I shake off the memory as I grab my phone. “Hang on, I can get this on the built-in speakers.”
Taio rolls his eyes. “Of course this place has built-in speakers. Probably has a button that makes champagne spray from the ceiling and another that summons a tiny French man to feed you grapes.” He turns off his phone as the intro explodes through hidden speakers with enough bass to make the fancy fruit bowl vibrate across the counter, transforming the pristine kitchen into what feels like the world’s most expensive strip club.
“Sit.” His tone is commanding, a glimpse of something gruff and animalistic, a side I know he’s determined not to show me. Either way, I obey.
Taio positions himself behind the chair, hands gripping the back, and for a moment he just stands there, head bowed, waiting for the beat to hit.
Then he moves.
I wish I could make a joke to put us both at ease. Or maybe find the words to convey my genuine shock. But no, all I can do is drop my jaw and gawk.
He’s fluid. That’s the only word for it. Every movement flows into the next like water, his hips rolling in a way that makes my mouth go dry. He circles me like a predator, one hand trailing along the back of the chair, making the hair on the back of my neck rise, eyes finding mine and holding them with an intensity that makes my stomach flip.
This is not the reluctant bodyguard who’s obviously parked me in the friend zone. This is something else entirely.Hot.Someone else entirely. Someone I really want to get to know.
He straddles the chair, legs spread wide, careful not to touch me, and then to my great horror and simultaneous glee, he does this thing with his hips that can only be described as obscene. His hands run down his chest, his abs, his thighs. He throws his head back. He bites his lip. He looks like sex personified, and I am having acrisis.
I grip the edge of the chair on either side, partly for support and partly because I need something to do with my hands that isn’t reaching for him.
Taio’s voice drops an octave. “Shift to the left, Charlie.” His neck glistens with a thin sheen of sweat, each breath making his shoulders rise and fall as his hips carve figure-eights in the air. The muscles in his thighs flex beneath the thin fabric of his sweatpants, and I swear I can feel the heat radiating from him like a furnace, making my own legs tremble in response.
“Like this?” I croak, shimmying two inches.
“Good girl.” He smirks, probably pleased he made me blush. I can feel the heat in my cheeks and I justknowthey are painted red.
He plants one heel on the open space on the seat, then shifts his weight, gyrating his hips, teasing me more and more, never making contact. And I’m sure he’d prefer to keep it that way, except at the worst possible moment, a tickle forms in my nose.
I try to hold it in, summoning inhuman strength to send this sneeze back down into the abyss of wherever sneezes form. Instead, the pressure pops, silently, causing an internal eruption and for my head to duck forward at the precise moment Taio thrusts, causing his semi to crash into my face. And I don’t mean a gentle touch. An adorable accident. No, not adorable, because Taio’s dick caressing my cheek is like getting your face fondled by an elephant trunk.
He stumbles backward, face frozen in horror.
“Oh my God.” He backs up so fast he nearly trips over the discarded chair. “Oh shit, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to—the choreography, it just—I forgot how short you are?—”
I’m laughing too hard to respond. Full-body, tears-streaming, can’t-breathe laughing. I fall out of the chair, one hand pressed to my allegedly assaulted nose, absolutely losing my mind.
“Charlie. Charlie, are you okay?”
“You—” I wheeze, trying to catch my breath. “You just?—”
“I know. I know what I did. We don’t need to say it out loud.” He groans in agony.
I’m crying now, actual tears rolling down my cheeks as I try to hold my ribs, plagued with stitches from the hysterical laughter. “You really committed, man. I mean, I feel like I have to tip you now?—”
“Pleasestop talking.”
“This is the greatest moment of my life.”
Taio drops into the dining chair I toppled out of, head in his hands, looking like a man who’s seriously reconsidering all his life choices.
I finally manage to pull myself together, wiping my eyes with the back of my hand. Taio is still sitting there, radiating mortification.
“Hey. I think I get it now.” I anchor my hand against his thigh and rise. Holding his face in both of my hands, I tilt his gaze up. “The part that’s missing? It should be fun, right? Or funny at least.”
“Yeah,” he says, his controlled masculine temperament returning. “You have a right to enjoy what you’ve built, Charlie.”
“Thank you. What an epiphany. All from a pervy nose boop.”
“Please don’t call it a ‘pervy nose boop.’”
