The tension of the moment broke. Ollie’s lips twitched.
“Oh my God, shut up. You know what I mean.” Ty rolled his eyes. “If you’re going to live here, we’re going to befriends. And friends don’t let friends suffer if they can help it. So tell me what to do.”
Ollie snorted. “Bold of you to assume I know what works.”
Right. He probably hadn’t had anyone around to help him. Ty could do some internet research and trial and error and figure out what worked. For the time being,stay out of punching rangeseemed like a good place to start.
“Anyway,” Ollie said, “we kind of skipped the part about your rules. It’s your house.”
“Unfortunately,” Ty agreed. “It’s kind of a lot, as you’ve noticed. The whole second floor is locked, mostly because I don’t want to pay to heat it. It’s not like I need the space. But it’s probably best if nobody goes up there in case there are racoons living in the walls or something.” He wondered if he could get the house condemned if there were and skip the whole bit where he had to live here.
“Racoons?” Ollie teased. “Not bats?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. We don’t have a belfry.”
“What even is a belfry, anyway?”
“No idea. I always assumed it was, like, a bell tower kind of thing. Now that I think about it, it’s kind of surprising we don’t have one. My dad was definitely the type.” A big ostentatious tower with a big loud bell in it he could ring so everyone in town knew how important he was. “Anyway, we’ll do a full walk-through on the weekend, maybe, because you’ll have a better sense of where you don’t want Theo going than I do. The regular garage is probably okay, but the pole barn with the gardening and landscape equipment is probably a supervision-only zone for an eight-year-old.” Maybe he could incorporate a segment on Household Goods to Leave Alone in his first-aid class.
“Makes sense. I guess that just leaves, uh….”
Was Ollie blushing? Or was it the wine? “Yes?”
Nope—his cheeks went pinker. Definitely blushing.Fascinating.Ty figured the Army would’ve drilled that out of him in basic training. “I think we should have a protocol for if you’re going to have adult company.”
What?Then the penny dropped. “Oh my God, Ollie, you can say ‘sex.’”
He groaned. “Sometimes I forget Theo isn’t listening to everything I say.”
Yeah, Ty could see how that could happen. “I mean, I’m definitely going to make fun of you for that, but what are we worried about, here? I’m not going to sexile you and your kid.”
“So the sex dungeon is soundproof?”
Ty shuddered. “Ollie, please. This was my parents’ house.” And Ty didn’t need to be thinking about Ollie and sex dungeons either.
“I just mean, uh…. God, I’m not a prude, I just don’t want to answer any of Theo’s questions about why there’s a strange half-naked woman in the kitchen at seven in the morning.”
“Now who’s assuming?” When the question didn’t seem to register a reaction, Ty added, “It’s just as likely to be a half-naked man.” If he had to rescind the offer because Ollie turned out to be homophobic, that would suck, but better to know now.
The only reaction he got was an eye roll. “Whatever. Look, I’m not trying to cramp your style. But I have a kid to think about. There’s nothing wrong with casual sex—”
“Casual adult company,” Ty interrupted, unable to help himself.
“—but I don’t know if I’m comfortable with strangers around my kid, potentially unsupervised.”
“No, I get it,” Ty assured him. “You don’t have to worry, though. I am really bad at casual adult company.” Wait a second, that made it sound like Ty was bad in bed.
“I’m never going to live that down, am I?”
“Sorry, Grandma, but I will be mocking you for life. Seriously, though, I was kind of wild when I was younger, and it tanked my self-worth. If I’m sleeping with someone, it’s serious enough for you to internet stalk them before you have to worry about Theo meeting them.”
Not that Ollie would have to worry about that, since Ty didn’t intend to date anyone here when he’d be leaving town as soon as he could.
It did beg the question, though—
“What about you?”
“What, my sense of self-worth?”
