Which, let’s be real, wasn’t that much of a stretch. I’d been the problem my whole life.
“I saidharder.” I grunted in his ear.
“Fuck you.” He readjusted his grip on my thighs and plowed back into me so hard I saw stars.
I bit his ear to repay him for it, and a shudder ran through him. It didn’t take long after that for him to fuck an orgasm out of me, and he came seconds later, slumping against me as we both fought to catch our breath.
So yeah, the sex was phenomenal. That part of what we were doing was easy, and I loved it. It was the other parts, the parts that were seeping into our daily interactions, that I didn’t get. Like how I made him a coffee now, and how he smiled when I did. How I liked his smile. How this morning he’d made peanut butter cookies and said, “You like peanut butter, right?” Like maybe that had been a part of his thought process when he’d decided to make them. Or how I’d started sending goose memes to Sam, and sometimes I also sent things like “Your brother is such a dick” and she’d send back “OMG I know right?” and we were friends or something now.
I nudged at Lee’s shoulder. “Move. I gotta go.”
Lee sighed against the side of my throat, but he moved. He’d tried snuggling me once, but I’d told him to fuck off. I didn’t cuddle. Sometimes I thought it might be nice, and Lee did seem like he’d be pretty great to curl up against, all warm and solid like a giant teddy bear, but that wasn’t what this was about. And it seemed like it would just make things weird if we started to cuddle. Like, a hot second ago—well, a hot couple of weeks ago—I’d hated his guts. And I wasn’t ready to walk that back now, or probably ever, bycuddling. I wasn’t very good at admitting I was wrong, and getting all warm and snuggly seemed like it would be yelling that from the mountaintop. If Goose Run had a mountaintop.
Besides, if I ever felt the urge to cuddle, I had Cash.
Lee pulled out and tossed me the pack of wet wipes we’d started keeping around the place so I could clean myself up. I wiped my stomach and tossed the wadded-up wipe at him with a grin.
He peeled the condom off and tied a knot in the end. Slipped it into his pocket along with the wet wipe, because he wasn’t dumb enough to put them in the trash here.
I shivered, the chill finally working its way through the heat we’d made while we were fucking. The walk-in was probably a dumbass place to fuck, but that was my fault. Lee’s answer to my “So, how cold do you think it would have to get before you couldn’t get it up?” had been a practical demonstration. And apparently the answer wascolder than the walk-in. Side note: the cold hadn’t caused any shrinkage either. My ass throbbed, just like it always did after we got down and dirty.
I tugged my pants back up and Lee did the same, and when we were both dressed we walked out into the kitchen—just in time to hear the bell over the front door jingle merrily as it opened. I froze, the hair on the back of my neck prickling.
Someone was in the store.
Lee stared at me, eyes wide, and whispered, “Did you lock the door?”
“Of course I locked the fucking door,” I snapped.
“Hey! You boys back there?” a familiar voice called, and I wasn’t sure if I was relieved or horrified. It was Bobby—which was better than a burglar, sure, but did that mean he could havewalked in any time in the last few weeks while we’d been fucking in the back? A shudder ran through me at the thought.
We went out front to meet him, and he said, “Well, here you are. And working up a real sweat, by the looks of it!”
Lee cleared his throat and yeah, his cheeks were pink. Mine probably were too. He didn’t meet Bobby’s gaze. “Yeah, we were just cleaning up the walk-in. Uh, what’re you doing here, Bobby?”
“I was driving by and noticed your truck was still here, so I thought I’d check in and see if you had any of those nice curled-up pastries with the cream inside laying around,” he said.
“Cream horns?”
“That’s them! Although I wouldn’t say no to any kind of cake. I’ve got something of a sweet tooth.” He wrinkled his brow. “Anyways, I was pulling in round back, and Chase, I think I ran over your bike. I’ll get that fixed for you and all, of course.”
“Oh,” I said. I wanted to be pissed about it, but he’d given me the bike for free in the first place. “Shit.”
“There’s no cream horns left, sorry,” Lee said. “We’ve got some cupcakes, though. I’ll box them up.”
Great. Fewer cupcake leftovers for meandhe’d run over my bike.
But nah, it was pretty impossible to hate Bobby. And that was coming from me, even. He was just so weird that the usual rules didn’t apply. I’d say he was a father figure, but I liked him too much for that.
Lee disappeared to the back to get the cupcakes, and Bobby leaned on the counter and said, “So, how’s the job working out? You like it?”
I surprised myself by saying, “I guess I don’t hate it.”
“Don’t hate it, huh? That’s high praise coming from you,” Bobby said with a chuckle. “Tell you what, since I ran over yourbike I can drive you home, if you don’t mind swinging by the vet to collect Lucille first. She’s having her checkup.”
“I can take Chase home,” Lee said, placing Bobby’s cupcakes on the counter. He glanced at me. “If that’s okay with you?”
My first instinct was to say no. Fucking at work was one thing, but I wasn’t sure how I felt about it spilling over into the rest of my life. But then I thought about the way Lee hadn’t hesitated to invite us over to his mom’s place when Gracie had cut her hair, and how me and Sam were text buddies now, and how Lee’s mom always made a point to ask how I was when she dropped by the bakery. It looked like the streams had already crossed when I wasn’t looking.
