Knox seemed to realize that as he stared at me in silence and licked his lips. “I...”
Swallowing, he plopped down in his chair. “I promised Lori I wouldn’t do anything stupid.”
He was just as adorable as I’d thought he’d be.
“I don’t think you’re going to be able to keep that promise, but I won’t tell if you won’t.” There was no point in pretending I didn’t find him hot. I’d never be able to be around him without at least flirting, especially when I knew he liked men and I knew how wonderfully dirty his mind was.
Had I mentioned he was an oversharer online?
But I wasn’t going to push in where I wasn’t wanted, so I waited to give him a chance to tell me to go to hell.
Unsurprisingly, he didn’t.
“Well...getting to know you isn’t stupid.” The way he started justifying his behavior seemed to be a good sign. “I need to know what it will be like to have you in my house.”
“I agree.” Sitting down across from him, I barely glanced toward the nosy barista to let him know I wanted my usual before looking back at Knox. “You need to know you’ll feel safe with me in...your space.”
He shivered...but he caught the moan before it’d escaped too loudly. “Yes. Yes, that’s very important. I don’t want to rush into...things with a stranger.”
He was definitely therush into things with a strangertype and we both knew it.
But he was trying to use enough of his brain so his editor didn’t kill him because he shook his head like he was trying to jostle a few fantasies loose and took a sip of his coffee. He was doing his best to clear his head and I didn’t want him to regret anything, so I nodded toward the counter. “I’ll be right back.”
Nothing.
I managed not to smile as I watched him obsessively thinking about something and headed up to get my coffee. But as distracted as he was, Knox kept his eyes glued to me as I walked over and made small talk with the barista I’d gotten to know over the last couple of years.
He was too young for me and always had been, but I didn’t mind the way he practiced flirting with me. It was cute and even though he looked like one good thrust would break him in half, I liked that he’d never been afraid of me. “Thanks.”
Knox had sorted through some of his random thoughts by the time I sat back down, but he hadn’t found the ones I’d expected. “Are you dating him?”
Oh, interesting.
“No.” Deciding that being honest would be fun, I shrugged. “He’s too young and too innocent. I like my men a bit more worldly...and curious.”
Licking his lips again, Knox was back to staring at me wordlessly, which I took to mean his brain was spinning again. So to give him another moment, I took a sip of my chocolaty heaven and leaned back in my chair to people watch my favorite author.
He was everything an author should be...distracted looking, with a notebook on the table with random scribbles on the open page and a cup of coffee big enough to caffeinate a small country.
“Would it be alright if I made you a bouncer in a book or maybe an assassin? Is it stereotypical to make you a mobster? I don’t want to be rude.” The fact that he was serious and that was where his mind had gone was brilliant.
“I’d love to be a bouncer at a club that’s owned by the mob if I can have my pick.” And I knew all of his pen names well enough to know that would fit in perfectly in the dark world he hadn’t written in for a while. “And you can give me a curious slut that loves being used in a back alley for a love interest.”
That’d be fun to read about, no matter what happened between Knox and me.
His mouth opened, but instead of being shocked, he leaned forward and rested his head in his hands. “You’d be big enough to manhandle him and save him from...oh, someone is after him, isn’t he?”
That question didn’t seem to be for me because he immediately sat up straight as an arrow and looked around worriedly.
The notebook.
He relaxed as his vision narrowed down to his pen and paper, and then the rest of the world fell away as the note-taking frantically started.
Well, it seemed like he’d figured out what he wanted to do in that world next, but it meant I was going to have to be patient while he poured every thought he had into his notebook.
Not that I was going to complain.
The coffee was great.
