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I glanced up at his face and caught him smirking at me. He winked. “Want me to twirl so you can get the whole view?”
“Have you been eating enough?” I asked. His face fell. “I don’t mean it like that. You’re hot as shit, Tee. I just mean you look thinner. I wanted to make sure you’re taking care of yourself.”
He made a big point of opening a kitchen cabinet and pulling out a jar of peanuts. “I’ve been eating nuts every chance I get,” he said with a return of the smirk. He wiggled his sexy hips on his way back to the bed.
I was glad to see he’d gotten over his Molly Ringwald angst, at least temporarily. I didn’t like to think of him still being torn up over whether or not he should be with Chris.
“You know…” he began, looking up at me shyly after he’d gotten back in bed. “I helped build my neighbor a chicken coop once. I’m not the handiest man you’ll ever meet, but if you and your dad want help at Millie’s house…”
I pictured him shirtless and sweaty with a worn leather tool belt hanging off his hips. “Yes, please.”
He laughed and set the peanuts on the table before snuggling back against me. “What’s next?”
What 1980s teen film didn’t have a love triangle in it? “Gleaming the Cube,” I said, reaching for the remote. “Christian Slater on a skateboard, mm-hm.”
Both of us fell asleep during that one and woke up to real life. I had an annual physical scheduled for work, and Teo had a shift at Wilton starting fairly early as well. We shared a quick shower and a rushed goodbye kiss before I was out the door.
It only took twelve hours for my chest to feel strangely tight with longing and my fingers itching to text him. He’d made it clear we were friends with benefits, but I had the emotions of a clingy stalker right now. I forced myself to turn my phone off long enough to go to the gym and pick up some sushi. When I returned to my quiet apartment, I shoved the phone in the kitchen drawer for another solid hour.
But then my brain played tricks on me. What if Millie had trouble with her pregnancy? What if one of my parents slipped and fell while watering the lawn? What if…?
I turned the phone back on to a barrage of texts. Most of them were from the automatic scheduling system at work, but one was from Tee.
Teo: I meant what I said about the DIY stuff at your sister’s. I’d love to help.
My heart kicked up a beat.
Jack: I’m heading there for the weekend. Think you can leave the boys that long?
Teo: My neighbor can watch them. You sure you don’t mind the company?
Jack: You owe me a fake boyfriend visit to my fam, remember?
Teo: I’m in. I get off work at 3pm Friday. That okay?
Jack: I land around noon from a quick trip to Nashville. Pick you up at 4pm? It’s a little over an hour drive.
One of my coworkers had helped me find a good deal on a used SUV that was low mileage but beat up enough to haul lumber in without worrying too much about it. It cost me an arm and a leg to park it at a nearby garage, but it was worth it for the ability to drive out to La Porte whenever I wanted.
When Friday finally arrived, I was both excited and nervous to pick Teo up. Obviously I was excited to spend an entire weekend with him, but I was also nervous about introducing him to my family. I didn’t want to lie to them, but not only had I already implied several weeks before that we were dating, my sister knew I had real feelings for him. It wasn’t like I could introduce him as only a friend and still expect to be able to share a bedroom and touch him all weekend. But if I introduced him as my boyfriend, my family would get excited for something that was more of a pipe dream than a reality.
The difference now was… there might be a possibility of something in the future. If he truly was getting over Chris, and I was finally ready to consider a serious relationship again, didn’t that mean we could potentially end up together down the road?
I groaned. Stop fantasizing. He probably imagined a big “Banks” life with penthouses, private jets, and box seats to Cubs games. All I had to offer was the same kind of middle-class lifestyle he had on his own as a nurse. I’d taken a big pay cut to go private. I could always go back to the large airline, but I was actually enjoying flying corporate jets. It was more personable, more flexible, and less of a hassle than I’d had to deal with at the airline.
