“Friend?”
He seemed totally thrown by what I’d intended as a nonchalant remark. “More than friend.”
“Why would you say the f-word?”
“Keegan, surely you know I think more of you than that.”
“Yeah, well, then what are we?”
“Seeing each other, yes? I don’t consider us boyfriends quite yet. Is that what you think we are?” I wanted him to be honest with me.
“I have to say it hasn’t helped that we’ve been using the b-word for the past month and a half to everyone else, and now you’re using the f-word, even though we said we weren’t faking the b-word.”
“Can we use words instead of letters? I’m having a hard enough time trying to decipher what you’re trying to say.”
“That I’m a little confused.”
“Well, that’s fair. I’d say you’re doing a good job of confusingme,” I said, more about my feelings toward men than our conversation. “I wasn’t meaning to suggest that I see you as just a friend, if that clears up the matter. I’m just having a difficult time sorting through it all. You have to admit we are in a highly unusual circumstance.”
“Yes, that’s fair to say. I guess there’s not really a word for this. Just seeing each other, but I don’t think of us as just friends.”
“I don’t think of you asjustanything, Keegan.”
He sighed with relief before laughing. “I feel like I just got a little too insecure on you there. It’s been three weeks since I’ve seen you, so I keep thinking that you’re going to move on and forget about me.”
“Move on? Forget about you? I can’t hardly go a day without you popping into my head. Even the mere thought of you in those panties is about to pull me right through the phone.” I winked, drawing another laugh from him.
“I’d love to show them to you, but it’s not an option forfriends.”
“Well, we have established we are more than that, so I’m eager to get a better look. What was the question? What was my favorite part of the day? Definitely not having an awkward conversation with my sort-of-boyfriend about the nature of our evolving relationship.”
“Sort-of-boyfriend. Yeah. I can live with that.For now.”
I thought on my response before saying, “I went horseback riding with Mère. We had a stroll around the gardens, and that was nice. What was your favorite part of your day?”
“You don’t want your reward?”
“Iexpectit, but I also want you to answer your own question.”
He offered me a glimpse of that bright smile once more. “I was at the mall with Serena. She has an audition for this TV series—Riverdale. A bit part, but I was helping her dress for the audition. She says she likes my tastes.”
“You have very good tastes, so I can understand that. She seemed like an interesting character the last time I was there.”
“Yeah, she can be…different. You can’t take anything she says too seriously. But she’s fun and cool, and it’s interesting hearing about what she refers to as her golden days in Hollywood.”
“There’s quite a strange crew of people living in Fever Falls right now. Hottie Firefighter, Ashton Carmichael, Serena Middleton-Stuart, Rush Alexander.”
“Like the sign says, ‘Up-and-coming.’”
I snickered at the reference.
“Okay, so now I think I’m ready for my reward.”
He glanced himself over, offering me a taste of that sheepish side that fascinated me since I knew it would dissolve the moment he shed his clothes and gave me what I wanted.
He removed his boxers and panned the camera down, granting me my view of those sexy undies. Then he panned back up to his face, looking confident as hell.
“There we are. There’s the Keegan I wanted to see. Now lose the shirt and back up a little. I want to see all of you.”
