Eli clearly wasn’t satisfied with thatanswer. “How much of an asshole? Is he like some kind of preachy bigot?”
That was a very good question.
“No, he’s not that bad. Most of the time hejust makes vague remarks about artistic types. Which is a little crazyconsidering he’s a really good artist.” Wilder gave Eli a long look. “Iwouldn’t bring Lane into a situation where I thought there would be a problem.He didn’t say anything really negative when I mentioned the first conversationthat I overheard, so I’m not expecting anything now.”
“How old is he?” Eli wasn’t letting up.
“Mid-fifties.”
Eli nodded knowingly. “I’ve got someneighbors like that. They never really seem to understand how offensive orridiculous what they say is. When you point it out, they just give you thisconfused look and shrug.”
Not wanting to get deeper into thediscussion, I glanced back up at Wilder. “Don’t let us distract you. I don’twant you to be late.”
Wilder smiled and leaned down to give meanother kiss, clearly not worried about public displays of affection. “You’reright. Thank you. I’ll see you later.”
With a nod and a hasty goodbye to Eli,Wilder went over to order his coffee and was quickly out the door. I was quietuntil Wilder was out of earshot. Then I turned and gave Eli a look. “What wasthe third degree for? And I can’t believe you brought up the photo shoot.”
Eli didn’t seem to be bothered by myfrustration in the least. “Somebody had to ask the questions, and I think helikes the idea of the shoot. He’s clearly not bothered by the modeling. I thinkhe’d like to see what you do.”
He was?
He did?
“There’s a big difference between acceptingwhat I do in an abstract way and seeing it all firsthand. What if everythingdrives him crazy?” I wasn’t even sure if that was the main issue, but it was agood place to start.
“I don’t think it’ll bother him. I’m notsure if he’s some kind of closet exhibitionist who’ll get turned on watchingyouand watching everyone else watching you, but I don’t think it’sgoing to scare him off, if that’s what you mean.” Eli leaned back in his chairand took a sip of his coffee. “If just seeing everything online hasn’t freakedhim out, I don’t think seeing it in person will.”
“Probably. But what if…”
Eli cut in. “No buts. Baptism by fire andall that. He just needs to see it and it’ll be fine. We’re a colorful bunch,but he’s an artist and does tattoos for a living. Seeing a bunch of naked dramaqueens isn’t going to scare him off.”
That made me roll my eyes. “You’re the onlynaked drama queen he’s going to see.”
As much as I wanted to believe him, Iwasn’t as confident about it as Eli was, but there wasn’t much I could do aboutit. Telling Wilder that I didn’t want him there would be a lie and would alsochase him away faster than anything he would see at the shoot.
I wasn’t ashamed of what I did, and therewas a small part of me that was excited about it. Averysmall part. ButI’d never brought anyone I was dating into that part of my life. It was almostlike being naked in front of someone for the first time. The analogy might notmake sense, because I was nearly naked on the site a lot, but it was sharingsomething…intimate, maybe.
What if he hated it, or even worse, what ifhe didn’t understand why I loved it?
Chapter 15
Wilder
The ping of my phone woke me the firsttime. Rolling over, I tapped the screen and squinted my eyes at the brightnessas it lit up the room. It was early for me, but I had a feeling Lane had beenup for a while. I smiled as I read the text.You up?
I could almost hear the skepticism in his words.Forcing my fingers to work, I answered.Possibly…come over and maybe thatwill help wake me up…door’s open just come on up.
Maybe the door was open.
Was it?
Cursing under my breath, I stumbleddownstairs and unlocked the door before making my way back up to the bedroom. Heneeded a key. Getting up just to unlock the door so I could go back to sleepwas stupid.
I’d stayed up entirely too late. I’d hadevery intention of going to sleep early enough that I’d be awake when Lanecalled, but that hadn’t quite worked out like I’d planned. Something about theidea of seeing Lane’s photo shoot had gotten my creativity flowing, and I’dstayed up drawing into the early morning.
I checked my phone one last time after Iflopped down onto the mattress. Lane’s reply made me smile.I’m picturingsomething dirty but I have a feeling I’m just going to find you snoring away.
Sending a laughing emoji, I yawned and setthe phone down beside me on the bed. I told myself I’d text him back a realanswer in just a bit. That resolve lasted about all of five seconds.
