“Yes, Beau,” she sighed, rolling her eyes at him again as she leaned her hips against the island counter, holding her coffee cup between her clasped hands, level with her chest.
“Good girl,” he murmured and dropped another kiss to her unsuspecting mouth before heading toward the bedroom. Thirty seconds later he was back, jeans on and button-down shirt pulled on but left open, socks and shoes in hand. “I’ll be right back, sweetheart.”
Letting himself out of her apartment, he strode across the short hallway to his own, unlocking the door quickly and stepping in. He dropped his shoes at the door before heading into his bedroom, tugging the shirt off before he cleared the doorway. Sliding his jeans back down his thighs, along with his underwear, he tossed them and the shirt onto the bed as he stepped toward the dresser. Pulling on a fresh pair of boxer-briefs, he then shoved his feet into a set of dark gray sweatpants, leaving them slung low on his hips, before shoving his arms and head through the holes of a simple white t-shirt. The material clung to his shoulders and biceps, but was loose enough on his torso to be comfortable. He picked up his glasses and contacts case, his eyes already beginning to burn from leaving his contacts in overnight. Lastly, he slid his feet into a well-worn pair of men’s slippers—because the hardwood floors in their apartments were chilly—before heading back toward Val’s. Stopping at her door, he knocked, but when he heard hercall out to come in, he turned the handle and let himself back inside.
He hadn’t allowed himself the time to analyze what had transpired between them in the last twelve hours. He didn’t want to. For now, this felt right. And he wasn’t going to let his own guilty conscience ruin it.
Because Christ… if he let the guilt kick in. It was going to wreck him. Completely.
CHAPTER 14
“Why do you have two sets of the same books?”
“Huh?” Val asked, crossing the room with two plates piled with breakfast sandwiches and fruit toward him. She looked over his shoulder as she got closer, where he stood in front of one of the bookshelves that lined her small living room. He accepted the plate with a thank you and a quick kiss on her mouth, which made her blush, and then he pointed to several books on one shelf. She made a face and bit her lip. “Oh. Those. Uhh…”
Setting her plate down on the coffee table, she stepped up to the bookshelf and pulled two of the books down, both with the same title by the same author, but the covers were different. Holding them up, she let him look at them and she licked her lips, blushing again. On one cover was a man with a button-down shirt left open revealing glistening abs with a cowboy hat pulled low over his face. The other, a beautiful floral cover in shades of aqua.
“Theseare by a new author I just found,” she whispered, sliding the books back into their respective spots. She gestured to the others on the shelf. “She’s local, and all of her books are basedright here in Petoskey. How cool is that? It’s called thePetoskey Stone Seriesand they’re just…ugh. So good. I met her at a signing downtown. And she has the hot man covers, but she does these pretty discreet covers, too… and I just couldn’t decide which ones I liked better. So… I have all of them.” She shrugged awkwardly. Pointing to another shelf, she continued, “TheCherry Tree Harbor Serieshas hot man covers and discreet covers… so, naturally I had to get both, since she’s another Michigan author and all of hers are based in northern Michigan, too. I have multiple versions of theSalacious Players Clubbecause she has the original hot man covers that are discontinued so you can’t find them anymore, the discreet trad published covers, and the stunning special edition foil covers… I have the special edition foil coversandthe hot man covers ofThe Alliance Series, too, which are all signed by SJ herself… And I have first edition paperbacks ofACOTARas well as a hardback set with custom dust jackets.” Beau was staring down at her. She wrinkled her nose in embarrassment. “It’s a disease. Incurable.Book-Dragon-Itis.”
Beau burst out laughing, shaking his head as he turned away from the shelves and sank down into one corner of the couch. He set his plate in his lap as she sat down next to him, picking up her plate off the coffee table in front of them. Motioning to the other shelves, he asked, “And you’ve read all of these?”
“Umm,” Val mumbled around a bite of her breakfast sandwich. She chewed and swallowed quickly. Pointing to a shelf on the far side of the room, she said, “That’s my TBR shelf.”
“TBR?”
She nodded around another bite of sandwich. “Mmhmm. To-Be-Read.”
“What’s on that shelf?” he asked before taking a bite of his own.
“Crescent City, Vicious Lost Boys, Dark Olympus. Among others.”
“Vicious Lost Boys?Dark Olympus?”
“Yeah.” Twisting her legs up underneath her, she sat criss-cross applesauce and tugged the edges of the robe over her exposed thighs. Reaching out, she brought her coffee to her lips and took a drink.If he wants to know…“The first is a dark, spicyPeter Panretelling. The second is like a… a spicy Greek mythology series. I’ve read the first few in that series. I need to buy the others still, so I can finish it.”
“What are you currently reading?” he asked.
Swallowing hard, she blushed. “Umm. A why choose hockey romance.”
“Why choose?”
Oh. My. God. Please let the couch open up and swallow me.
“It means multiple men, one woman,” she whispered, face flaming.
Beau nodded, as if this was a totally normal conversation and she hadn’t just told him she like to read about a woman being railed by multiple guys at the same time.No biggie. This is fine.He popped a bite of melon into his mouth. “Are all of the books you read of the spicy variety?”
She shook her head and took another drink of coffee.Fuck it. Can’t get any worse. Just go for it, Val.“No, not all of them. But it is my preferred genre, and I am a self-proclaimed expert in Cliterature.”
She enjoyed the laugh that rolled out of him, making him throw his head back. “Jesus, Val. Cliterature?”
“Would you rather I just call it smut?” she deadpanned.
“Is this why your light is still on at three am some nights?” he asked, peering at her over the last bite of his sandwich.
“Sometimes,” she laughed. “What areyoudoing awake at three am?”
As soon as the question left her mouth, she regretted asking it. She knew what virile, sexy, habitually single bachelors did at three am.
