Not Used To Cute - Becca Seymour

One

Elijah

The animated man before me barely took a breath. I was as amused as I was terrified that he’d pass out any minute.

But hell, he was cute.

I wasn’t used to cute.

In recent years, I was used to loose and easy. Not the best qualities to attach myself to, but still, the combination kept me occupied. Though I was the first to admit my satisfaction tended to last the length of time it took them to give me head, or for me to pound into a faceless man. Sebastian was none of these things. And the ringer was, that freaked me the hell out as much as it turned me on.

When he’d trailed in behind my sister, Harriet, and her husband, Drake, along with Drake’s crazy-arse family, I took notice. It wasn’t unusual for me to take a dip and sample whatever was on offer. It came with the territory of owning a bar, but a reaction to cute was something different altogether.

“So what do you do when you’re not working?”

I pulled my gaze from admiring his lips and the subtle curve of his mouth. The curve turned into sweet smiles when he spoke, which pulled the happiness to his eyes. Who knew that was even possible?

“I just shoot the shit.” I took a gulp of beer, realizing one, how pathetic that sounded, and two, that I did jack shit in my free time.

It was easy to blame my need to look after my younger sister, Harriet—I’d been all she’d had for a long time—but it was no longer an excuse I could use, not with Drake in her life. It had since become my own laziness along with having no desire to put up with the drama and demands a relationship usually meant. I needed both as much as I needed a hole in the head. I had enough bull dealing with keeping Bar QK running and successful. Running a gay bar in a city would be hard, but here in a small coastal town in the Sunshine Coast meant I had to be on my game.

“Alrighty, jack shit sounds….” He hesitated, searching for the right word.

“Lame,” I answered as he said, “Fun.”

Sebastian’s laughter burst free, loud and strangely sweet. Enough for me to raise my brows and offer him a quick smile.

“What about you?” I asked, and then took another pull of beer, finishing off the bottle.

I thought he’d been animated before, but hell, his eyes lit up and his lips lifted as he spoke, his hands gesturing wildly as his voice took on a hypnotic tone. “Well, there’s so much I love doing. I love surfing. Do you surf?” He didn’t give me time to respond. “I don’t go out as often as I like”—a small frown marred his forehead for a moment before he seemed to shake it off—“but it’s something I love to do. I tried sculpting recently, but it seems I’m not very artistic. I joined the local arts group too and was in a musical about six months ago. They did only cast me as the pixie though. I didn’t have much to say and was only in the chorus—”

Barely stopping to breathe, he smiled and continued talking while my mind settled on one image.

Pixie.

Yes. He was like a cute little pixie. Only about five six, slim, short hair, but not buzzed, sexy little button nose. I could see him now rocking a hot pixie costume. Though, I had no idea of what that would entail. The movie with the elf, the funny one with that guy who was Santa’s son or something, popped into my head. That was an elf though, right? I really should make more time for movie watching.

“—bowls club, but I think the regulars struggled a bit with me. No idea why.” He shrugged.

I quirked my lips at that one, imagining Seb—which suited him more than Sebastian—joining in with the no-doubt boring-as-all-hell retirees with his perfect kind of crazy.

“And what about work?” I asked, wanting to keep him talking.

He scrunched up his nose and twisted his lips before he spoke. “Actually, I’m just looking for a new job.” He sighed, his brows dipping. It was a look I didn’t like on him. “The woman I replaced when temping just returned to work last week. I’ve been looking for something else, but the agency doesn’t have anything at the moment, so on Monday I’ll be doing a trek handing out my résumé, and I’ll see if something comes up.” His eyes connected