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“Are you talking about when Malcolm was pestering me about the new security measures he wants to put in place and I was trying to explain how our last system update already included all of his suggestions?”
“Not sure. Is Malcolm the dude with the super shiny hair and the lemon face?”
“Lemon face?” I asked before I could stop myself.
“Yeah. Like he sucks on lemons for fun and walks around looking like a sourpuss.”
“That does sound like Malcolm.” I chuckled. “I have no idea what my sister sees in him.”
“Your sister? Isn’t she getting married?” He gasped theatrically. “Shut the front door. No freaking way. Your sister is marrying lemon face?”
“Yes.”
“Why? Does he have a bigger dick than Vlado?”
I grimaced. “If you could not talk about my future brother-in-law’s dick size, especially in relation to my best friend’s dick, that would be great.”
“Sorry.” He grinned, not looking the least bit apologetic.
“How was work? Was the big reopening everything you’d hoped it would be?”
“It was.” He nodded gleefully. “Biggs and Hazel did an amazing job fixing the place up.”
“It doesn’t look like your grandma’s basement anymore?” I teased.
“Nope. It’s classy as fuck now. The whole vibe is so much better.”
“Are you all set for tomorrow?” I asked.
Nick was going to be staying with me at my house in Seattle for the next two weeks to make it easier for us to coordinate him attending a series of weeknight and daytime events. He’d taken a leave of absence from his café job and had worked things out with his boss at the club so that he would only be working one night for the next two weekends.
The plan was to get him settled at the house tonight after our outing.
“Yup. It’s still weird that I’m going to be living somewhere else for two weeks and I’m only bringing a bag of essentials. I’m that person who packs enough for twenty-seven days when I go away for a weekend.” He nibbled his lip and looked away. We’d spent enough time together I recognized that as a telltale sign he was actively stopping himself from speaking.
“What?” I asked.
“I kinda told my roommate about you. Not the truth,” he added hastily. “Just enough of a half-lie that it’s kinda true but not.”
“You did?”
He nodded, his blue eyes wide and filled with sincerity. “I had to explain why I was being so weird and secretive at home. Aiden’s been my bestie since we were little. He can always tell when I’m lying or hiding something, and I was avoiding him and freaking him out and he got all serious and said he was worried about me and scared because I wasn’t acting like myself and I couldn’t keep it up.”
“What did you tell him?”
“That I have a sugar daddy. I didn’t tell him anything specific about you other than you’re not old and you’re in business. I’m sorry. Did I mess everything up? I tried really hard not to break the NDA, but I couldn’t keep lying to his face like that. Especially since I’m not going to be home for two weeks. I literally dropped that on him last night because I’ve been so stressed with what I can and can’t tell people. I’m not good at lying, and I hate doing it.”
“I understand.” I squeezed his firm thigh reassuringly. “I should have realized you’d need some sort of cover story to explain things to the people in your life.”
“You’re not mad?”
“I’m not mad.”
His smile was so brilliant it lit up his face. Heat moved through my chest and down to my groin as Nick leaned back and kicked his feet.
“I’m still not used to all this legroom.”
“You’re not?” I quirked my eyebrow at him. “I would have thought you’d be intimately acquainted with that space after spending so much time kneeling in it.”
