Chapter twenty-one
Ozzy
Ozzy knocked, then knockedagain. His stomach tossed and turned the longer he stood there, threatening to upend out his throat and onto the floor of the hotel hallway. Or more likely, into the toilet back in his hotel room when he lost his nerve and ran.
He hadn’t been able to getfuckingEvander out of his head the whole evening. Figuratively and literally. After sitting there, caught in agony and ecstasy for so long, he’d finally gotten up and gone to the store to pick up some pineapple. His face hadburnedwhen he bought it, even though there was no reason for the cashier to put the pieces together. Eating pineapple didn’t actuallydoanything, and plenty of people whodidn’thave their hopes set on a blow job bought containers of pre-cut pineapple. It was just thatOzzyknew he was buying it as some roundabout way of flirting.
Plus, maybe the fact that he’d caved to his own stupid cock and decided to go through with this stupid plan. Yes, Ev had brought it up in the first place. But Ozzy was supposed to be more level-headed than this.
He knocked for a third time, already leaning back to get away and lick his wounds.
The door opened a crack, just enough to see a sliver of Evander peeking through. Shirtless, hair wet, face flushed and eye bright. “Ozzy. Hi. I didn’t…can I help you?”
Thathit like a lead weight. “Did you just call me Ozzy?”
Evander shut the door instead of answering. A tiny spark of anger flared in Ozzy’s stomach, but it died when the door reopened. All the way that time. Evander was standing there, one hand up on the door jamb, resting right by the little thingy that you flipped to keep the door closed. Definitely shirtless. Definitely wet, like he’d just taken a shower.
And if the bulge in the front of his boxer-briefs was what Ozzy assumed it was, then they were apparently on the same wavelength.
Evander sighed. “I was a little busy.”
Last chance to bail. Ozzy cleared his throat. “You didn’t answer my question.”
Ev’s shoulders slumped a little. “Between the hangover and….this.” He gestured down to his crotch. “My bitch powers aren’t at their full strength right now.”
“So you admit you call me Oswald to be a bitch.” Ozzy took a step forward, stopping just before crossing the threshold into the hotel room.
Evander swallowed, and it was hard enough and Ozzy was close enough, he heard it. He also heard the quiver in Ev’s voice. “Of course I do. I thought you were smart. That’s why I dated you, however briefly.”
“Briefly?” The hormones raged. Every breath Ozzy took was filled with the smell of Evander, and his body heat radiated against Ozzy. “I wouldn’t call it brief.”
“Well it couldn’t have been that long, if you have towonderwhether I’m purposefully being a bitch. Oswald.”
Ozzy shook his head. He had nothing else to say, so he pulled the container of pineapple from behind his back and displayed it, raising one eyebrow.
Ev’s tongue darted out over his lips for a moment. He swallowed again and shifted his weight so he leaned more against the door jamb. “Pineapple?”
Ozzy nodded. “You mentioned it.”
“Is that a thing we’re doing now?”
Ozzy couldn’t help but laugh, restraining himself just enough that he wasn’t blasting his breath straight in Evander’s face. “That’s the million fucking dollar question, isn’t it.”
Ev chuckled, then took a step back. “Well come in and maybe we can figure out an answer.”
He turned and walked in and Ozzy followed, letting the door click softly closed behind him. “You sure you’re not toobusyfor this chat?”
“This chat is why I was busy.”
“All that for me?”
Ozzy was joking, trying to keep things light so he didn’t let his snark and attitude ruin the whole thing. He didn’t expect Evander’s face to further darken as the blush intensified.
Ozzy plopped down into the office chair, in part to get himself off his feet and in part to give him a place to cross his legs. He was in jeans, so it wouldn’t be nearly asobviousif he was sporting a hard-on as it was for Evander in just his underwear, but he didn’t need to take any chances. Not until they’d worked things out and made a decision.
It was surreal, just sitting there in some hotel room in some town neither of them had ever heard of a couple weeks prior, with a container of pineapple sitting between them, waiting to figure out if they were stable enough with each other to get naked and roll around.
Evander cleared his throat. “I thought this was a terrible idea.”
