“’Sup, man,” Dylan said, clapping my hand with his and bringing me in for a hug. Chris did the same. One of them wore a really good cologne.
Not as good as Gabe’s though…
“Thanks forcoming to this, guys.”
Chris waved a hand in the air. “I like these kinds of things. Meeting new people that are passionate. It’s fun for me.”
“And I’ve been wanting to learn,” Dylan added. He pulled out his bright orange and scratched up phone and waved it in the air. “I can barely take a photo with my phone.”
“That’s because you never clean your lens,” Chris said.
“You have to clean your lens? That’s a thing?”
Chris narrowed his eyes at him. “That’s why all your Instagram posts look like you applied a Vaseline filter to them.”
“Huh,” Dylan said. “I thought that was just like an upload thing or something.”
I chuckled and shook my head. “Nope. It’s definitely because you need to wipe down that lens.”
“See, I’m already learning something, and we’re not even inside.” He flipped his white baseball cap back and reached for the door, opening it.
“Thanks,” I said, already glad I had invited them to join.
The smooth scent of freshly ground coffee filled the space as I entered, along with something else. Something deeper, more… piney? Like the woods after a long rain.
I looked around to see if someone had put up a Christmas tree a couple months early.
To my right was a table with a check-in sheet, which I assumed would be the first stop. But then I glanced to my left.
Frozen. My muscles became stiff with shock. Like a damn opossum.
I found myself turned to stone by the tall man with the dark scruffy beard in a Bobcats hoodie, his sky-blue eyes piercing through me as if his gaze had been made of arrows.
Bullseye.
“Oh, hey, Gabe,” Dylan said as he walked past me to greet his friend.
Chapter Five
Canary Yellows & Midnight Blues
GABE
Elijah Sager lookedlike a movie star walking onto set. Sunlight shining through the window splashed onto his light brown curls, highlighting the soft curves of his pink lips, the shining green specks in his hazel eyes.
Fucking hell. He was beautiful. In every way possible.
And he made it seem effortless. Like he’d simply rolled out of bed, grabbed a clean black T-shirt and crisp blue jeans on his way out the door, thrown on a light gray jacket, hopped in his car, and shown up here.
By the look of surprise he had on his kissable face, I could tell he hadn’t expectedmeto show up here.
“Hey, Gabe,” Dylan said, completely oblivious to the shell-shocked Eli he walked past.
I greeted him and Chris. Eli was last. He reached out a hand, and I clapped it with mine, pulling it close to my chest as we hugged.
It was a brief moment of contact that was powerful enough to rattle the very ground I stood on.
I swallowed, trying to contain the primal instinct inside me. All I wanted to do was drop Eli to the ground, bite theback of his neck, and fuck him until I had him shouting my name and begging me to come.
