Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 47254 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 236(@200wpm)___ 189(@250wpm)___ 158(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 47254 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 236(@200wpm)___ 189(@250wpm)___ 158(@300wpm)
At first, their very wrong assumptions made us chuckle, and now there was no point in correcting them.
And on that depressing thought, “I should probably—”
“When do you go home again?” Scott whispered when Joanne greeted a new customer.
“Four days.”
He rubbed his beard and cocked his head. “Get your coat.”
“Why? What do you—”
“Just get your damn coat, Theo.”
10
Scott
I took him to London.
It was a rare, spur-of-the-moment, no deep-thinking-involved invitation, but if I lived to be a hundred, those two stolen days would make my forever top-five list. The spontaneity of hurrying to Bradford-on-Avon so Theo could pack a few things before catching a second train to London set the tone, giving us each a wicked adrenaline high we rode for forty-eight hours straight.
Look, I loved London. It was a diverse, beautiful city with a colorful, sometimes brutal history and a cosmopolitan mecca. At first, I’d liked the feeling of anonymity that came with living in a metropolis in a foreign country. I had roots here now, though. I had people who relied on me for employment, and good friends who’d notice if I didn’t answer text messages too many days in a row.
But truthfully, I’d never bothered to see the city. Not the way Theo did.
To be fair, he didn’t see much of anything that first night. We’d taken the Tube from Paddington to Camden Town and walked to my flat, where we’d quickly lost our clothes and fucked like bunnies. We’d stopped touching long enough to order takeout and shower, then crashed in my bed and done it all over again.
I’d let Becca know I was taking two days off and instructed her to increase the daily delivery to Bath to cover me. She’d hesitated and started to ask why.
“Never mind. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t prod. You need time away. Enjoy!” She’d disconnected the call before I could get a word in, and I let it go.
Of course, I did. I had a beautiful naked man in my bed and a clock ticking off the minutes we had left together. I wasn’t about to waste a single second. When I naturally woke up at the ungodly hour of three a.m., I pulled him close and fell back to sleep with my arm draped over his waist.
Those were luxuries I hadn’t allowed myself in years. I hadn’t taken a day off that wasn’t to travel to visit my family. I hadn’t purposely invited a lover to spend the night. And I’d never brought a lover to my place.
Family might trump work for designated periods, but sex was just sex. I hadn’t had a significant other in so long that I’d forgotten how it felt to want to share space with someone. Having the guy you were kind of falling for wear your flannel button-down while sipping coffee from the Seahawks mug your nephew bought you for Christmas was layer atop layer of an intimacy I thought I’d forgotten how to share.
“Everything okay?”
God, that was a great question. Honest answer…I didn’t know. That sideways innocent look stopped my fucking heart. I wanted to lick him from head to toe. I wanted to hold him, protect him, and turn him inside out to be sure he felt me for days.
I wanted to keep him, and it hurt like hell to know I couldn’t.
But I didn’t admit to any of that.
Instead, I kissed his temple and tousled his hair. “Yeah. Everything’s good. Wanna see the city?”
Theo was like a kid in a candy shop, grasping my hand when we walked by famous landmarks.
Buckingham Palace. Hand grab, photo.
Westminster Abbey. Hand grab, two photos.
Big Ben. Hand grab, five photos…different angles.
The London Eye. Hand grab…ten photos.
“I think I should go on it,” he said unenthusiastically.
“Theo, you’re turning green just looking at it.”
“Yes, and that’s why. I need to challenge myself. Be brave. Do things that scare me. Ferris wheels scare me.”
“You don’t have to prove anyth—”
“Have you been on it?” he interrupted, raking his teeth over his bottom lip.
“Once, and I was very intoxicated.”
“Hmm. Was it fun?”
I shrugged, squinting as I glanced at the enormous Ferris wheel from our vantage point on Westminster Bridge. “It was…fine. It was on a date with someone who ended up being a good friend.”
“Becca?”
“No. Her name’s Angie. Bec set us up, then followed us with Maxine and her boyfriend, Tod. Those four idiots trailed us all over town. We knew what they were doing, so we made it good. We walked fast, ate McDonald’s, sipped gin out of Starbucks to-go cups, and topped off the night on the Eye. We didn’t even make it to the top before Angie went pale. I had to call them over to help when she ralphed—” I pointed to a nearby empty bench and chuckled. “Right there. It was a ridiculous night. I kept telling myself that I should be mad, but it was so over the top, it was funny. We’ve all been pretty tight ever since. And we still laugh about that night.”