Jonathan Banks and Peter Giles have worked together for five years, business partners in a planning firm that bears both their names. From the moment Jonathan was hired, the attraction between the two men was instantaneous and mutual, but he was dating someone else at the time and turned down Peter’s advances.<br><br>Now Jonathan’s boyfriend is out of the picture, and he’d love nothing more than for Peter to ask him out again, but he knows his partner all too well. Peter doesn’t take rejection easily. He likes flirting with Jonathan, sure, but doesn’t want to take the chance of getting turned down a second time. He's satisfied with the way their friendship is, and fears anything more intimate might ruin what they already have.<br><br>But everything both men have planned and worked for together is threatened on a cold, wintry evening when Peter’s car won’t start and Jonathan has to give him a lift home. Can the two friends move past their own fears and trepidations, and begin to build a future together as partners outside the office?

Not According to Plan

Peter sighed. “Once upon a time, three beers were an apéritiffor me. When did we get old?”


With another laugh, Jonathan told him, “Speak for yourself. I’m not the one moaning and groaning here. I’m the designated driver.”


They lapsed into an easy silence broken only by the faint sounds of the radio playing low between them and the tires rolling on the asphalt outside. Peter stayed hunched up in on himself, leaving Jonathan alone with his own thoughts. Obviously with Peter feeling so unwell, any thought of the evening continuing beyond the pub was a moot point—Jonathan couldn’t expect anything to happen between them now, could he?


Onions or not, he thought wryly, the last thing I want is for him to throw up after our first kiss. What would that say about me?


Chapter 8