Clearly, Jake was trying to be smooth about it, but Quinn was not unfamiliar with the experience of getting checked out. And he really didn’t hate Jake checking him out, that was for sure. When Jake headed down the stairs ahead of him, he took the opportunity to return the favor.He has a great ass. Quinn reached back and surreptitiously felt his own through his jeans.I sit at the computer too much. Flat-ass central. His hair flopped up and down with each riser on the stairs, catching the pools of light scattered around the parking lot and the wrap-around balcony of his apartment complex.
At the bottom of the stairs, Jake spun, arms out, stumbled on a lip in the concrete, and barely caught himself on the railing from very likely knocking his teeth out with a fall to the pavement.
Quinn shook his head. “How dangerous are you when you get drunk?”
“Not at all.” He righted himself, still smiling wide like nothing happened. “It’s almost impossible to get me to move when I’m drunk. All I want to do is cuddle. Hard to hurt myself too much giving hugs on the couch.”
I bet he gives great hugs. Quinn picked up the pace a little, as if he could escape those thoughts.What fucking spell does he have over me?Quinn had a soft spot for blondes, sure. But this was going on a full day and he was utterly smitten.
Quinn tapped the unlock button and his car flashed, then he climbed into the driver’s seat. Jake piled in next to him and buckled up. “Seriously, thanks for this. I can give you directions if you need them, but, like, no promises we won’t get lost. There’s a reason I’m not the designated navigator on road trips.”
“It’s the same hotel. I can get us there.” Quinn backed out of the space, then pulled onto the road and headed along. The traffic wasn’t dead-dead, but it was past rush hour at this point, so not too stressful of a commute. The longer they drove, the heavier the quiet weighed down.
Thankfully, Jake saved him from slipping and saying anything he might regret. Or worse, not regret at all. “Since I’ve got you all to myself for a few minutes, I wanted to run some stuff by you. Just so you have time to consider it. We’ll need some definite answers soon, and Ozzy’s going to want to get started on the landscaping ASAP.”
“Shoot.”
“If you did have a really good outside space, would you use it? What would you use it for?”
Quinn chewed the question a bit before answering. “I don’t know that I’m super outdoorsy. Obviously. But it would be nice to have a space to, like, drink coffee outside in the morning sometimes. Watch the neighborhood go by. Especially if therewere some nice-smelling flowers.” A smile pulled at his lips. “Yeah. I think that would be good. I mean, if it’s doable. I don’t want to push.”
“Dream big, winnow down.” Jake had his phone out and was tapping away. “We can totally get you a nice front porch area. You want a back deck as big as the one your grandpa had?” He snorted. “Not that it’s my business how big you want your deck.”
“Well done. Ten out of ten.”
“I do my best.”
Quinn sighed. “I don’t really think I need that big of one.” Maybe it was the late hour, or the proximity to the hunky-ass carpenter, or his exhaustion preventing him from tempering his hormones, but he played along with the flirtatious innuendo. “Don’t need that kind of size at the back door, you know?”
“Totally understandable.” Jake grinned across at him. “So serious talk, you don’t necessarily need a lot?”
“Like I said about the interior, I don’t really do a lot of entertaining.”
“Not a lot outside of the bedroom, if I gather correctly.”
Shit. Did I say that?It was a line he used with his friends online often enough some of them quoted it back to him, but had he let it slip earlier?Must have, if he knows about it.
Quinn shrugged. “That’s not inaccurate. I don’t do much entertaining period, but when I do, that’s the kind.”
“You should talk to Evander about that. If you’re comfortable.”
Quinn takes his eyes off the road and stares at Jake a few long seconds. “I’m…Evander’s not my type. No offense to him.”You are. You’re my type, and if you wanted to talk about my bedroom activities, I’m open. Apparently. Since we’re doing that.
“No. I mean, yes if you want to. He’s a good enough guy. But I mean for the show, and the interior design. It would help him get stuff set up better in your bedroom when the time comes.Discrete storage for personal stuff, a place to keep a guest’s clothes, towel storage. That sort of thing And if you’d be cool with it, I bet Eliza would love to get some risqué talk on record.” Jake sucked on his teeth a couple seconds. “That’s not me secretly passing on information from production, or me trying to pressure you. I just kind of did a show like this already.” He rapped his temple softly. “There’s not much bouncing around up here, but it’s not totally empty.”
“I mean, you’re not wrong.” Quinn cringed. “About making good TV. I’m not saying you’re dumb.”
“I know.” He winked. “You run this tense all the time, or is it just everything going on.”
It’s being alone with a prime hunk like you.“I think it’s being back in the house after this long. Also, everything hurts.”
They pulled into the parking lot of the hotel and Jake unbuckled. “Yeah. Try an Epsom salt bath, if you’ve got a tub at your apartment. If not, I could loan you the one up in my hotel room.” He held up a finger, silencing any potential response. “Totally innocent offer. No decks around the back door, I just know what it’s like living in a studio.”
Quinndidhave a tub, and he knew full well he should have said as much. He wasn’t going to let himself get too close, certainly not to the point of using his bathtub, unsupervised, in a hotel room. Not when Jake was going to go back home across the country, never to be seen again. And damn sure not when there were constant cameras filming their interactions. Production would simplyloveto have something they could play up as sexual or romantic for the final cut.I know myself. I would let something slip.
But he couldn’tquitefess up to it and cut off that possibility. “If it doesn’t get better, I might have to take you up on that offer.” He looked up toward the top of the hotel. “You going to make it up to your room intact?”
“It’s carpeted. If I fall, I’ll be good to go.” He flashed two thumbs up, then climbed out and closed the door, waving as Quinn pulled away.
