Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 79968 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79968 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
But seeing Shawn walk out, lit by the shifting glow of the TV, just felt like a warm hug to me. Maybe it was the exhaustion speaking.
Shawn stood there, all tall and muscled and gorgeous, but clearly having no clue what to do or say.
It broke my heart a little. I’d gotten used to Shawn bantering with me at all times, but right now, I was seeing his shy side emerge again.
“Come on,” I said, moving on the couch and patting the seat next to me. “I grabbed you a glass of water. You’re at least going to need one before you go to sleep with all that tequila in your system.”
He sat down and I noticed he kept some space between the two of us on the couch. It made me feel a little guilty. I knew my attitude caused people to be cautious with me—hell, that was kind of the point, after all. I never wanted people to get too close.
But right now, with him, I just wanted to make an exception.
I moved over so that I was leaning against him, resting my head against his shoulder as I kicked back on the couch.
“Never took you for a PBS kind of guy,” he said as we watched a guy messing around with a tractor on the TV.
“PBS is my jam. Are you kidding? It has Bob Ross, cooking shows, farming shows like this, nature documentaries…”
“I would have thought you’d watch other stuff. Entourage or Ballers or something about badasses.”
“Bob Ross is totally a badass.”
Shawn laughed, and I could feel his body moving against mine as he did. “Yeah, I guess he kind of is.”
“Besides, I’m already a badass in my real life. When I’m relaxing at home, I want the real soothing stuff, to be honest.”
Shawn gave me a little shove. “And you’re so modest, too,” he joked.
“The most.”
“Sometimes I put on remodeling shows or house flipping shows and yell at the TV because of how unrealistic they are,” Shawn said. “But secretly I think I kind of love it.”
“It’s always fun to fantasize.”
“Exactly.”
“Did Nathan ever show you pictures of my house in San Francisco?” I asked him.
“I don’t think so,” he said.
I grabbed my cell phone off of the coffee table and moved on the couch again, sitting right next to him and holding the phone in front of us.
“It was a standard Victorian house, beautiful but very traditional. But there was one thing I really wanted to add,” I said, flipping through my photo albums. “Check this out.”
Shawn’s eyes went wide. “No way. You had a secret room?”
“Complete with a fake bookshelf that you push open,” I said. “Yes sir, I did.”
“I’ve always wanted to make one of those in our remodels,” he said. “That’s a childhood fantasy come true.”
I scrolled through, showing him a few different angles. “It was just a little nook. We didn’t have much space for more than that. But I’m telling you, it was a good place to go relax with a whiskey at the end of a long night. Also a fun space to fuck in, I’m not going to lie.”
“Of course,” Shawn said.
I let out a sigh, locking my phone and putting it back on the table. “Sometimes I feel like I’m already a different person, even after being here for a few weeks.”
“Jade River definitely has a different pace,” Shawn told me. He was looking at me like he was still trying to figure out if he was doing the right thing. Almost like he was a little bit nervous, even though we had both just shot our loads and showered together.
“You know I want you here, right, Shawn?”
“Guess you can tell that I was wondering if I should grab a cab home,” he said, running a hand through his hair.
A little wave of guilt passed through me. I knew it was good that I was always honest with Shawn, letting him know that I wasn’t in the market for a real relationship. But I also didn’t want him to feel like he couldn’t get comfortable around me at all.
“I love that you’re here,” I said. Some part of me felt a little awkward saying it so bluntly, but it was the truth. Screw it.
He watched me a little while longer, his expression finally softening until he finally started to seem happy. Really happy, actually.
“I think I’m starting to like the idea of no-strings-attached hookups,” Shawn said. “Or cuddle buddies. Whatever you want to call it.”
“Hey. We are not hooking up.”
He lifted an eyebrow at me. “You just came all over my tongue, and I wanted it. Badly. If that isn’t some form of a hookup, I don’t know what is.”
I groaned. “Fine. But—”
“I mean it,” Shawn said. “Maybe I can do the whole super-casual, no-strings thing. Maybe it’s actually good for me. I’ve been trying to find Mr. Perfect for so long that maybe I should just start trying to have fun. And maybe it’s a good idea to do it with someone like you.”