“So, this was a good idea?”
My smile burned my cheeks as I turned to Joe. “This was the best idea.” I turned back to the window, snapping a few more shots, and then turned in my seat to catch a few shots of Joe without him paying attention. He chuckled when he figured out what I was doing and shoved his hand in front of my lens.
“Stop that. You don’t want pictures of me. You want the sights. I didn’t bring you to take pictures of the ugly mug you see all the time.”
Butterflies exploded in my gut because here I was, alone, in a foreign country with the only person who held my interest. “But what if I don’t think it’s that ugly at all?”
My face heated at the admission and those laser-sharp blue eyes turned to me and stared so intensely. The piercing in Joe’s lip fed in and out of the hole a few times before Joe shook his head and looked back out his window. “Just watch the scenery, kid.”
It was a dismissal, and it stung. This may be my only chance to get somewhere with Joseph Bishop and I wouldn’t let the opportunity pass me by.
“Jesus, Joe. Was this necessary?”
He laughed as I pushed into the room. It opened to a large space with a massive bed in the middle of the room. Palms were in large pots around the room and a sliding panel opened out to our own patio to the water. The waves lapping against the side of the bungalow were so soft, I’d sleep like a damn baby.
“Don’t sweat it. I said I wanted you to get the full experience, and I meant it.”
We stood in the middle of the room, the large palm leaf ceiling fan circulated the air around us and I wanted to address the elephant in the room: the way Joe had afforded all this. It was strange that a guy who wasn’t working a regular job and was living out of his sister’s basement could just drop money on something like this. I was a friend, sure, but this was... a lot.
“Joe?”
He tensed at my question but ignored me. He pulled his suitcase over to the closet and took his things out, hanging a few items before pulling out a pair of swim trunks.
“I’m thinking I want to see how warm the water is. What do you say?”
There was that damn tightening in my throat again, but if I was going to address the cost, I needed to rip the Band-Aid off.
“You mean I’ll get to see those piercings up close and personal?”
The only reason I’d known about them was because of the video. In the couple of years I’d known the guy, he’d never had his shirt off around me.
Those icy blue eyes were back on me. Fire raced down my neck and back. Joe studied me for a full minute before he pulled his shirt over his head and my eyes widened in shock. Was he changing in front of me? It wasn’t weird for two dudes to change in front of each other and Joe obviously didn’t seem to have a problem being close to me, if the one bed was any indication.
And damn, that chest. He stood there holding his shirt at his side as the silence stretched on between us. The only sound I could hear was the thudding of my own damn heart.
“Nathan tell you about them?” he finally asked, hand reaching up and rolling one barbell between his fingers.
Sweet God. I was going to pass out.
“N—no. I um... I know why you could pull this off.”
Joe tilted his head to the side, that dark black hair falling to cover his piercing gaze. “What exactly do you mean?”
I laughed awkwardly. It bubbled out of me, on the verge of sounding unhinged. “Don’t think I’m an idiot. No one just flies somebody first class to a fancy resort like this when they don’t have a job.” My palms began to sweat as I plowed on. I was all in. There was no taking it back; hopefully, it wouldn’t ruin our week together. “I found—I found the videos.”
The shirt dropped to the floor, and Joe threaded his fingers through his dark locks. “The videos?”
I let out a growl of frustration, yanking my phone from my pocket and marching over to him. Before I could back down, Ihad the stupid website up and there was no way to hide that I’d subscribed to his page. Maybe I wanted him to see. I shoved the phone in his face and Joe scrambled to catch it before it dropped to the floor.
He looked between me and the screen a few times before sighing. He clicked off the screen and handed it back to me.
“You haven’t—you haven’t told anyone, have you?”
Holy. Shit.
Joseph Bishop felt embarrassed about something.
“Not a soul. It’s not my business to tell, but Joe, everyone is going to wonder where the money is coming from, eventually. Especially when you want to do shit like this.” My arms waved wildly at the room.
