Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 84195 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84195 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
“That’s because you have a booger on your nose.”
His hand flew to his face before he stopped and flipped me off. “You suck.”
“I almost got ya, though.” I winked. “Anyway, I need to go. Have a good day, honey!” I joked as if we were a married couple or something, and hurried out.
The Playground was already crazy-busy when I arrived. I didn’t see Jesse or Dane, so it must’ve been their night to work in the Underground—and holy shit, I needed to take Clark there. I bet he would love it, the place having a vibe that probably worked much better for him.
Also, I actually didn’t have to bring him. He was a grown-up. I could tell him about it, and he could take himself, or ask Gretchen.
I said hi to a few people on my way to the back to get ready. I changed, but was a bit early. I thought about heading down to the Underground to watch Jesse sing and Seth play the piano, but Steven approached me. He was one of the newer bartenders. Big, buff, hot, and liked to have a good time.
“Hey, twink.”
Okay, he was a bit ridiculous for calling me twink, but again, hot. “Hey, bear…well, not really…muscular otter?”
He chuckled. “You got plans tonight after work?”
That was code for: do you want to get off together? I quite liked getting off and opened my mouth to say so, but what came out was, “I need to get home tonight. Sorry.” Wait. What in the no-orgasm hell was that? Why was I saying no?
Still, I didn’t take it back, didn’t change my mind.
“No worries. Maybe another time.” Then he legit walked over to another dancer and asked him the same thing, which didn’t really bother me, but still.
It was a long, busy night, but I got lots of money shoved down my shorts, which was great. Also, no one licked my leg without consent.
By the time I got home, it was a bit after two, so I was surprised to see Clark’s light on again and the door not completely closed.
Don’t go in, don’t go in, don’t go in.
I cleaned up, changed into my pj’s, and then…motherfucker. I headed toward his room. I mean, I should at least say hi since he was awake.
I knocked softly, but the door still opened more. “Hey,” I said.
“Hey. How was work?”
“Pretty good. How was home?”
He snickered. “Pretty good. I couldn’t sleep. I get like that sometimes. I was about to watch Le—a movie.”
“What is le a movie?” I peeked at the TV. “Oh my God. I love Legends of the Fall! Long-haired Brad Pitt is gorgeous.”
He hesitated, then nodded toward the other side of the bed.
“Yay! Movie night,” I said playfully and jumped on the mattress. “Your bed is super comfy.”
“I’m glad you like it.”
“I might steal it.”
“Might be hard to carry.”
“Who said I was taking it out of here?”
Clark looked at me, smiled, then pressed Play on the movie. For the second night in a row, I slept beside him.
16
Clark
I needed to stop with the late nights, or it was bound to catch up with me. But it wasn’t like I’d stayed up past midnight on purpose. Okay, maybe I did wait for Skylar—call it being protective, although he’d done just fine without me all his adult life. But I also suffered from insomnia sometimes, so my excuse wasn’t that far-fetched.
And now it was difficult to rouse myself from this bed because it felt like a warm nest with the heat of Skylar’s body close to mine and his clean, soapy scent. Not gonna lie, I enjoyed sleeping with someone, and though this was just a friend situation, it was still nice. Normally the guy I was in bed with was a lot bigger than me and would wrap me up in his arms, but in this scenario, I wouldn’t mind some mutual snuggling.
I must’ve been feeling momentarily lonely or something because my thoughts were getting the best of me. Maybe it was because we had so much fun yesterday. The lake, the restaurant, then the movie. He didn’t even make fun of me for my early-career-Brad-Pitt crush.
The way he was turned toward me now, with his hands angelically clasped under his chin, made him seem way more innocent that he actually was. The little devil had tried to make me blush at every turn.
Time to go before I started that whole picture-him-naked line of thinking again.
I carefully extracted myself from the room without waking him. My work hours were all over the place, and weekends in the world of real estate could be super busy.
I started the coffee, then left Skylar a note explaining that I had a couple of open houses and then an obligatory dinner at my parents’ house. I wanted to cancel the meal, but for all I knew, Skylar already had plans of his own. He did have other friends, after all.