We’d missed the notification as we jazzed up our dark purpleMadcap Marketcrewnecks using fabric scissors, some thread, a bit of glitter, and a ton of gay willpower. I cut off the bottom hem and then watched a YouTube video on how to fashion the strip of fabric into a bow tie, which looks dapper as hell. Classic Leo, he chopped off the sleeves on his entirely so his biceps can be on full display for everyone at home. I cropped the bottom for him and made him a bow tie as well, so there’s some sort of uniformity for Team Eggplant.
I’m surprised the producers didn’t make us change that name, but there it is in black-and-white on the email:
Hello Team Eggplant,
Please find your show week schedule attached below.
Leo distracts me by modeling his sweatshirt like he’s a bodybuilder in a big competition. I’d give him all the ribbons in the world. And kisses. And touches. And whoa, I’m overheating. I go back to rereading the email, so I don’t skip over anything important.
Call times are to be followed to a T. There are a lot of moving parts to makeMadcap Markethappen, so it is imperative that contestants are prompt. Inability to arrive on time could result in immediate dismissal.
“We’re closer to the studio from here. Why don’t you stay the night?” I ask Leo, positing it as convenient when really, it’s to satiate my libido.
He stops checking himself out in the mirror—such a sexy show-off—and asks, “Afraid I’m going to oversleep, aren’t you?”
“Yes. A little. But you have a toothbrush here, our sweatshirts are here, and you can borrow some of my clothes for tomorrow.” I love the idea of sharing clothes with Leo. No matter how clean you get a garment, there’s always that unique scent that stays behind, imbedded in the warp and weft. I want Leo to carry a piece of me as close to him as possible, especially after our awkward run-in at the market and all he shared with me in the car. Our intimacy has extended beyond the sheets. I want to continue that and see where it leads. “Plus, if you stay here tonight, we can have some pre-stressor fun, and we can be as loud as we want.”
After the run-in with Carter, we helped make pajeon with Mrs. Min, ate in front of the TV, and ended up binging Mrs. Min’s favorite K-Drama—a show that reminds me a bit ofGrey’s Anatomy—for the rest of the day. With the subtitles on, I became engrossed in the storytelling, falling completely for this bunch of med students sharing love and friendship.
It was the perfect comedown after the utter excitement of the morning and the terse conversation with Carter. Now that I have a better understanding of Leo’s dating history, I feel closer to him, and all the more like I might be falling for him, too.
When I tune back in, Leo is looking at me with a devious light in his eyes. “Oh, so you want to get loud tonight, huh?”
“Yeah.” I openly ogle him—one, because I know he likes the way I eye him up and two, he’s just so damn enticing to look at. “I want to get loud.”
“What if you couldn’t get loud?” he asks, voice pitching deeper, one eyebrow rising with intrigue.
“I’m not sure I know what you mean.” I run a finger down the outside of his arm. My heart feels like it’s on a trampoline.
Leo crouches a bit so we’re exactly eye to eye. “I want to try something. Do you trust me?”
As someone who had his heart shattered a month ago, I assumed trust would be a transient visitor for a long while. That’s why I’m surprised to find it knocking on my front door with a U-Haul parked in the driveway right now. I don’t know if it’s here to stay, but it’s moving in, and I’m moved by that. “Yeah, I trust you.”
He bares his teeth in a sexy way. “Strip down and get on the bed.”
Excited, I do as I’m told, folding myMadcap Marketsweatshirt and tucking it safely in a drawer. Shucking my underwear, I splay out on the bed, naked and waiting for further instruction, already growing harder by the second, wanting to curl up inside that devious mind of his.
Leo takes his time, inspecting the strips of fabric we cut away from ourMadcap Marketsweatshirts before. I’m surprised when he uses his bare hands to rip one of them apart. What is he doing, and why is it spiking my pulse so much? Eventually, he holds up four long pieces—two thicker and two on the thin side.
“Spread out,” he instructs, crawling onto the bed and positioning his knees on either side of my hips. I starfish for him, noticing that every time he praises me for following directions, I become more and more erect. “Lift your head.”
Gently, he wraps a thicker piece of fabric around my skull, covering my eyes and tying a loose knot in the back. The loss of sight heightens my other senses making every subsequent touch even more arousing.
“Is that okay?” he asks using his everyday voice, perfectly playing the caring dominant.
“More than okay.”
He focuses on my wrists next, positioning the backs of them against the bedposts and twisting the fabric around. I can sense how meticulous and tight his knots are, making me assume he was either a Boy Scout or he’s done this before. Either way, the tug of my muscles is titillating.
Straddling my hips once more, Leo traces his fingers down the insides of my arms toward my armpits. The featherlight touch tickles me. I laugh and writhe, never having felt touch this delicate or intentional.
The pads of his forefingers do an ice-skating routine across my abdomen; they perform figure eights and tiny leaps that excite my breath. A huge moan rips out of me as he finds my navel, circles it, tantalizes me.
The bed gives out an exhausted creak as the mattress dimples in. Something hot and wet arriving at my lips lets me know that Leo’s lunged north. “Open wider.”
I’m rewarded with saltiness. A gradual thrust stretches my lips and offers a fullness that goes unmatched. I begin to rock my head, suctioning to him, but he tells me to stop, reminds me that he’s in charge. I nod wordlessly and lay my head back giving him as much access as he wants.
The pressure of his palms crushing down the duvet to hold himself upright makes me loll as he takes off, grinding in and out of my eager mouth. I moan around his length, knowing the vibration will carry through him. He reacts by thrusting harder, faster. I grow louder, until he backs away suddenly.
