Page 37 of Made to Be

Ash gave us a knowing look, then inched our coffees with the muffins toward us.

“So, you’re stuck?” he asked.

“Yes.” I groaned as if in genuine pain. This whole encounter was painful, actually. Awkward and hilarious at my own expense, but I was surprised to find that I wasn’t embarrassed, per se. Maybe because it was Cam who I was stuck to.

“Do you...” Ash began hesitantly, “want to be stuck?”

“Yes,” Cam blurted immediately. No hesitation. Whatsoever. Just a rapid-fire answer filled with confidence. Ash’s eyes widened at the bold admission as I stood there dumbstruck. Then I clamped my mouth shut, narrowing my gaze up at Cam. Had he... done this on purpose?

“It was an accident,” he quickly added as if sensing my growing suspicions. “But I actually... like it. With you.”

Those blue eyes gazed down at me filled with tender affection. And unholy shit if that didn’t shoot cupid’s arrow straight through my worriedly fluttering heart. Our eyes locked and I stood there transfixed.

A throat being cleared made us both jolt free of our frozen, distracted states. When I looked over, Ash’s cheeks were slightly flushed. Likely at our obvious display of... whatever this new, blossoming thing between us was.

“Well, this has been adorable in the grossest but sweetest way. I’m rooting for you two,” he said, back to cheerful. He glanced over our shoulders to the new customers who had just popped into the line behind us. “It was nice seeing you again, Vic. And good to meet you too, Cam.”

With that, we grabbed our drinks and muffins and headed for one of the outside tables beneath theawning. After Cam had finished his muffin and I was halfway through my own, I blurted,

“Me too.”

Cam paused, his coffee halfway to his lips. “Huh?”

Oh geeze, my face was on fire. I gripped the warm paper cup between my hands, the handcuff chain laying across the small table connecting us.

“I like it too. Being stuck together...with you.”

CHAPTER 7:

Jinx versus Vic in charming Cam’s socks off.

WELL... I CLEARLY HADN’T thought this through.

“So, uh, how do you want to do this?” I asked nervously.

I had already seen Cam naked before, so what was my hangup?! Why was my stomach doing freaking somersaults making me feel like I was seconds away from hurling up the Chinese takeout we’d had for dinner?

After our lovely but somewhat awkward mini coffee date, Cam and I had grabbed food then made our way back home. We’d received countless odd and frankly disturbed looks from the people on the street as well as in the restaurant, but I hadn’t cared about their silent judgement. And neither had Cam.

And, after watching some TV and talking together for a bit, I had realized one teensy problem facing us with our current predicament.

Now, my bathroom wasn’t small, but it also wasn’t one of those obnoxiously large ones. The shower was a simple tub with a charcoal fabric curtain. Thetoilet sat next to it with the sink just beside it. I could see the slight blush staining Cam’s cheeks in the mirror as he held onto his towel with his free hand. When Cam didn’t answer, I offered,

“It can wait. I’m not making any promises, but we can go into my spell room. See what I can do about getting these off ton-”

“No, it’s okay,” he interrupted, so I waited patiently for him to continue. “But how do we... Our shirts...”

He wriggled the cuffed wrist, silently pointing out that we had no way of divesting ourselves of our sweaters without cutting them off. That was a hard no for me even if I wanted him naked in the next five seconds.

“Well now, that’s something I can handle,” I told him. This spell didn’t require anything to power it so, with a snap of my fingers, both of our shirts found themselves discarded onto the bathroom tile at our feet.

He gave me a wide-eyed, slightly turned-on look and I had to fight to keep my eyes focused on his face and not his gloriously naked tattooed chest. The stitching which was basically already healed wasn’t even what drew my attention, it was his hard, dusky nipples and their silver hoops piercing straight through them. But, fuck, they were just... right there. However, given the situation, I would feel like I was taking advantage of him if we actually did anything. Mymouth quickly grew dry as paper, so I averted my gaze entirely to the wall.

Oh look, old-fashioned wallpaper,I thought distractedly. Then,fuck, why does the pattern look like a bunch of little dicks?

“I’ll uh, take your stitches out tomorrow,” I announced to focus my attention on something more appropriate than my tongue playing with those nipple piercings.

My plan to remain innocently distracted was seconds from going straight out the window given the way he was staring at my bare upper half. In particular, the dark patch of hair from my navel that disappeared beneath my jeans. I had the inkling that if I did instigate anything amorous, I was certain he wouldn’t mind. His eyes had visibly darkened as he stared, and a very obvious bulge was beginning to tent the front of his pants.