Tyler stirs and stretches against me like a cat, and god, it feels nice. If I stop myself from flipping out for two seconds, I can appreciate how good it is to wake up with someone curled up beside me.
I didn’t intend to make a pass at him when I tried to comfort him last night, but he seemed like he needed a hug so damn badly. He looked so alone and stressed-out. And when he started kissing me, it was like a dam broke, and all I could do was hold on for the ride. I’ve always thought Tyler was gorgeous and sweet as hell, but when I tried getting to know him when he first started working with us, he shut me down, so I backed off. He’s a lot more relaxed now, but we still don’t know each other well.
“Mmmm,” he moans softly as he slowly blinks his eyes open. Confusion flashes over his face at first, and then it’s like everything comes rushing back to him the same way it did for me.
“Oh! Oh… Oh!” he exclaims, pushing back from me awkwardly, trying to untangle himself as fast as possible. He’s a little too quick on the draw, losing his balance and tumbling off the edge of the couch, his ass hitting the floor with a loud thud. He looks up at me with wide eyes, and we both crack up.
“Um… hi!” I chuckle.
“Hi!” he says back, scrambling to his feet.
“So. Uh… did you sleep okay?” I ask awkwardly. I’m not unfamiliar with hookup etiquette, but I’ve never done it with someone I work with. Someone I see on an almost daily basis.Fucking hell.
He blinks at me and shakes his head, reaching to grab something off the coffee table. He fusses with one of his ears, and I realize he didn’t have his hearing aids in, so he probably didn’t hear my question.
He flashes a cute smile. “Sorry, I didn’t have my ears in yet. Uh, what did you say?”
“Just wondered if you slept okay?” I ask, clearing my throat and getting up off the couch so I’m standing beside him. I automatically reach out to start straightening the pillows and folding the blanket, trying to avoid looking him in the eye.
“Yeah. I, um, I actually slept really good.” He clears his own throat. “You?”
“Um, yeah, me too,” I say, turning to put the blanket back in the basket it came from. We’re both fully clothed, and I vaguely remember a bleary-eyed trip to the bathroom to clean myself up after coming in my pants like a fourteen-year-old. I ditched my cum-covered boxers, so I’m going commando under my jeans.
“Um, I’m just going to, uh, clean up a little,” he says before scurrying off toward the bathroom. I breathe a sigh of relief. I think we both need a minute to process. Hopefully once we’re fully awake, some of this awkwardness will disappear.
Tyler comes back a few minutes later as I’m standing in the kitchen, filling the coffeepot with water. By some miracle, the power is already back on, so I’m wasting no time getting caffeine into our systems. It’s still early, and the sun isn’t fully up yet, but there’s a little bit of watery, gray light coming in through the windows. I don’t hear the wind blowing or the trees creaking and cracking anymore, so it looks like the storm blew itself out. I finish setting up the coffee and walk over to the window to check out the damage. Sure enough, the giant fir tree is lying across the driveway, only about three feet clear of my truck’s back bumper. Small mercies, I guess. At least we won’t have to worry about insurance claims for a wrecked truck.
I know Mason and Jackson are probably going to be here as soon as they wake up, likely anxious to check out the damage from the tree and make sure there aren’t any other big concerns.
Tyler comes to stand beside me at the window a moment later. “Wow. That’s a really big fucking tree!” he remarks, and I chuckle.
“Yeah, sure is. God, we are so damn lucky it didn’t hit the house. Or the truck.”
“No kidding,” he says.
The single-cup coffee maker beeps to signal it’s ready, so I head back into the kitchen.
“Coffee?” I ask Tyler, but he shakes his head.
“Um… no, I’m okay. I think I’m probably just going to call an Uber and head back to my car. I should try to get home early today.”
“Oh, sure. Right,” I say, and I don’t know why a stab of disappointment slices through my gut. I should be happy he’s going to take off. My cousin and his husband are going to be here any minute, and their questions are going to be intense, especially if we’re both here and acting super awkward. So why is it bugging me that Tyler clearly wants to get out of here as fast as humanly possible?
He whips out his phone and claims the closest rideshare. “Looks like it will be here in eight minutes,” he says, and I force a smile.
“Great. You’re smart to get out of here before Mason and Jax wake up. They’re going to be ruthless with their questions.” I mean it as a tease, but I immediately feel bad when his eyes get wide, and a worried look appears on his face.
“Oh, is it—will Mason be mad? I mean—”
I cut him off with a wave of my hand. “No, it’s fine, Tyler. Don’t worry about it. I’m just teasing. Mason won’t give us a hard time. We’re adults—what we do on our own time isn’t his business. He’ll be fine,” I say, wishing I believed it. I know Mason won’t be pissed off at Tyler, but he might give me that look he gets when he’s worried about me.
“Um, anyway, I’m going to head out to wait for my ride,” Tyler says, turning to head for the door.
Once he’s got his shoes and coat on, there’s a weird, awkward moment where neither of us knows how we’re supposed to say goodbye. Like, what’s our relationship now? Was that just a hookup? Something more? Would Tyler even want anything more with me? Jesus Christ, this is complicated. I don’t know how this is going to work, but we need to figure it out.
Tyler clears his throat uncomfortably. “Uh, okay, then. Uh. I’ll see you on Monday, I guess,” he says, giving me a weird half wave.
“Yeah, no worries,” I say with forced cheerfulness. I cock an eyebrow at him, and then to my horror, I click my tongue and give him the finger-gun gesture. “You drive safe now, young man!” I say with a wink. And never in my life have I wanted the floor to open up and swallow me more than at this very moment.Finger guns? Really, Sam? Jesus Christ.
