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Before I could figure out if I’d imagined it, Cory cleared his throat, blushing brightly, and shoved half a dozen shirts into my hands. He sounded hoarse as he said, “These, uh… These should work better than…” He gestured past me.
“Right. Yeah.” I swallowed, trying not to drop the clothes. “Thanks. I’ll, uh…” I nodded into the dressing room. “Give me a minute?”
“Sure. Of course.” His smile had an edge of panic that I couldn’t make sense of, but I didn’t stick around to try to figure it out.
Like the freaked-out coward I was, I stepped back into the dressing room and pulled the door safely shut behind me. Why was my heart beating this fast? And why was I out of breath?
And had Cory seriously—
“Well, get on with it, then,” Andras barked impatiently from my left shoulder. “You going to stand there and hug those things or try them on?”
I pushed out a breath through my nose and stared up at the ceiling.
“We’ve only got a few hours,” Raziel said from my right shoulder, his tone cheerful but prodding. “Come on, now. Let’s see what he picked out!”
Closing my eyes, I sighed. I was suddenly exhausted. I didn’t want to try on anything else. I didn’t want to fuck around with hookup app profiles or whatever other fresh hell the dating scene could offer. I wanted Cory to look at me like that again.
I wanted Cory to want me.
I wanted to believe that, in that moment when I’d caught him off-guard, he’d let a mask slip. Let it show that hedidwant me.
Yeah, right.I pushed myself off the door.Cory can do a hell of a lot better than me.
So, no, I wasn’t motivated at all to put myself out there now. I never was when I’d been around Cory.
But the breezes kicked up by fluttering wings beside my head reminded me that not only did I need to put myself out there, I needed to do so successfully in the next twenty-nine days. Otherwise my reputation, my career, and my shot at love or even a random hookup would go up in smoke.
I am never drinking with a fae again. Goddammit.
Ah well. It was what it was.
Time to put on something that might attract someone with lower standards than Cory’s.
Chapter 9
Cory
When we’d first arrived at this particular store, I’d so wanted to offer to come into the dressing room with Matt. I mean, a boy could dream, right? About things like changing clothes turning into taking off clothes and then… Well. I didn’t want to be banned from this store for life, but a dressing room hookup with Matt would be totally worth it.
Now that we’d been here for over an hour, I was grateful for the door between us, not to mention the arguing and bickering on the other side. I needed a minute, damn it.
Leaning back in the chair, I closed my eyes and took some slow, deep breaths as I tried to will my pulse back down to something safe. Didn’t matter that he was in a dressing room—I hadnotbeen ready for that man to step out without a shirt on.
Get a grip,I ordered myself.It isn’t like you’ve never seen him shirtless before.
That was true. I’d almost fallen off a treadmill or dropped a dumbbell on my foot on more than one occasion when he’d taken off his shirt at the gym. When he’d been helping our landlord fix the tiles on the stairs last summer, I was lucky I hadn’t gone ass over teakettle down said stairs. And when we went kayaking…Lord.
So I was used to losing my mind when Matt lost his shirt. I just hadn’t been expecting ittoday. As it was, I’d already been climbing the walls with frustration over why we were here and what we were doing. I could gaslight myself into believing the end goal today was to break the spell so Andras and Raziel left, but that never lasted long. Not when the end meant means that were seriously tough for me to stomach.
Then for him to fling open that door and stand there in front of me, half-dressed in snug, low-slung black pants that sat just right on his hips? Those flat abs and salt-and-pepper treasure trail on full display?Sir. How dare you?
I rubbed the bridge of my nose and exhaled. This was ridiculous. Matt was my friend, and yes, I was attracted to him, and yes, I would absolutely see this through to the end because I cared about him.
But oh my God, theinstantI had a few hours to myself?
Gentlemen of Grindr, my body is ready.
In the dressing room, the bickering had started up again, so Matt must’ve been dressed. As I listened, I pulled myself together, since he’d probably be stepping out to get my opinion before too much longer.
