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“How many people do you think we entertained through the window?”

Jason laughed. “Well, if anybody watched, I hope they enjoyed it.”

There was a knock. It had to be Darren. They looked at each other with goofy grins, like kids almost caught doing something wrong.

“Just a second.” Jason went to the door while Ben stayed put, making sure he was presentable.

Jason opened the door a crack. He’d guessed right.

“Guys, you really should come say something. We’ve had a few people—” Darren raised an eyebrow and reached out to remove something from Jason’s face. He showed a short, curly hair to Jason before letting it fall to the floor. “I’ll stall. You’ll be out here soon, right?”

Jason turned a few shades of pink, but tried to keep his composure. “Absolutely. Thanks.”

Darren smiled as he pulled the door closed.

“We should give him a raise.” Jason returned to Ben. “I suspect we’re going to be a handful.”

He stood in front of Ben to straighten his tie.

“Do I look okay?” Jason scrubbed his hand over his face. “Nothing else embarrassing?”

Ben looked him over and nodded. “Perfection.”

They shared a gentle kiss before heading to the door.

Entering the main room, Jason caught Darren’s eye and gave a slight nod to thank him again. He drank down a glass of champagne as he and Ben crossed to the windowed area of the office. They decided the backdrop of the New York skyline was perfect for their quick speech.

Darren stepped behind a camera on a tripod that was set up to stream the speech on the firm’s website. He nodded when he was ready for them to speak.

“Good evening, everyone.” Jason started with a louder voice to get everyone’s attention. “Thanks for coming out tonight to help us kick off this new venture and raise some money for some good causes.”

The crowd applauded.

“J&B Works started out as a Christmas present last year,” Ben picked up. “Jason needed a change, and we both wanted to spend more time together without going back and forth between here and Chicago. Jason proposed creating a marketing and event agency that specialized in working with clients who are doing projects that we want to support.”

“As most of you know,” Jason said, “Ben’s made a name for himself doing work for Chicago area non-profits as well as clients he’s chosen over the years for their efforts to do good works. I’m excited to join him and combine his planning excellence with what I hope is an equal skill to create buzz around the projects, companies, and people we care about.”

“I want to thank my clients who made the transition to J&B,” said Ben. “I’m thrilled about what we can offer you with Jason on board. We hope you’re excited about our partnership and will help spread the word. To those of you here who are not working with us yet, let’s talk about your goals and how we’ll help you meet them.”

“We know we did an unexpected take on a launch party by actually charging you to show up,” continued Jason. “A dozen charities are benefiting from tonight, and between individual contributions and the generosity from some of your companies, we’ll be distributing over $110,000.”

The audience clapped loudly along with some hoots and hollers of appreciation.

“Now we’ll let everyone get back to the talking, drinking, and eating,” Ben wrapped it up. “Thank you again for joining us. We look forward to working with you all.”

The audience applauded again, and some people surrounded Jason and Ben to shake hands and offer good wishes.

By the time the last of the guests departed two hours later, Jason was exhausted. He sat on the edge of one of the desks in the main office area and watched Ben talk on his phone while he paced in front of the windows. Darren organized the cleanup with the caterers.

Ben finally ended the call, dropped the phone in his slacks pocket, and joined Jason. He leaned his head against Jason’s and enjoyed the quiet. Jason’s hand found Ben’s and gave it a squeeze.

“We did good tonight, Jay.”

“Yeah, we did. I’ve got a ton of meetings next week because of the people that were here. Besides Bradley, Julia was here too. She wants to suggest us to some of her division’s clients who have corporate foundations.”

Ben gave a smile that Jason recognized as a sleepy one.

“Darren, you got everything under control?” Jason asked as Ben closed his eyes.

“Yeah, I’m just getting these cards and appointments into the system during the cleanup. You two get out of here.”

“Thank you. Have a good weekend, Darren.” Jason shrugged his shoulder to get Ben’s attention. “Come on, sleepyhead. Let’s get home.”

“I took the liberty of calling a car so you wouldn’t have to deal with a cab or subway,” Darren said. “It should be downstairs now.”

“Coming through yet again,” Jason said. “Thanks.”

Darren nodded and went back to his work while Jason and Ben grabbed their coats from the closet before heading for the elevators.