Lee toward his friend, but couldn’t get a good look at him. It was as if he was hiding from me. His hair was several inches long with a bit of a curl and dark, so dark it was almost black, but I could see a hint of color when the light hit it just right. He was a little shorter than Lee’s five-foot-eight, slim with a hint of definition in his arms, and a closed-off posture. And that was all of him I could see. He was looking down at the floor with his hair hiding his face. His arms were pressed close as he hugged the strap of his bag to his chest.
Lee noticed me staring and then remembered his manners. “Oh, Carson, this is my friend Miller,” he said, stepping back and exposing the man behind him. “Miller, this is Carson.”
Miller finally looked up at me, and it felt like time slowed. He was so fucking pretty.
He had a sharp nose and masculine jaw, but his lips were small and feminine, a delightful shade of pink that made my mouth water. His cheeks were soft and rosy, giving him a slightly girlish look. His eyes were a pale blue, and his lashes were thick and black. They gave him the look of mascara and eyeliner, but I had the feeling he wasn’t wearing makeup. His eyebrows were dark and thin as they slashed across his face, adding to the delicateness of his features. He was a perfect balance of soft and muscular, androgynous with a bit of hardness that ensured he’d never be mistaken as a woman even with his pretty face.
He managed to look me in the eye as he lifted a hand and waved. “Hi.”
I licked my dry lips and returned his adorable greeting. “Hello.”
I knew I was making him uncomfortable, but I couldn’t stop staring at him.
Lee smirked as he leaned down and broke my line of sight. “Carson? Earth to Carson? Hello? Are you in there?”
“What?” I blinked a few times and snapped out of Miller’s allure. “Right.” I turned back to the table and tried to reorganize my scattered thoughts. “I was just getting everything ready,” I said, reorienting myself by stating the obvious. Needing something to talk about other than my desire for Lee to leave and Miller to come closer, I cast my gaze around the room until my eyes landed on the stack of papers I’d printed out for Miller.
I rounded the table and snatched the pile of papers from the sideboard. “I have all your stuff right here.” I placed the sheets on the table in front of the chair to the right of mine and gestured for him to sit.
Miller looked at Lee first as if for permission. Lee smiled reassuringly as he slipped his arm through Miller’s.
“Come on,” Lee said as he steered Miller to his seat. “Carson doesn’t bite.”
Miller picked up the pencil I’d supplied and studied all the boxes and lines that filled the page. “Are you sure it’s alright that I join? I’ve never played before. I have no idea what any of this stuff means.”
“We’re happy to have you,” I insisted, charmed by his accent now that I could hear it. It was southern, Virginia perhaps, maybe Kentucky. “And don’t worry about not knowing how to play. Lee’s been doing this for a year and still doesn’t know what he’s doing half the time,” I teased, hoping to pull another smile from him.
It worked but only for a second.
“Hey!” Lee said indignantly from the other side of Miller as he puffed up his chest and narrowed his eyes on me.
Giving him a warning look, I lifted a brow and waited for him to argue with me.
“Okay, fine,” he said, collapsing in his chair as he relented. “Maybe sometimes I get the rules mixed up. Accidently set a ship on fire once, and you never live it down.”
Ignoring Lee’s drama, I focused on getting Miller ready. “This is your character sheet. It has everything about your character you’ll ever need. Let’s get that going before we do anything else.”
Miller nodded and stared down at the paper like it was some kind of test. His fingers tightened around the pencil so hard his knuckles turned white. “Okay, I’m ready.”
“First, we need to pick your race and class.” I went through a few examples for him, listing off what we already had in the party.
Miller gave me a quick look as if he wanted to