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I twist my lips. “I suppose.”
“Do you have this with tiger’s eye?” one of the girls asks.
“See you tomorrow then.”
“Bye, Price.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
I DON’T NEED BUTTERFLIES, BUT I’LL TAKE THEM.
Scottie
Fifteen minutes before closing,I message Koen.
You should invite me to your place tonight :)
Less than ten seconds later, he calls me.
“Hey. Did you get my message? Or is this just a lovely coincidence?”
“Got your message. I was going to call you, but I wanted to wait until you were done working.”
“Nobody’s here, so I’m not doing much.”
“Don’t tell your boss.”
I laugh. “I won’t. He’s itching to close this joint, but his wife likes me, so they keep it open for me.”
“Dang. You must be special.”
“I do my best.”
He hums as if he agrees, and it feeds my giddiness.
“Well, I’m on my way out of town. I took on a last-minute job that’s three hours outside of Austin. I’ll be gone for two weeks, give or take.”
“Work is good. So that’s good. Right?”
“No. I mean, yes. Work is good. Having work is good. Leaving town for two weeks after what happened last night feels like a special kind of torture.”
“Is it an emergency? Did you really not have time to stop by on your way out of town for a quickie?”
“A quickie at the store?”
“Yes, at the store. There’s a back room with a stainless steel bench or the washer and dryer they installed, so I don’t have to go to the laundromat. We could have worked something out.”
“You’re killing me, Scottie.”
I walk the store’s aisles to release some tension—the good kind that Koen elicits every time we talk. “What you did last night was very kind. I can’t thank you enough.”
“You’re welcome. I’m a breast guy, so nipples are my specialty.”
I bite my bottom lip, but it doesn’t suppress my laughter. “Stop. You know what I mean.” These two men in my life are not so different. Humor is their favorite form of flirting. “Taking Price home, that was kind.”
“Oh, that? No problem.”
“What did you two talk about?” I try this from a different angle.
