A Flighty Fake Boyfriend (Men of St. Nachos #2) - Z.A. Maxfield Page 0,22

someone willing to make being his husband into a career.”

“And you would hate that.”

“I spend too much time pressing the flesh frivolously as it is. Imagine me at a banquet for a hospital board or a photo shoot on a yacht.”

“So where are you happiest?”

“What do you mean?”

“You travel for work, right?” I nodded. “Do you like to travel?”

“Not really. I’m most comfortable in my office at home. I have alerts set for certain types of news, and my team and I follow whatever trails we can to uncover where dirty money starts and where it ends. Missing persons, mail-order brides, drug mules, sweat shops, employment scams. Trafficking anything is a multibillion-dollar industry, and someone has to clean all that cash. That’s where you start to see the big picture.”

"Hey." Surprise stole over his features. “You’re an intelligence analyst after all.”

I gave a nod. “It helps to have those skills.”

“What do you do when you find something?”

“We notify the proper authorities so they can look into the information we’ve gathered, and that means we create a dossier of everything we’ve discovered and why we think it’s problematic. Or we might undertake negotiations on behalf of people involved. Arrange legal fees for those needing help, either with immigration or charges related to crimes they might have been coerced into committing.”

“This got awfully serious all of a sudden.”

“I’m so sorry. I can go on and on. Stop me when that happens.”

“I like that you talk to me. I guess I didn’t expect it to be such a serious answer.”

“So I should have said, I’m happiest in my office on my computer.”

He bumped my shoulder with his. “Right.”

“I’m sorry.” I’d gotten us lost in a jungle of tropical plants. “Is this the way we came?”

“I don’t know.” He pointed out a sign. “Looks like the pool is that way.”

“Then we’re the other direction. I think I’ve got it now.”

“I don’t mind walking some more.” Epic sighed. “I drank too much at dinner.”

“I ate too much,” I admitted. “I don’t usually eat like that.”

He poked me. “No kidding.”

“Ah, here we are.” I recognized our building. At the door, I swiped the key, but before we went inside, I stopped him. “Look. You’re right. We’re both super tired, and the bed is huge. If you want to share it, I promise things won’t get weird. I’ll be asleep before my head hits the pillow.”

“Thanks.” He bit his lip over a cheeky grin. “I really didn’t want to sleep on the pullout.”

“C’mon.” I opened the door.

Inside the bedroom we discovered the maids had performed a turndown service. They’d left little boxes of chocolate on the pillows.

Epic kicked off his shoes and leaped on, rolling around a little. “I could totally get used to this. Wonder if I could get my roommate to do it.”

I slipped my tie off and started unbuttoning my shirt.

“Need to use the bathroom?” Epic asked. “I’d like a quick shower before bed.”

I went and took care of business. When I came out, Epic was down to his boxer briefs, but he’d hung his clothes—and my jacket—neatly away.

“Back in a bit.” He slipped into the bathroom but turned at the doorway where he hesitated a few seconds, holding his dopp kit. I’d stripped to my boxers and put on a T-shirt. There was no doubt he was watching me. His eyes warmed with appreciation. “I’ll just…”

“I might be asleep by the time you get out.”

“I’ll try not to wake you if you try not to snore.” The door closed behind him, and I let out the breath I’d been holding.

God, he was sweet—in both temperament and looks. His body was beautiful, he had nice shoulders, a slim waist, and long lean legs. His skin was luminescent, lightly dusted with hair the same dark color of the hair on his head. His buttocks was firm and pleasingly bubbly.

He was perfect.

And he was sleeping in my bed.

And I hadn’t brought Ambien.

Shit, shit, shit.

I’d said I was sleepy—that was very true—but I was also a red-blooded man who hadn’t gotten laid in the better part of a year. In no way could I break my word and come on to him now, so I lay down and counted on the wine we’d had at dinner to do the trick.

It had been a long day. I’d gotten too much sun, and between my nerves and mini-golf, I was barely awake when Epic came in and made himself comfortable. Thank God between the white noise of water from