Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 78152 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 391(@200wpm)___ 313(@250wpm)___ 261(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78152 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 391(@200wpm)___ 313(@250wpm)___ 261(@300wpm)
Adan had a hard shell around him, sure enough, but I thought maybe I could be the one to crack it, which would make me special. And special people were held close, not thrown away. With those things in mind, I decided to let him spend the weekend, figuring we’d see how things played out.
I gotta tell you, neither of us would have accurately predicted where we’d end up, which leads me to the next picture in the album: dice. He wanted to play craps; I wanted to play cee-lo. We ended up drinking way too much, staying up way too late, and playing both.
The next morning, when I was bleary-eyed and willing to give my left nut for a cup of coffee, I noticed the three dice sitting in a small shot glass illuminated by the morning sun. At the risk of expiring from caffeine deprivation, I stumbled for my camera and took the shot. The gamble paid off—I lived and the resulting picture was gorgeous.
So, unexpected though it is, the next picture in the album is three gambling dice glowing together in the sun.
Adan Navarro
MY GROWLING stomach woke me a couple of hours later. Even before I opened my eyes, I knew exactly where I was. Chase’s thigh was pillowing my head, he was petting my hair, and the scent of his groin made mine tighten with need.
I blinked my eyes open and saw that he was holding a book with his free hand, the glow from a table lamp providing the only illumination in the apartment. With his focus elsewhere, I could look my fill without being noticed. The first place my gaze landed was on his eyes. That swirl of blues was breathtaking and served as the perfect jewel to highlight a face too pretty to be called masculine. I let myself examine every one of his delicate features.
It should have been off-putting—the long, dark lashes, the full red lips, the high, chiseled cheekbones, and the small, upturned nose. But once again, I had no control over my body’s reactions. Desire pushed aside disgust when I looked at the beauty above me, and my breath hitched.
“Hey, you’re awake,” Chase said as he put the book down on the end table. “You must have been beat.” He moved his hand from my head down to my cheek and rubbed his thumb back and forth over my skin in a caress. “Are you still recovering from all those exams?”
His sweet tone, the warmth in his eyes, and the tenderness in his touch, took me off guard. Or maybe it was the way my chest swelled in reaction to those things that was unexpected. Either way, I was too unnerved to speak, so I swallowed thickly and nodded.
“Poor thing. Well, a few good meals and a relaxing weekend should get you back on your feet. You had the right idea coming here.” He traced my lips as he spoke, his expression fond as he looked at me.
I registered for the first time that he had cooked for me. And it sounded like he was planning to do it again. Other than my mother, nobody had ever wanted to take care of me, and she had resigned from the job when she realized there would be no woman in my life to take the baton.
“The eggplant is probably cold by now,” he said. “But I can nuke it and it should be fine.”
Realizing that was my cue to move, I sat up. Unfamiliar emotions still swirling inside me rendered me mute.
Chase climbed off the couch and ambled over to the kitchen, his easy gait indicating that he was unaware of my tension. “The bathroom’s over there if you want to wash up,” he said as he tipped his head toward the only interior door in his apartment.
I gave myself another few moments to watch his firm, high butt and lithe form. Then I took a deep breath and walked into the restroom, intending to splash some water on my face and smack some sense into my head. Being gay was one thing—I couldn’t help that, couldn’t stop it. But I sure as hell could choose what type of man I’d have by my side as I finished up my education and finally started to climb my way up the legal ladder. Chase was not someone who would help me make partner at a good firm or get appointed to a seat on an appellate court or start a political career.
The man was nice; I was willing to admit that. And my traitorous body found him attractive, something I couldn’t deny with the proof throbbing between my thighs. But at the end of the day, Chase Rhodes was a joke, and if I brought him around, people would think I was like him; they’d be slammed with his image of what it meant to be gay and put it on me. No way could I earn anybody’s respect being that kind of guy. Hell, I’d be lucky to have people wait until my back was turned before they started laughing.