both FaceTimed her. She adores you.”

“That sounds great.”

“Though, fair warning, she makes fun of your accent. Like, a lot.”

Jamie’s heart expanded. “She can make fun of it all she wants.”

Caleb nodded, taking another bite of ravioli, but Jamie sensed that he was a bit lighter.

As they continued to chat, Jamie could feel Caleb inching closer. Under the table, his foot tapped the side of Jamie’s shoe and, after a second, he felt a soft caress on the side of his ankle. It sent a jolt of arousal straight to his groin. When he looked up, Caleb’s brown eyes were locked on his, filled with heat.

His gaze wandered down to Jamie’s chest, causing a burst of butterflies in his stomach. His skin tingled as Caleb drank him in, his eyes turning a darker shade of brown, and Jamie felt his breath hitch at the possibility of enjoying a bed withhimtonight.

Caleb had been painfully careful around Jamie the past week after his panic attack at the Chelsea stadium. The sweet little touches that Jamie had gotten used to around the flat were painfully scarce.

He fucking craved them.

He’d never thought of himself as touch-starved before, but now that he had experienced a small taste of Caleb’s affections, he wanted more. Physical affection wasn’t something Jamie typically craved—he didn’t love hugs from strangers or shaking people’shands—but his bodybuzzedanytime Caleb was around. He found himself hoping Caleb would brush his fingers along his cheek or touch his lower back.

And now, just a caress of Caleb’s foot against his ankle had his trousers feeling tighter.

“Another round of drinks, gentlemen?” The server’s high voice jolted Jamie back into the room.

“No, uh, good.Me,” he spluttered, watching Caleb smile at how flustered he was.

“We are fine, thank you,” Caleb said calmly.

“Very well. My shift is up, and the new server, Timothy, will be taking care of you. Cheers,” she said politely before sweeping from the room. Caleb’s eyes went wide with panic, but before Jamie could ask what was wrong, the new server shuffled in.

“Gentlemen! So nice to see you again.” Timothy looked extremely young. Too young, perhaps, to be serving in a restaurant. He also seemed very,veryhappy to see them.

“Nice to see you, Timothy,” Caleb replied curtly. He took a swig of his drink, and Jamie noticed that his face had lost some color.

“Hello.” Jamie smiled at the nice server. “Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to—? You don’t remember me? I served you last time you were here. When you got engaged!”

Jamie’s heart dropped.

Caleb flew up from his chair and rounded the table. “Timothy, if I could just have a quick second.” He led the server through the doors, and Jamie rested his elbows on the table, holding his head in his hands.

He wouldn’t panic. Hewouldn’tpanic.

It was fine. He knew that he’d been engaged to Caleb. And it made sense that they would come to a place like this for a celebratory dinner. So, why did that information make him feel so dizzy? And like he might vomit?

Counting to four, he took a deep breath in. He held it as best he could at the top and exhaled for six. After a few moments, the panic retreated to the back of his mind.

“Jamie? Hey, are you okay?”

Good Lord, when had Caleb come back in?