Dammit.
I could pretend I hadn’t heard him, but it wasn’t like there was loud music I could blame for
ignoring him. We were adults, and it was time I acted like it.
“It has to be quick,” I warned him. “I have to work in the morning.”
Okay, so I didn’t work at the store until eleven, but that was still morning. And the last thing I
needed was him to go on some long-winded lecture that stole my precious sleep time from me. It was
better to set the expectation that I wasn’t giving him more than a few minutes.
“That’s fine.” He lifted a box and held it out. With a sigh, I dropped my bag on the nearest table.
Apparently, I was helping him finish cleaning up, even though Sam should be coming out soon to take
care of it.
Our fingers brushed as I took the tote out of his hands. The lump in my throat was the only thing
keeping a pathetic whimper from escaping. I couldn’t remember a time in my life when I had ever felt
this sort of visceral pull to anyone—man or woman. That’s not to say I hadn’t been attracted to people
in the past, but that desire for them had never left me feeling helpless. With William, it was beginning
to feel like getting together with him was a foregone conclusion. I adjusted the box in my arms, hoping
to conceal the erection my exhausted body couldn’t do a damn thing about.
“You okay with that?” William chuckled, his gaze flicking to my waist. I didn’t get the impression
he was talking about the box I was holding. Great, just what I needed. Not only was I springing
involuntary wood, he knew the effect he had on me. That was dangerous. Even if being with William
felt inevitable at this point, I needed to resist. My plates were already overflowing, there wasn’t time
for a distraction like him.
“I’m fine,” I ground out. “It’s not like this box is heavy or anything. Where do you want it?”
William jerked his head toward the playroom. Of course, that was where it needed to go. I didn’t
want to follow him in there. Jack had been kind enough to give me fifteen minutes to explore the new
space earlier tonight, and instead of soaking in as many details to pass on to customers as possible,
I’d plopped down and started coloring. I’d wanted to lay on my stomach on the printed rug and run the
cars around the roads but that would have been a step too far.
The playroom was perfection. If I’d given myself the time to envision what I’d need to shut out the
bullshit I carried around on a daily basis, everything in there would have been on the list. So,
apparently, I was giving up on pretending I was different than any of the other guys who were here
