Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 92536 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92536 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Cereal. He’d always loved a good cereal, and a mega box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch was typically hidden among his kale, ground turkey, and brown rice. But he’d polished off the last of it that morning and needed to replenish the stock before his next craving hit.
The closest grocery store wasn’t much larger than a mini-mart, so he headed out of town about fifteen minutes to the next town over, where they boasted a full-size grocery chain. Still, it wasn’t what he’d call huge, and he’d had to order a few specialty health food items online since he couldn’t find them anywhere close enough he’d be willing to drive for a product or two.
This town, Culpepper, seemed about twice the size of Swan, which made it only slightly bigger than tiny. Most of Liam’s clients had found out about his new studio through the extensive social media push he’d been working on, but it never hurt to try and garner local traffic through more traditional means. He’d made sure to bring a stack of flyers and a few business cards in case an opportunity to post them arose.
Done shopping, he wheeled the full cart to the only open checkout lane. The clerk appeared somewhere around Liam’s age. He had pale skin with rosy cheeks and a nose that might have seen too much sun. He’d styled his curly auburn hair in an artful yet trendy way. What really caught Liam’s attention was his name tag, which read Jonah but had a rainbow flag sticker in the top right corner.
“Good morning, welcome to Food Haven. Would you like paper or plastic bags?”
“Paper would be great, thanks.”
The clerk eyed him with curiosity as he began scanning the items. “Haven’t seen you in here before. You visiting someone?”
“Nope, I’m just new to town, and this is my first time here. Hey, is there a bulletin board where I can post a flyer?” he asked, showing Jonah a flyer. “I’m about to open a dance studio in Swan and would love to hang a flyer somewhere.”
Two auburn eyebrows shot high into Jonah’s forehead as he continued to scan Liam’s groceries without missing a beat. “A dance studio,” he said. “In Swan. You?”
“Yep. Swan, Oklahoma, gay population of one.” He struck a pose and smiled his cheesiest grin.
Jonah snorted. “Holy shit, you’re either the bravest guy I’ve ever met or the stupidest.”
Thoughts he had himself at least ten times a day. “Probably somewhere in the middle, to be honest.”
Jonah chuckled. “Uh, yeah, we got a bulletin board by the exit,” he said, waving a hand in the direction of the door. “Feel free to pimp your business all you want.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it.”
“Dance, huh?” Jonah’s assessing gaze took a slow trip up and down Liam’s body. “You any good?”
The blunt question was all it took for Liam to decide Jonah would make an awesome friend. He had a friend back home with the same no-nonsense personality, and they got along like tutus and dance tights.
Liam shrugged and, without an ounce of humility, said, “I’m very good. I danced professionally in the New York City ballet for years before moving here.”
Jonah’s jaw dropped. “Well, dayum. Okay, now I’m going to be nosy as hell and ask why on earth you’d leave a fancy life in New York City to come to Swan. You fall on your head or something?”
Snorting, Liam shook his head. “Long story.”
“It always is.”
Jonah was cute. Not Liam’s type, but attractive nonetheless. Hell, even if he’d been Liam’s type, it wouldn’t matter. He’d thought of little but Tate in the week since they’d fucked that first time. No other man blipped on his radar. If he hadn’t slept with Tate three more times since then, he’d worry his libido had broken, but it worked just fine around the closeted small-town man. Too well, actually. Just thinking about Tate like this was getting him interested down south.
Not good.
“Let me guess.” Jonah tapped his lips as though deep in thought. “You have a big, burly boyfriend who’s a corn farmer, and you followed him here for true love?” He sighed with a dramatic flourish, placing his hand over his heart. “I can see it now. He gives it to you three times a day and would rip my nuts off for even talking to you, you lucky bitch.”
Barking out a loud laugh, Liam shook his head. “Not even close.” Though he could hope the three times a day would become a reality soon. “I did not move here for a man, though I did meet one here. But what I have is more of a… complication than a relationship.”
“Oooh, a situationship… intriguing.”
He snorted. “I don’t even know if I’d call it that. I’m sticking with complication. Anyway, this is not the time to talk about that. Since I did just move here and have exactly zero friends if you’re ever looking for another person to hang with, I’m down.”