“Damn! Look at those tattoos.”
Hudson jumped and slammed his phone to his chest. “EJ!”
“What?” EJ asked as he dropped onto the bench beside him. “Don’t get mad at me because I caught you downloading porn.”
“It’s not porn! Oh my God! Don’t say that!”
Cackling, EJ bumped shoulders with him. “Who’s the hottie?”
“Bastian,” Hudson told him.
“Okay,” EJ drawled. “Who’s Bastian? It’s been three days since I’ve seen you. I was camping in the woods, not off the planet. How have I not met this Bastian who sends you shirtless pictures?”
Had it only been three days? That couldn’t be right. Hudson had to think back. He’d first come across Bas up in the tree after his last shift. And everything else that had happened had just…it had only been three days!
“Why are you blushing? Did you meet on the internet? That’s not so strange. Nothing to be embarrassed about,” EJ said.
“No, I met him in town,” Hudson replied. “We had a date last night.” One that had ended way too early and with him sleeping alone. Although he had totally jerked himself off in the shower once he got home. With Bastian’s permission of course. Not that he was going to share that with his best friend. EJ would find that way too funny.
EJ sighed. “Why don’t I ever meet hot sexy men in town?”
“Maybe because you spend your time off sleeping in a tent in the middle of a forest with no other people around?” Hudson offered. His friend loved hiking in the state park and camping out. He’d invited Hudson along but sleeping on the rocky ground in a tent that he’d barely fit in did not sound like a fun time to him.
“There’s people,” EJ argued. “And they’re annoying, being all loud and getting lost and leaving trash on the trails.”
“People tend to do that,” Hudson said with a nod.
“Tell me about your hottie!” EJ ordered. “I swear it’s like every time I turn around I’m seeing some super attractive couple walking down the street together. Where did you find a single one?”
“He’s the owner of Bas,” Hudson told him.
“Bas?”
“The cat that I found in the tree. He was there the next day again so I found out who his owner was. I wanted to make sure that he was being taken care of,” Hudson said.
“You found a hot guy because of a cat in a tree?”
“Yeah?” Hudson shrugged.
“I’m not really a cat person,” EJ said with a pout.
“Well, you can’t have Bastian anyway.” Hudson was staking his claim. Their first date had been amazing. And Bastian didn’t appear to be playing games since he’d been sending text messages and pictures all day.
“Wait!” EJ laughed. “This dude named his cat after himself?”
“It’s a good name,” Hudson defended. He didn’t like EJ making fun of his…well whatever Bastian was. Boyfriend, maybe? Was it too soon for them to be boyfriends?
EJ nudged him again. “So how did you go from rescuing his cat to getting shirtless pictures. Are there any pictures that show…less?” EJ waggled his brows.
“No!” That would be inappropriate. And would make Hudson horny. Like he wasn’t already horny, he was, but he was also at work. “We only had one date.” And Hudson still couldn’t believe that he’d been ready to fall into bed with Bastian. He was thankful that Bastian had kept his wits about him and stopped them before Hudson allowed it to go too far.
Bastian was right. Hudson would have felt funny having sex with a guy that he barely knew, no matter how much he’d wanted to at the time. To Hudson the fact that Bastian kept their interactions to kisses and teasing proved that he could be trusted.
“One date and you’re already getting shirtless pictures? What did you do on that date?” EJ teased.
“Nothing!”
Throwing an arm around his shoulder, EJ pulled him close. “Tell me the truth. I promise not to judge you.”
