Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 73940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 370(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 370(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
I loved it. “You were eating up all that applause, weren’t you?”
“Like you wouldn’t believe.”
He showed me some more photos, all apparently from the same album. All showed the same happy little kid who grew up into the happy guy sitting next to me.
Then he scrolled over to one photo that made his entire demeanor shift. It was him standing next to his father. They had the same exact face.
Jay took a deep breath. “This is one of the last photos I have with him.”
He looked down at his feet, firmly planted on the floor. It was as if an invisible anvil had been placed on his shoulders, the weight nearly too heavy to bear. I wished I could reach over and pluck it off him. “Want to talk about it?”
“Not right now,” he said with a simple shake of his head. “Let’s go back to your photos. I want to see what extravagant family vacations you’re going on as you destroy the environment in the process.”
“Jay…”
He laughed and waved a hand in the air. “I’m joking. Kinda.” Instead of his hand returning to his lap, it landed on my leg instead. And it didn’t move. I looked to him, seeing a familiar spark in his expressive eyes. I could count the few freckles and beauty marks that dotted the landscape of his face, like tiny accents specifically added only to enhance his natural beauty. I could stare at him all day and still find new things to appreciate.
“Want to tell me about him?” I broached.
“I… he was a great dad. He was that kind of dad that’s always a safe space and a fun time all at once.”
“How so?”
Jay glanced at me. “Sometimes he’d sneak me into the local marine animal rehab center after hours, and he’d give me a private tour that felt so fucking magical. I remember the first time that happened really solidifying my love for animals. It was just… awesome.”
“It does sound like something out of a movie.”
“It really was. This movie just had a really fucked up ending.”
Jay took in a deep breath and let it out. He shifted the conversation, which was totally cool with me. I wanted him to know that he had a safe space in me if he ever needed to talk.
“Soooo,” he said. “Did you catch up on the newest Liars episode?”
“I did. I can’t believe Wendell went home. She was my favorite. She always had something perfect and bitchy to say.”
“Yeah but she accused the wrong person. She didn’t play the game.”
I shook my head. “I think she played it perfectly. How would you play it?”
“Sneaky as fuck. I’d be tip-toeing around the entire mansion like I was some kind of spy, gathering intel. Then”—I clap my hands—“I come out and snatch the wig right off the real liar.”
“I think it’d be fun playing it with you.”
He chuckled. “It would be. We have to become reality TV stars first.”
“Well, we have something to work toward now.”
Jay’s hazel gaze shimmered. He stayed silent for a bit before he spoke. “You know… I keep thinking about the other night in the stall at Shenanigans.”
“I do too.” Damn, even bringing it up was getting me hard. I wasn’t wearing any underwear, so the fabric of my gray shorts was already beginning to shift. I put my hand on his, which allowed me to use my forearm to press down on my growing dick.
“Do you regret it?” I had to ask. I half expected him to say yes, knowing how he felt about my family’s business. It would hurt like a motherfucker, but I think I would have understood. Or at least I liked to believe that I would have.
Thankfully, I didn’t need to find out. “No,” he answered almost instantly. “Not in the slightest.”
And before I could even blink, we were kissing, my hands cupping his face. I gently guided him back so that he could lie on the bed, our tongues still probing and swirling. I got on top of him, rutting myself against him, the passion between us roaring like an out-of-control wildfire.
I pulled his shirt off, he took mine off. I sat on his lap. Admired his body. My fingers traced over the dip in his chest, the nipples that were hard to the touch.
“You’re so hot.”
He smiled up at me. There was a growing blaze in those green eyes.
I leaned down. Pressed my lips against the subtle rise of his clavicle. He sucked in a breath. I moved down to his chest. My targets became the dark beauty marks that dotted the landscape of his soft, tan skin.
“This okay for being ‘just roommates’?” I teased.
“Shut the fuck up and take off the rest of your clothes,” Jay said as he pulled his shorts off, revealing that he’d been commando this entire time.