Love Him Desperate (On the Market #5) - E.M. Lindsey Page 0,22

and it lacked that creepy feeling of too full, too close shelves that a person could get lost in. When he was little and could barely see above the second shelf, he felt like he was lost in a story book. Now, it was modern. Everything had its place, and the coffee shop took up most of the real estate.

He took a moment to feel a pang of loss for the few things that offered him an escape when he was younger, then he followed James to the counter and ordered a small black coffee.

“Do you like that, or are you just trying to be cheap?” James asked as he handed over cash.

Dmitri shrugged and took a sip, the temperature just shy of scalding. “Both? I’m not really into the sweet stuff.”

James eyed him over the rim of his own drink, which was probably more cream and sugar than actual coffee, but Dmitri wasn’t one to judge. He felt a little awkward, but James led him back outside and grabbed a table near the railing. The waterfront views really had been a good idea, and though Dmitri hated what he’d lost, he liked that so much had been preserved.

“Did your brothers really buy up all this land?” Dmitri asked, looking at his hands that were curled around his cup.

James made a soft humming noise. “Brad bought most of it. I got the property for Shalom.”

Dmitri bit his lip, his gaze drifting out along the water. Cherry Creek always felt so small and so big at the same time, and he had always marveled at his ability to get lost there in spite of everyone always being in each other’s pockets.

“Is that your subtle way of telling me it sucks?” James asked after Dmitri’s silence.

He almost choked on his coffee, and he swiped his hand over his mouth. “No! God, I’m not. No. I like it.”

“You looked like you were having a full-on existential crisis earlier,” James pointed out. “On my dock.”

Dmitri’s cheeks flushed hot. “I thought it was a public dock.”

James hummed, dragging his fingers around the plastic top of his cup. “I guess it’s a good place to have one.”

“I had most of my youth crises out here,” Dmitri admitted, and James snorted a laugh.

“What are you, twelve?”

Dmitri gave him a flat look. “Is that a crack about Chinese people looking young.”

At that, James shut his mouth and looked far more apologetic than he should have. “That’s not what I…shit. I’m going to shut up. But that wasn’t what I meant. You just graduated high school. It’s a bit early to have a full-blown crisis.”

Dmitri shook his head. “Trust me, every single one has been…necessary.”

Before James could say anything, Dmitri heard voices. He didn’t recognize the specific ones, but he knew what was coming. There was no surprise in the way they stopped—two men, three women. They were all around James’ age, maybe older, and they stared like he was a walking car crash.

Two of the women leaned in to whisper, and one of them shook their head while the blond man snickered. Dmitri wanted to shrink into himself, especially with the way James was staring at him. Hard. Then he rose and faced the group, saying nothing, but the look on his face was enough.

They darted inside, and James remained standing until the door slammed shut. “What the fuck was that?”

Dmitri groaned and sat back, biting the inside of his cheek until he tasted blood. “Small town shit.”

James lifted a brow. “Theo catching Parker and Ronan fucking in a boat is small town shit. That was…not.”

Dmitri didn’t want to air his dirty laundry to this man who was nothing more than a stranger, but there was something in his eyes that made Dmitri feel oddly safe, and his tongue loosened a bit. “My parents kind of had a bad reputation when they lived here. Uh. You know, adopted a kid from China, tried to look like upstanding citizens, except they were drunks who had the sheriff called on them a lot.” Dmitri closed his eyes and breathed out. “People noticed.”

James cleared his throat. “Well, trust me when I say I understand parent issues.”

The left side of Dmitri’s mouth tugged up into something like a half smile, and he shrugged. “My mom eventually left, then my dad decided to follow her, but they were both addicts. And, well. CPS came and took me from him, and they both went to jail, and I had to move back here. It