Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 103637 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 518(@200wpm)___ 415(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103637 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 518(@200wpm)___ 415(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
Mike did not need to share his idea. He pulled them off the stand, handed the seller a ten dollar bill and presented the wings to Arden, whose big, glinting eyes were slowly getting consumed by their pupils.
There. The appreciation he so enjoyed working for.
“For you, little fae,” Mike said with a wide smile.
“Are you calling me a fairy?”
Mike’s brain halted, but only for half a second. “You said it yourself that you’re a butterfly. I’m calling you an out-of-this-world cutie.”
Arden took his sweet time chewing on that, but then turned around and reached his hand back so Mike could put the gift on him. He didn’t even have to lie. The boy was a cutie. At least as much as a boy could be.
He had those slender shoulders, a narrow waist, and an ass of the perfect size for his body—shapely, with a bit of curve. From the back, Mike would have never taken him for a guy.
If Arden, or someone like him, wore lingerie that kept his genitals hidden, would fucking him still be gay?
Mike’s brain pulsed with heat as he strapped the costume wings on the boy and rested his fingers just above the tempting hips, sensing the heat radiating through his clothes. When Arden looked up at him over his shoulder, a spark went down all the way to his dick. Maybe the bet hadn’t been such a good idea after all?
“Thank you,” Arden whispered, as if saying it any louder could have cracked their fragile connection.
“Mike? You’re in Reno for the weekend?” A high-pitched female voice he immediately recognized made him swear under his breath. He’d been getting somewhere with Arden, damn it!
For a moment, his plan had been to take Arden by the hand and lose Miranda, but she was way too close, and it wasn’t his style to openly ignore women.
He turned around and smiled, hoping to get rid of her soon. She was nice, but… well… underage. “Hello, darling. Yeah, we’ve come to do some shopping,” he said, nodding toward Arden, because the suggestion that he was on a date should send her on her way sooner.
Her teenage entourage was there too, too shy to approach him the way Miranda did but happy to bask in the glow of their smooth-haired queen bee in tight jeans and a crop top. Mike would’ve given his pinkie that at least three of the Valentines he’d gotten this year had come from his high schooler groupies. He’d even had to warn his brothers to steer clear of them, because not all of them looked as young as they were.
Many dangers came from being as handsome as Mike.
Miranda tossed her long hair over her shoulder with a grin. “With your… cousin?”
There goes nothing.
Mike reached for Arden’s hand and squeezed it, rubbing his thumb along his finger. “No, we’re on a date. Hope you enjoy your day, girls.”
This could be a good thing actually. He’d appear confident in front of Arden, and get rid of his little fan club in one go. Win-win!
“Wait. What?” Miranda asked, but Arden wouldn’t let Mike have this little victory and slipped his fingers out of Mike’s hand.
“I’ll be late for my appointment,” he muttered and rushed off.
At least that gave Mike an excuse to lose the jailbait. They’d now heard Arden’s voice and surely suspected he was a boy, but with fifty bucks and Mike’s pride at stake, he chose to follow Arden.
“Hey, where are you running off to, babe?”
The wings on Arden’s back glistened and trembled with every step he took, and Mike couldn’t help but chase the colorful butterfly.
“To the hair salon, remember?” Arden reached the door of a bright parlor, the kind where a male trim was fifty dollars, and glanced over his shoulder for only half a second. A little flush had bloomed on his features, but Mike couldn’t read what it meant.
“You just left me there, in the clutches of thirsty teenagers,” he said, adding an appropriate amount of drama to his voice.
“I thought you were all about pretty girls…” Arden muttered, waving at a stylist, who approached the entrance from the back of the parlor, but Mike would not share Arden’s attention, so he took hold of the unusually smooth chin, and turned Arden’s head, so their eyes would meet.
“I am with a pretty girl.”
Arden didn’t seem to breathe for a while. “Boy.”
Mike nodded. “Pretty boy.” The electricity was back in the air between them, and Mike loved the buzz of an impending conquest, even though he wasn’t intending to consummate this one.
A clicking of shoes against the tiles made Arden break eye contact, but he didn’t pull away.
The stylist whistled, walking through the automatic doors like a whirlwind of black silk. “If this is your new boyfriend, Arden, no wonder you haven’t had the time to see me this month. Bet you stopped leaving the bed, let alone combed your hair.”