[Cam:]Do you have any foodallergies?
[Cort:]Nope. Doyou?
[Cam:]No. I’m only asking so I could let the Tyndallsknow.
[Cort:]You don’t need to make up an excuse to text me,badass.
[Cam:]Or maybe I wanted to poison you. Maybe you’d deserveit.
[Cort:]There are much more effective ways to bring me to my knees. Wanna hearthem?
[Cam:]Fuck off,Cortland.
[Cort:]Knewit.
Well. That had gone about as well as Cam could haveexpected.
He went to work, determined to do hisjob, to focus on the things he could control. But he couldn’t deny the way his stomach flipped when his phone buzzed later thatmorning.
[Cort:]So, how’s workgoing?
[Cam:]Fine.
[Cort:]I’m kind of off this week.Bored.
[Cam:]How can I sleep safe at night knowing the FBI is missing its bestagent?
Bored. Cam almost couldn’t conceive of Cort, all two-hundred-pounds of exasperating, panic-inducing wet-dream, sitting around bored. He frowned as he propped his feet up on his desk and stared out of the window at the cloudy graysky.
What did Cort do for fun? Who else did he have in hislife?
And why the hell did hecarewhen he was supposed to be putting the man out of hismind?
When Cort didn’t reply after a moment, Cam frowned at the screen. Perhaps his message had been a little nastier than he’dintended.
[Cam:]Why aren’t you chillin with Baywatch? How can you call yourself a truefan?
[Cort:]Do they have those movies onNetflix?
[Cam:]No.
[Cam:]Maybe.
[Cam:]I wouldn’tknow.
[Cort:]Oh my God. You watched them. You DID. Just when I thought I couldn’t like youmore!!!
Cam rolled his eyes and fought the warmth creeping up his neck. Only words. They were only words, and Cort didn’t meanthem.
So why was the man still texting? Why was Cam stillresponding?
[Cam:]Don’t you have some other poor guy you can con into liking you, Cort? Surely I’m not the onlyone.
[Cort:]It wasn’t acon.
[Cam:]What would you callit?
Cam waited a long time, watching the three little dots next to Cort’s name circle and circle and then disappear. He shook his head. He shouldn’t be disappointed. Hewasn’tdisappointed.
