AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I managed to fail today’s lesson in record time, and after a little chat with Sylvia, she gave me a get out of jail free card.” He stepped into the room, head tilted to one side. “Unless it’s more of a hall pass. Whatever.” He moved forward until his legs were pressed against the other side of the desk and craned his neck to meet Dev’s gaze over the monitor. “Can we please talk?”
With his shoulders bunched nearly at his ears, Dev gestured to the screen. “Can’t. No time. Got to prepare the financial forecast for the town for the Selectboard meeting.”
“The meeting isn’t for another two weeks.” Casey folded his arms. “I checked with Kenny. Try another one.”
“It’s not just the town. The estate finances are tied up with it too. Accounting’s not exactly my forte, so it takes me longer. A lot longer. Hours. Days.” He poked at the ESC key. Nothing happened. Still #REF!s as far as the eye could see. “Sometimes weeks.” He shook his head with a weak laugh. “Seems like I’m chained to the damn computer these days.”
“Funny, because when I stopped by here after class the last couple of days, you haven’t been here.”
“Uh… That’s because…” Gah! He used to be able to think on his feet. Why did Casey totally disconnect his brain?
Casey dropped into the chair next to the desk. “Give it up, Dev. You’re here. I’m here. And we really need to talk.”
Frowning, Dev huffed out a breath. “Fine. Talk.”
“You know that thing we did in the kitchen?”
Dev raised an eyebrow and folded his own arms. “You mean bake?”
“No,” Casey said between clenched teeth. “Why are you being so difficult? I mean the kiss. And…” He glanced away and flapped his hands. “And other things.”
“That was a mistake.”
Casey lifted his chin and met Dev’s gaze squarely. “Why?”
Dev had a hard time reading the look in his eyes. Determination, maybe, but hurt lurked in those amber depths too, which either took a lot of nerve, borderline sociopathic tendencies, or exceptional acting talent. Hell, maybe all three.
“You know why.”
“Because you didn’t like it?” Casey covered his face with his hands. “Oh, god. I knew it. I’m a terrible kisser. You were revolted, weren’t you? You only touched my dick to be nice.”
Despite the anger that still simmered about Casey’s subterfuge, Dev chuckled. “Calm down, Casey. Your kiss was fine.”
“Fine?” he wailed, still hiding behind his hands. “Fine is worse than terrible. Fine is unremarkable. Fine is boring.”
Fuck this. So Casey was a liar and a cheat. Didn’t mean that Dev had to stoop to the same level. “If I’m honest? Your kiss was superlative. Outstanding. The best ever.”
Casey peeked between his fingers. “Really? So you did like it? The dick-touching too?”
Dev’s palms started to sweat. “The, er, dick-touching was… well, let’s say I didn’t do it just to be nice. I don’t do things I don’t like.” Casey dropped his hands and stared pointedly at the monitor. “Okay, I don’t do things I don’t like that aren’t required, as long as I’ve got all the facts.”
“Then you didn’t want it.” He paled, making that spray of freckles stand out in a way that twisted Dev’s guts. “I threw myself at you,” he murmured, wide-eyed. “Practically tackled you to the ground without asking. That’s the worst thing. Not asking. I’m so sorry. I—”
“Casey. Stop, okay? It was pretty clear I was into it, too, but that doesn’t matter. Because you weren’t free to give it.”
His brows snapped down. “Give what?”
“Anything.”
“What are you talking about?” Casey asked in a truly bewildered tone.
“Remember what I said about having all the facts? You left a damn big one out, and it put me in a fucking awkward position. You may be okay with cheating, but I’m not okay with being the means, especially when I wasn’t informed.”
“Wait.” Casey’s brow cleared. “You’ve been avoiding me because of Bradley?”
“What do you think?” Dev tore his gaze away from Casey’s face and tried to figure out how to fix whatever his keyboard smash had done to the spreadsheet.
“See, that’s why you need to talk to people, Dev, instead of being this big, stoic… monument.” Casey reached over and switched off the monitor.
