Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 77930 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77930 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Adam’s face softened, and he considered it. “I’ve never thought about it quite like that. It’s kind of beautiful.”
Your face is kind of beautiful, I thought silently. I felt warm inside, being next to him. I loved the way he looked when he was comfortable, and it felt like some sort of small miracle that he actually seemed that comfortable having me here. He was relaxed on the couch, smiling and bantering with me like we’d known each other for years.
Compared to the Adam I’d seen on the first day I met him, this man was a different person entirely.
And I was secretly so fucking glad he’d wanted me to come back over.
“I agree,” I said. “It changed how I think about Superman.”
Adam got a mischievous look on his face, his eyes crinkling up a little at the edges. “But I still think Batman’s a darker, more intriguing character.”
“Then I guess we’re still in a fight.” I shrugged.
“Huge fight.”
He took a sip of his beer, a fresh batch of orange summer ale that I’d brought over from Jade Brewery. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed, and I couldn’t take my eyes away from it.
Even the way he’d opened up the front door when I got here had practically turned me on. His forearms, gripping the door frame.
Or the way he had moved over a little bit to give me room to sit down on the couch, but then had moved back closer toward me once I was sitting down.
Or, really, kind of everything about him, if I was being honest.
“Well, I know the best way to settle a fight,” he said.
Before I could answer him or figure out why that had turned me on so much, too, the melodic little ringtone from my video chat app rang out through the room.
I glanced up and saw that the video chat had popped up on the big TV screen. I’d connected my laptop to stream the movie, but now there was a big video image of my brother’s face on Adam’s TV.
“Oh, God. I am so sorry,” I told Adam, reaching over toward my laptop to ignore the call.
“That’s okay,” Adam said, shifting on the couch. “You can answer. I’ll step out if you, uh, need to talk to that guy—”
I realized all at once how it must look to Adam. Jamie’s name had a blue heart emoji next to it in the app.
“Oh my God. It’s not some hookup,” I said. “It’s just my brother.”
I pressed the button to answer the call and it connected, Jamie’s face looking out from my TV screen.
“Hey, Jamie,” I said.
“He picked up?” I heard my mom’s voice in the background of the call. She appeared on screen a moment later, looking down at the camera. “Oh, hello! Look, Chase is with a very attractive young man. That’s a nice couch. Are you in a hotel?”
I felt heat flare through my body.
Holy shit. I’d found my own Kryptonite: a call from my family while Adam was next to me.
“Hello,” Adam said, smiling and waving at them.
“Adam, this is my brother Jamie and my mom. This is my friend Adam. I’m at his house, not a hotel.”
The word sounded strange on my tongue. Friend? It was what I’d called plenty of my hookups over the years, because it was often true. There was no shame in it. But why did I feel like I would have rather had some other word for Adam?
“Chase, sweetheart, I told Jamie to call you on the video app because you have to see what we dug up tonight,” Mom said. She reached over on her dining room table and picked up a shoebox, pulling an old photo out of it. “Look at this.”
“You have to hold it up to the camera part, Mom,” Jamie said softly, and he repositioned it so I could see.
“Oh my God,” I said, the heat in my body intensifying.
It was a photo of me from my early teenage years. I must have been close to starting high school in the photo, and my hair was bright pink.
“That was the first time you dyed your hair,” Mom said. “Isn’t that adorable, Chasey?”
I glanced over at Adam, feeling pure, white-hot embarrassment for the first time in a long while.
“Is it too late to ask you to go to the other room?” I whispered to him, and a smile spread over his face.
“Not going to happen,” he said back.
“What did you say, sweetie?” Mom asked through the video.
“He’s saying he’s embarrassed,” Jamie told her. I could see the shit-eating grin forming on my brother’s face. He loved this.
“Oh,” my mom said, waving her hand dismissively. “This picture is fucking adorable. Chase, you have nothing to be embarrassed about. I’m sure your friend loves it. Here, look at this one!”