“All right, I got the message the first time.”
Ozzy sighed. “I mean, you could do worse, looks wise. If you’re into a twink, anyway. I don’t know what you like.”
“I like not talking to you about who I sleep with. Especially when we’re surrounded by cameras.” He caught his slip-up after a second. “Or who I don’t sleep with.”
“Right. Well, when the cameras are off, let me know so I can keep giving you shit.” He pinched Jake’s cheek as he passed by. “Can’t blame him. Who doesn’t like a dumb blond now and then?”
Jake’s stomach tightened and he stared down at his feet, counting his breaths so he could calm down. Try to calm down,anyway, since it didn’t seem to be working. Had Quinn called him a dumb blond? It was a normal thing for Ozzy to talk about, and it didn’tsoundlike Quinn. But talking to Ozzy about stuff like this didn’t sound like Quinn either, yet it still happened.
He sucked in one big breath, then turned back to the shelves, cutting and marking off lumber and focusing only on that. No time to get into his own head about any of this stuff. And no use.
As the sun started to go down, Jake double checked everything, just to make sure he hadn’t missed any cuts he needed for the shelves. They’d get assembled and stained the next day. Plus side, he’d calmed and gotten out of his own brain a little bit. He knew where he was going to start the next day, getting the basic setup done on the desk. Which meant he would need to drive back out to the lumber yard to get a big enough piece. Or see if they could cut it to shape and size there and save him the hassle.
He pulled his shirt off over the top of his head and stuck it into his little bag, then headed inside. He had a change tucked away with his stuff in there so it wouldn’t get dirty and he didn’t have to wear a sweat-soaked T-shirt when he went to the store. Eating out or getting room service was fine most of the time, but after about two weeks of that, Jake neededsomethinga little different.
When he saw Quinn standing on the porch, looking out at the street in front of the house, he froze and tried to figure out what to do. Anyone else seeing him shirtless, fine. Him sending shirtless pics to Quinn from a distance, fine. Hell, walking in front of him shirtless might have been some fun flirtation before Ozzy spoiled it.
Quinn’s gaze slipped over to him and his jaw fell open. He stood up straighter. Then he smiled and the tension flooded away from Jake’s brain. He strode up confidently, making sure to flex just a touch as he went inside to grab his stuff. Then he came back out and put his shirt on. “You have a good day at work?”
“Good is one word for it.” Quinn grabbed onto the railing of the porch and arched his back, letting out several loud pops in the process. “I definitely have a new appreciation for working at my computer all the time, that’s for sure. I don’t think I’d make it if I had to keep pace with Ozzy.”
“Ah, Ozzy’s not so bad. Aras is the one you have to watch out for. He’s grumpy as hell when he’s in agoodmood. And he’s never in a good mood when he’s working.”
Quinn chuckled, then turned to lean his back against the railing and look at Jake. “It was pretty nice to get in here and get some stuff done, though. Different. I was looking for a change and I got it.” He arched his back the other way, tensing his shirt over his chest in way too sexy a manner. “But I think tonight is definitely an Epsom salt bath kind of night.” He blew out a big breath, cheeks puffing. “Just need to figure out where in town you go to buy Epsom salts.”
“I’m going shopping tonight.” The words flew out of Jake’s mouth before he even really realized what was happening, let alone had time to put any consideration into them. He brought his hand up behind his head and fluffed up his hair, scratching his neck and scalp. “I just mean, if you need to swing by a store…I don’t know what I mean. You don’t need me to hold your hand while you shop.”I just want to spend some time with you.
“I’ll drive.” Quinn straightened himself out, then stretched side-to-side, groaning. “That work for you?”
Jake nodded. “I mean, I need to stop by my hotel room. Unless you wanted to come up? I mean, not that way, you know. Couldbe that way, if you were down. I just don’t want you to have to host me.” Jake screwed up his face and tried to get his brain to work properly. A hard task in such close proximity to Quinn. “Am I going way too fast, assuming that you would want to hang out after the store? You needed a bath, of course you don’t want to hang.”
“I definitely do. That would be weird, just having you walk around the store with me while I buy Epsom salts, then saying good night.” He looked over both shoulders, peered through the front door, then patted Jake on the cheek a couple times. “You’re really cute when you get flustered. If you didn’t know.”
“Noted.” Jake slung an arm around his shoulders, then headed down the stairs of the front porch. “I guess the rumor is true.”
“What rumor?”
“Oh, Ozzy told me you might have a thing for me.”
Quinn stumbled, and it was only thanks to Jake that he didn’t totally biff it in the lawn. It took a moment for him to right himself, then he turned and gave a heavy sigh. “I totally didn’t try to air anything out.”
Jake waved that off. “He thinks you just have a crush. No suspicions. Not that I give a rat’s ass if anyone knows. For what it’s worth. You tell anyone you want as far as I’m concerned.” He weighed the next sentence before finally tacking it on. “I’d like to know first, though. Just so I can have popcorn ready for the shitshow.”And so I actually know where we stand outside of sexting.
Quinn nodded, then swung around to open the passenger door on his Toyota. Jake slid in, then slipped out his phone and shot a message to Mason, just so they didn’t hold up the ride back to the hotel waiting for him.
Then Quinn climbed in, backed out, and they headed into Springfield.
Chapter nineteen
Quinn
A shopping trip wherewe buy dinner, and now we’re going home together.Quinn smiled as he slipped his key into the lock and shouldered the door to his apartment open.It’s surreal. But I’m not mad about it.
He deposited his one bag on the counter, then turned to Jake. “I really can take more than that.”
Jake was laden with seven bags, shimmying sideways through the door before catching it with his heel and closing it behind him. “You rest. I’m used to this kind of work.” He shifted around the furniture, then dropped the bags off on the counter, filling up all the workable space in the tiny kitchenette. Then he grinned. “Superman.”
Quinn rolled his eyes, then started unloading groceries. “Superman would have let me pay for his stuff.”
