veins, but everything they said to each other seemed to be dipped in innuendo sauce and served with a side of ‘let’s bang’ fries.
Gus was looking down at the notepad in his lap, his pen making jerky motions as he doodled. “Do you have anyone who would maybe object to me spending the night with you?”
“One, you’re not spending the night with me, you’re staying in a separate apartment—if you want. Two, I’m grown,” she said. She was grown, but she’d still sent his information to her two friends with a “Hanging out with a guy, open in case of fuckery” disclaimer. She’d also added the note that the info should be sent to her sister if anything happened, but hadn’t told Portia herself yet because, well, she didn’t know how to talk to her about this kind of stuff. “I don’t need anyone’s permission.”
“I mean, do you have a person who would object to my presence,” he said, looking at her from the corner of his eye. “Like a person you’re dating.”
“Oh.” Reggie’s whole body went hot and her armpits got the jalapeno tingles from nervous sweat.
Sexy. Real sexy.
“No. I don’t have one of those. Do you?”
“Nope.” One word, and his voice was so low that she felt that bass in her own chest. There was emphasis in that word that seemed to say I’m grown, too, and maybe I’ll demonstrate that to you.
“There’s air-conditioning. In the apartment.” Reggie was only pushing a little because his staying made more sense, not because she wanted anything to happen. Totally not that.
Gus grinned, his dimple creasing the cheek that faced her. “Cool. I’ll make breakfast for you.”
“You don’t have to pay me back,” she said quickly. “I can make my own breakfast.”
He looked at her full-on, his thick brows arching into a shape that was somehow both arousing and placating.
“I’m sure you can. I want to do it, though.”
“Fine.” She slid to the edge of the couch and maneuvered herself into her chair, glad that her pounding heart and spinning thoughts didn’t tangle her arms up. “I’ll take you to the apartment.”
He walked beside her, the sound of his steps mingling with the sound of her wheels on hardwood in the quiet hallway. They stopped in front of a closed door in the kitchen, which she unlocked with a key that was already in the knob.
“Here we are.” She reached up to flip the light switch, illuminating the stairs that led down to the apartment. She could access it through a ramp in the backyard, or by scooting down the stairs on her butt if she needed to.
“Hmm.” He looked down the stairs dubiously. “I don’t watch a lot of movies, but once my brother forced me to watch one called Saw. He said it was about puzzles so I would like it, but it was people getting locked into rooms and tortured.”
Reggie burst out laughing. “Oh em gee, I’m not going to Jigsaw you. The apartment is nice, cleaned once a week, and there are no booby traps. This door will be locked, but you can leave through the front entrance, the door that leads to the backyard, or any of the windows, I promise.”
Gus was still staring down the stairs. “Actually, now that I think of it, that movie was just a bunch of really macabre escape rooms.”
Reggie frowned. “Don’t get any ideas. The Reject Squad Ultra room needs to be wholesome and pure, not pitting attendees against each other in a deadly game of survival.”
He grinned. “Okay, now that we’ve both freaked each other out, I guess we can get ready to go to sleep. I’ll call you in . . . fifteen minutes?”
She hadn’t even thought about their nightly call. Well, she had, but assumed they wouldn’t be doing it since they’d just hung out for hours. She couldn’t say no, of course.
“Make it twenty?” she asked.
“Sure.” Reggie waited until he got to the bottom of the stairs and let himself into the apartment, and then closed and locked the door.
She headed to her bedroom, which was down the hall, and then into her bathtub for a quick shower before getting into her oversize T-shirt and under the blankets.
She was glad that he was a flight away from her, because she needed the breathing room. She was attracted to him, but that was nothing new—as she’d already stated, she was grown. She was no stranger to FWBs that were more B than F and other similar arrangements