Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 51003 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 255(@200wpm)___ 204(@250wpm)___ 170(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51003 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 255(@200wpm)___ 204(@250wpm)___ 170(@300wpm)
I was pretty sure it was fake, but Saint had started to realize how dangerous the world could be. He hadn’t realized how dangerous Christmas could be, though, so we weren’t at DEFCON 1 yet.
“How about that wing place once I get back from vacation?” I thought Jim would be fine with that but he was watching me way too close for a guy who’d just wanted to grab a beer before we both took time off. “Something else?”
“What kind of plans?” Cocking his head, Jim looked like he was one deep breath away from calling HR.
“A date.” I wasn’t going to lie because that’d end up backfiring on me later, but I wasn’t sure what he was going to do. “How did it go taking Janet home?”
We were heading out of the building, so I wasn’t worried about anyone overhearing us. Office romances were stupid, but if it distracted him, I was all for encouraging it. “She’d been happy to see you at the party.”
And I was pretty sure they’d ended up in the breakroom together quite a few times over the past couple of days.
“She…she’s nice.” Looking around to make sure no one could overhear us, Jim shrugged. “We’re going out on Friday, but we can’t talk about it at work.”
Because it was a bad idea.
“That’s great, man.” Getting ready to make a break for it, I thought I’d avoided any more of the who are you dating conversation, but Jim wasn’t ready to let it go.
“You’re dating that Santa guy, right? That’s who you’re seeing?” Jim’s question had me stopping in my tracks and I had to work on fixing my expression to something neutral as I turned around.
“Yeah. He’s nice. The Santa thing was a way to get to know more about humans and Christmas.” Everything else I could think of to say sounded too personal to share with Jim, even though I wasn’t sure that was completely logical.
I also wasn’t sure how he’d figured it out, but he volunteered an explanation for that. “One of the girls Janet works with said she saw you guys having dinner after the party.”
Ignoring the girls thing since educating him on that wasn’t my top priority at the moment, I tried to stay on track. “Sounds like we need more snacks next year.”
Chuckling, I shook my head. “I knew the cookies and cupcake route would be fun but not quite enough food for everyone.”
“They get really attached to their humans. You know that, right?” It wasn’t where I thought we were going, so Jim’s words had my brain struggling to make a hard turn to find a new path. “You can’t date anymore once you’re in a relationship with them.”
Was this about his playboy lifestyle?
He looked like an accountant who’d been living in his mother’s basement for too long, but he must’ve had a magic dick with how often he dated.
“And they’re unfairly advantaged when it comes to dating.” Jim’s tone and his scowl said he was personally offended by something but I had to guess it was the tentacles thing.
Had a woman dumped him because he didn’t have tentacles?
“Um, well, you know how my track record has been lately and I don’t mind the attachment stuff.” I liked the attachment part of Saint’s personality. “Having a partner you know would never cheat isn’t a bad thing to me, either.”
And I didn’t have to worry about him getting into a fun new hobby that meant he could only see me a few times a month.
And I didn’t have to worry about him turning into a psycho who thought making me miserable was a way to practice being a sadist.
Some people were fucking nuts.
“We’ve got a lot in common too.” Books. Exhibitionism. Brownies. “What about you and Janet? I don’t remember ever hearing about what she does in her time off.”
Mostly because I did my best to avoid her.
“I…” Jim swallowed, nodding slowly. “Yeah, we’re figuring that shit out.”
It wasn’t helpful in changing the topic, but he seemed less worried, so I was taking that as a good sign. “That’s great.”
Not good enough, though.
“My brother met one at a bar and they got married a week later.” Jim wasn’t ready to let the conversation go yet, but getting more information felt like we were making progress. “He’d never dated a guy before.”
Jim had literally tried to set me up with the relief mailman that came in a few times a month because he thought we looked good together. He wasn’t homophobic. He was weird but he didn’t care where my dick was hanging out.
“Did you talk to him about it?” The way Jim went still and looked confused said he had not. “It’s basically part of their culture. When they fall for someone, they do it hard.”
There was no way to explain the whole thing without it sounding insane to Jim. He wasn’t ready for mates and submission or anything else like that.