“Talk to me,” he said.
“Talk to you?”
“Entertain me,” he clarified.
“What am I, your court jester?” I asked.
Leo smiled sheepishly. “You asked if there’s anything you can do. If you talk to me about something interesting, I’ll have the motivation to finish this off.”
“I don’t think any of the tantalising topics I can think of off the top of my head would appeal to you,” I said.
“Why not?”
“Well, therearetantalising topics,” I explained. “But if I talked about them, I’d make you uncomfortable.”
“Why?”
“Well, you’re kind of prudish.”
He bristled. “I am not prudish.”
“Anytime I even allude to sex, you blush. Which is totally fine, by the way. Although, it makes me wonder if I talk about sex too much.”
“I don’t mind if you talk about sex,” he said, although the last word was pitched low, as if he were afraid someone would overhear in his own apartment.
“Even now, you’re whispering,” I pointed out.
“I’m not. I’m not prudish,” Leo insisted. “I’m not.”
“Fine, not prudish then. Just…innocent.”
“I’m not innocent either,” he said.
I dropped the topic and watched him work as he finished the roof. I looked at his profile, the strong line of his nose and the curve of his cheek illuminated by the glow of the desk light. He looked different when he worked. Instead of his big smiles and crinkly eyes, he looked…not serious, but focused. To mysurprise, it was just as pleasant to look at him like this as it was to receive one of his grins.
“You said you were a top?” Leo said, breaking the silence.
The question took me off guard, and my head almost slipped off my palm. “Yeah,” I replied.
Leo didn’t move his gaze from the model, but I knew he was waiting for me to go on.
“You didn’t even know what that was,” I said. “You were like, top of what?”
“Shut up,” Leo said without venom.
“Hey, it was funny,” I said.
“I was just confused at the moment. I know what a top is. At least…I have a pretty good idea.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah. The top’s the one that…”
I waited.
Leo swallowed. “Penetrates,” he finished. “Right?”
“That’s correct.”
