“So.” Tap eyed me from his seat on the chilly bin where he held the water bottle to his forehead. “You gonna tell me what’s been bugging you all day, or do I have to guess? Oh, wait, I know, it starts with a T.”
I shot him a narrow look. “Refer back to the part about you not being my mother.”
He gave a sly grin. “A little bit sensitive, aren’t we?”
“Shut up.” I took another long swallow of water.
Tap rolled the bottle back and forth over his brow, his expression more serious now. “You really like this guy, don’t you?”
I huffed. “Don’t be ridiculous. I’ve only known him for ten days.”
“But you shagged him, right?”
I gave him a sideways look. “I’veshaggedlots of men. Doesn’t mean anything. And nobody says shag anymore.”
“Yes, they do, and don’t lie.” He called me on it. “You shagsomemen. Not a lot. And none of them has ever fucked with your head like this, not since James.”
“I wish I’d never told you,” I grumbled, rinsing my mouth and spitting on the dusty earth.
“You didn’ttellmeanything,” he corrected. “I saw you drooling over the poor guy’s arse like you wanted to stick it in a cone and lick it, and I called you on your bullshit.”
I grimaced. “Fuck off. And I wasn’t drooling.”
He didn’t fuck off. “You were too drooling. Tell me I’m lying.”
I couldn’t, of course, so I simply met his gaze and sighed. “Fine. Do I want Thaddeus? Would I like more sex with him? Hell yes, I would. Who wouldn’t? The guy’s hot. But he doesn’t want to complicate things, and I totally respect that. He’s fresh out of a traumatic break-up. It’s too soon.”
Tap gave a scornful huff. “Not too soon for him to shag your brains loose in your skull just three days out from said break-up. You said the sex was pretty epic, if I remember.”
I groaned. “Don’t remind me. But that was...” I slowly shook my head. “We weren’t thinking straight.”
Tap snorted.
“Shut up. I mean, it just happened. It was a distraction, that’s all. It didn’t mean anything more.”
Now Tap really did laugh. “Oh my God. You’re both behaving like freaking idiots. If it didn’t mean anything toyou, then you wouldn’t be moping around like someone stole your favourite blanky. And if it didn’t mean anything toThad, then he wouldn’t have put the brakes on so goddammed fast I could still smell the rubber when I turned up at your house the next morning. Oh, wait, that was the reek of sex coming from your bedroom,” he deadpanned, then bugged eyes at me.
I had to laugh. “You are such an arsehole.”
Tap bowed, his dark brown eyes twinkling. “At your service.” He got to his feet and reached for his shovel. “All I’m saying is that the two of you clearly like each other, but you’re dancing around it like you’re worried that if you get too close, your tails might catch fire. My advice is?—”
“Oh, my fucking God,” I groaned and covered my face. “I can’t believe I’m hearing this.”
“My adviceis—” Tap prised my fingers from my eyes and stared at me. “—stop dancing and start fucking. Whatever happens from there happens. If it’s a distraction and it burns out, so be it. He’ll leave and you’ll never see each other again. If not... then you’ll never know if you don’t try, right? In the meantime, you can both have a bit of fun. You clearly get on, in every meaning of the word.” He considered me a moment before adding, “You’ve been alone for a long time, Ryder. Something has to give. I want more for you.”
“I’m fine,” I protested, looking away.
“No, you’re really not,” he said in a much softer voice. “At least talk to him about it. You’re a grown man, Ry. Use your words. You never know, he might be feeling the same way. He might even have said what he did, hoping you’d convince him otherwise.”
That caught my attention. “You think so?”
He shrugged. “Won’t know if you don’t ask.”
I grunted in assent. “All right. I’ll think about it. But no promises.”
“None asked for.” Tap’s mouth curved up in a sly grin. “On another note, Will did mention that he might drop by sometime today so he can see this man for himself.”
My mouth dropped open. “He what? When? Why? And you said he could?”
