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I could feel Cooper’s eyes on me. “How would you know?”
My eyes flashed up to him. Acid popped in my gut as I felt the stirring of angry defensiveness. I wasn’t stupid. Plenty of people thought I was because I didn’t say much, but I knew stuff.
“Because I run one of the top DIY channels on YouTube,” I said angrily. “Asshole.”
Oddly, his smile was triumphant. Just what the hell was he playing at?
6
Cooper
Half of me wanted to recoil in fear at the look of anger in the big man’s eyes, but half of me wanted to laugh. He was so easy to rile.
“Calm down, Grizzly Adams. I didn’t think you paid much attention to things like rank and subscribers.”
He clamped his jaw. “I don’t.”
“Then how do you know what your subscribers like? How do you know how popular your videos are?”
“Because I’m not an idiot. Contrary to what some people think.”
I sat back and stretched my arms above my head. “I don’t think you’re an idiot. But I also don’t think you’re doing as much as you could to boost subscribers and get to the next level.”
“Fuck you.”
“Nice. Mature. Don’t ever let anyone tell you you’re not erudite, Isaac Winshed.”
Smoke came out of his ears. “This isn’t going to work. I don’t know what I did to piss you off way back when, but I don’t deserve to be treated like I’m stupid.” He stood up and moved toward the bedroom before remembering that’s where I was going to sleep too. When he had to walk past me to get to the door of the RV, I reached out and grabbed his wrist.
“Wait.”
His jaw clenched and he kept looking straight ahead.
“Isaac. I don’t think you’re stupid. I’m sorry. I went about this all wrong. Will you please sit back down?”
He looked at me with suspicion in his eyes, but he slid back into the booth across from me.
“Thank you. Now, I was trying to make the point that you run a crazy-popular channel without even putting effort into growing your audience. You focus on your videos, your equipment and settings, your instructions and helping do-it-yourselfers, but you don’t seem to spend much time growing your business.”
“I don’t really look at it like a business. I just like making the videos, helping people.”
I nodded. “Yes. I totally get that. Up till now, you’ve done it for fun. But in order for this to work, we have to really push the business side too. So I propose that’s how we split the work. You keep focusing on what you were just saying. Frame gorgeous shots—because you do take gorgeous shots—and I will work the popularity angle online. Does that make sense?”
He hesitated before nodding, but he was clearly still skeptical. “But I’m going to need help with the actual renovation work too.”
“Well, I have bad news for you. I’ve never even used a hammer before. Not that I’m not willing to learn.”
Heavy sigh. “Shit.”
“Yep,” I said perkily. “Lucky us. The good news is, I think we can use that.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “How do you mean?”
“Well, how cute would it be if my boyfriend had to practice eminent patience while he taught me how to do simple things? People would eat that shit up. Especially if you were all… ‘not like that, sweetheart. You turn the screwdriver this way. That’s it. I knew you were good at screwing,’ wink, wink.”
Nine’s eyes widened. “Me?” he squeaked. “Saying that? To you?” The high-pitched sound coming from the mountain man made me laugh.
“Unless you’re too chickenshit. But if you’re going to have a problem pretending to be my boyfriend, you’d better say so now.” I acted like I was teasing, but the truth was, I absolutely could not allow him to give up on this. I needed the money from this project. I wasn’t about to let him ditch me.
His jaw tightened again. “I don’t have a problem, and I’m not a chickenshit.”
And then I said something utterly ridiculous. “Then prove you’re not a homophobic Neanderthal and share the bed with me for god’s sake.”
As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I wanted to take them back. What the hell had I been thinking? What if I rolled over and cuddled the shit out of him in my sleep? Or worse… what if I dry humped him?
My heart sped up. What if I wet humped him? Oh god. This was a big mistake. Huge.
“Um,” I began, frantically searching for a way out of my big mouth’s stupid gaffe.
“No, you’re right. It’s fine. I certainly don’t relish the idea of waking up covered in mosquito bites. It’s better if I stay inside. Besides, I’m not homophobic. And if you imply I am one more time, I’m going to… to… prove it.”
He kind of winced at the stupid conclusion to his rant. Meanwhile, all I could picture was how someone would prove he wasn’t homophobic. By kissing me? By letting me suck him off perhaps? By sucking me off?
