He is coping well and doesn’t look bamboozled. Maybe he won’t need me after all. And that’s great. I still got to tag along and hang out with him for longer.
I drift over to the tablets. Someone has left an art App open, so I pick up the stylus and start doodling silly faces.
Chuckling to myself, I look over at Jade. Maybe he will appreciate my terrible art?
He has two assistants helping him now. And they are practically pawing at him. I frown. Flirting with Jade is onething. He is absolutely gorgeous, so it’s understandable, but can they not see how deeply uncomfortable he is?
I watch for a few heartbeats as Jade squirms under their attention. He pulls his hood back up and puts his sunglasses back on. The women either don’t notice his discomfort or think they can win him over by perseverance. It’s pissing me off.
I leave my bags on the floor and stride up to them. They both scowl at my interruption. I sling my arm over Jade’s shoulder.
“Can I have my boyfriend back yet?” I say with my biggest grin.
The assistants both pale and their jaws go slack at the implication that they have been harassing a gay man.
“Um…yes…I think he’s chosen,” one of them stammers.
The other scurries away with some mumbled excuse about checking stock.
Jade shows me the phone he has been looking at. His cheeks are pink and it is the most adorable thing I have ever seen.
“I was thinking of this one?”
I give him a smile. “Yeah, that’s a good phone. The camera is good enough, unless you are hoping to be an Instagram influencer.”
He shakes his head with a wry smile. Yeah, he is far too sweet and shy to be an influencer.
I check the price with the assistant and let Jade know it’s a good deal. He trails after the woman to the counter to make his purchase while I gather up all my bags. Cara is going to go wild at me for buying Sorcha so many birthday presents, but hey, I only have one niece to spoil.
Jade walks up to me with his new phone in a shiny bag and together we escape the store.
“Sorry if I embarrassed you,” I say as soon as we are well away from the phone store. “I thought it would be the quickest way to get them to back off.”
Jade chuckles softly. “Thank you. The look on their faces’ was priceless.”
I sneak in a shaky exhale. Phew! I’m glad I didn’t overstep and upset him. It’s a terrible habit of mine to act first and think later.
“Shall we grab that bench over there and I can help you set your new phone up?” I say.
Jade nods enthusiastically enough to make my pulse race. I have to temper my happy grin as we walk over and take a seat.
I put all my bags down again and quickly get to work. It doesn’t take long to extract the sim card from his broken phone and pop it in his new one. I get him started on the set up interface. He is a damn quick learner and is soon whizzing through it without any help from me.
When he’s done, he looks up at me with a triumphant smile that melts my heart.
“So, can I be the first number you put into your new phone?” I grin.
He flushes and agrees. He quickly taps my number in and then calls it so that I have his. He’s not bad at this outside world stuff at all.
“Can I see you again?” I ask.
Even through his dark glasses, I see his eyes grow impossibly wide.
“As friends,” I quickly add before he gets the wrong idea.
I used to flirt with him something crazy, so it is more than understandable if he leaps to that conclusion. But I have no intention of being pushy.
He flinches and his lips curl downwards.
