Total pages in book: 145
Estimated words: 138775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 694(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 463(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 694(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 463(@300wpm)
I’ve got to get to class, Hailey texted. Be good and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do. She followed that with a winking emoji. Given that she was living with three hotties, I wasn’t entirely sure what was entailed.
Hell, I wasn’t even sure about my own list. But I did know that the drive home with Kyle yesterday had been pretty steamy. My skin still tingled every time I thought about it. And later, when I was in bed, I could hear Kyle moving around his room just on the other side of the wall, and, well, that had led to some very happy dreams.
“Sorry that took so long.” Jayden set a tray down on the table. He’d bought sandwiches, chips, and drinks.
I smiled up at him. “You bought me dinner and you’re apologizing?”
“Not sure that this counts as dinner.” He sat down, scooting his chair close to mine. “But I like this place. It’s never crowded, mainly because no one knows about it.”
I sure hadn’t. The quiet hum of the café made it feel like a hidden world, separate from the bustle of campus. “Did they make the sandwiches fresh or something?”
“No, they’re from the display case.” He lowered his voice, leaning in. “The guy behind the counter is brand new. To the café, and by the looks of things, to planet Earth.”
I giggled and resisted the urge to look over at the poor guy.
“My friend Mia’s shift starts soon, and she’s great. Practically runs the place. I’m glad you’ll get to meet her—I think you’ll like her.”
Um… who the hell was Mia? This was the first time I’d heard the name, but she seemed like someone Jayden liked. As friends? Or something more? A dull ache hit my stomach, and I had trouble swallowing the chip I’d just eaten. I was well aware that I had no claim over the man sitting next to me, but I kind of liked spending so much time with him recently. Maybe I was hanging out so often with good-looking men that I was getting spoiled.
Still, I kind of hoped this Mia had a boyfriend.
Jayden twisted the lids off two green glass bottles. The label identified them as some sort of carbonated lemon-lime drink. I took the one he held out.
“Let’s make a toast.” His smile had me anticipating whatever he was going to say.
“To what?”
He clinked the neck of his bottle against mine. “To our success in the bathroom.” He stopped dead and then rolled his eyes, laughing at himself. “That came out so wrong that I really hope you’ll forget it.”
It took effort not to laugh, especially since I knew what he’d meant. “I didn’t hear anything, sorry. What are we drinking to again?”
He grinned and chose his words more carefully. “To successfully clearing out the downstairs bathroom and getting it ready for use.”
We clicked drinks again, and I said, “Much better.” The drink was fizzy and tickled my tongue. “I still want to buy a bathmat and a trash can and all that.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“Yes, I do. I live there too, you know.”
For some reason, he clinked his bottle against mine for the third time and took a long swallow.
“Besides, you paid for that handheld shower thingie.” The old showerhead had corroded and was unusable.
“I’ll try to install it tomorrow. I wish we had time to paint in there.”
I did too, though with so much going on, it wasn’t a priority. It was kind of fun to see the basement transform from the world’s most overcrowded thrift store into a usable space. Though there still wasn’t a big enough area in the main room to bring in a bed for Jayden’s.
I unwrapped my sandwich and he opened the second bag of chips, setting it on the tray in front of us.
As I ate, I peeked at him out of the corner of my eye. Suddenly, I wanted to know more about him. “Tell me about your family in Florida, Uncle Jayden.” He’d mentioned something about that in our study group earlier in the semester.
He smiled, setting down his sandwich. “My brother and his wife moved there about two years ago. She’s five months along.”
“Are you close to your brother?”
“Yeah, we get along. But it’s a little harder to keep in touch now that he has a wife and a busy job.”
“Uncle Jayden… I can’t quite get used to the sound of it.”
“Tell me about it. I feel too young to be an uncle.” He grinned. “Too young and cool and good-looking.”
“Then you’ll be the cool uncle.”
He cocked an eyebrow at me. “But not young and good-looking?”
“Those too, of course.” I said it jokingly even though it was true. But it felt too direct to say that sincerely. Although maybe I could have said it to Kyle? In a weird way, that safeword he’d given me had been kind of freeing. As if I could explore some things I normally wouldn’t in a way that didn’t make me uncomfortable—because I knew there was an easy way out.