“And third, Dempsey,” he finishes with my surname. “I have no third. I just want you. Despite the storm and not seeing Juju, I feel like I’ve been given the best Christmas present ever.”
“I’m sorry you can’t see your friend this Christmas. I know you had a lot of plans. Will you tell me more about her?”
He looks at me for a moment and nods.
“Okay then. Let’s get clean.” I carry him inside the shower and then set him down.
We wash each other without any rush until both our stomachs rumble.
I change the bed while Bubble arranges something for us to eat. I made him promise he wouldn’t do anything too complicated. He needs to relax a little too.
After we eat the sandwiches he makes—which taste like gourmet sandwiches because the man doesn’t do anything by half-measure—we sit on the couch in front of the fireplace.
“So tell me about your best friend,” I say.
He sits so his back is to the arm of the couch and his legs are on top of mine. He’s now wearing a pair of lime-green yoga pants and a top that’s so cropped I can see his abs. I put my arm over his shoulder, bringing him closer, and rest my other hand over his exposed skin.
“If you get me hard again, the only thing we’ll be talking about is your submarine dick docking in my ass.”
I laugh. “I’ll behave.”
He raises a brow and points at where I’m mindlessly running circles with my thumbs over his belly.
“Okay, okay. I’ll stop.”
He sighs. “Don’t stop. Anyway, you want to know about Juju.”
24
BUBBLE
Riley is definitelyone-thousand times more comfortable than the couch. If only I could take him home with me at the end of this vacation. I’d sit on him all the time, and not always naked. I do have some self-control.
“I met Juju in college. We were both on the cheerleading team. I looked at her, and she looked at me, and it was as if the universe aligned itself. We became best friends that day.”
Riley smiles. “That’s such a strange concept because I can’t see how I’d let someone in so quickly, but somehow, it’s totally you, isn’t it?”
I nod. “When you know, you know. We became inseparable. If I’d lived in student accommodation, we totally would have been roomies.”
“Where did you live?”
“With my grandmother. She became ill when I finished high school, so I went to the local college so I could stay with her.”
“Did you have other plans? If she wasn’t sick, I mean,” he asks.
“I did. I wanted to go to the University of Kentucky because it has the best cheerleading program, but then I switched. Grandma was so mad she didn’t talk to me for days.”
I smile, remembering how she even stopped cooking. As if it would make a difference to the grandson she taught all of her recipes to, even her secret ones.
“I eventually won her back by baking her cookies. And she could never stay mad at me for too long. I’m too adorable.”
Riley brings his hand up to my face and cradles it. “That you are. And persistent too.”
I grin.
“Anyway, anytime I wasn’t at school, I was home, so Juju came over a lot and also got to know my grandma. Juju doesn’t get along with her family because they wanted her to work in the family diner like her sister, but she wanted to go to college and do something else. She spent so much time with me that my grandma kind of adopted her. I wouldn’t have survived my grandma’s death if it wasn’t for Juju.” I lean my head on Riley’s chest. “She was everything. Made sure I ate, didn’t miss class, and even went to all the cheerleading practices. We ended up winning our league championship that year.”
“Wow, that’s quite amazing. Congratulations.”
