Eli’s voice trailed off like he didn’t know how to explain it. I had a feeling he was doing his best to respect Casey’s privacy, but Eli had never been very good at balancing between what he thought was right and what other people were comfortable with.
“There is nothing wrong with taking things slow. He needs time to figure out what he wants and what he’s comfortable sharing with me.” As the words came out of my mouth, I started to doubt them. The memory of how he’d reacted in the shower when I’d teased him with my fantasies stood out starkly.
“Are you going slowly for him or for you?” Eli’s body inched out from behind the door, and he leaned on the frame again, watching my reaction. “You haven’t dated in forever.”
I waved my arms around the room and shrugged. “You know better than anyone how little free time I’ve had over the past couple of years—and no frowning because that’s not a dig at you. You’ve been just as busy as I have.”
“But even I still found time to get out and goof off.” Eli cocked his head. “You haven’t. When was the last time you went to a club and just had a scene? I don’t mean sex or anything like that, just a scene where you connected with someone.”
Entirely too long.
“That’s not the point.”
Eli snorted. “There’s my answer then.”
He gave me a long look before he started walking across the room and around the desk. He plopped down on my lap and gave me a hug. “Don’t chase him away by being too careful. Aren’t you the one who told me that he wasn’t a child? He’s quiet but not naïve. He knows what he wants, just not how to ask for it. That’s where you have to come in.”
Part of me could see Eli was right, but part of me had gotten so used to being careful around Casey, I wasn’t sure how to change the habit.
“I’ll think about it.” That was as much as I was willing to agree to, but Eli seemed to take that as a win because he grinned.
“Perfect. Once you two have done all kinds of fun things and he’s more comfortable, then he can come do a photo shoot with us. He’d be so cute up on the site, and once he’s working on his own it won’t matter.” Eli pretended not to notice my frown and started dancing across the room, completely ignoring me.
“We’ll keep his face in profile, and with that cute little blush he does, he’ll have people eating out of his hands. It’ll be great.” He beamed and waved, waltzing out the door before I could respond. “I’ll talk to Roman about it. He’s going to love the idea too.”
I heard footsteps tapping down the hallway like Fred Astaire had taken up residence in the lobby as Eli called out. “Bye! Don’t forget to talk to Casey. Oh, and see if he wants to come watch the pups tomorrow. They’re so cute when they chase the balls and they love being petted.”
I slumped back in the chair, feeling like I’d been run over by a train or some kind of natural disaster. Hurricane Eli had struck again, leaving chaos and confusion in his wake.
****
I finally broke down and sent him a text message a little after nine. It wasn’t so late I thought he’d be sleeping, but it was late enough that I hoped he’d be done with work.
I’m looking forward to tomorrow. I’ll let you know what time I’m free after the puppy photo shoot.
I wasn’t sure how long it would take him to respond or if he’d even see it before he went to bed, so I forced myself to keep cleaning up around the house. I told myself I wasn’t obsessively listening for the ding of a new message, but my start as the chime went off said that was a lie.
I forced myself to finish drying the plate and put it away before I went over to the counter and picked up my phone. In seconds, I had the message app open and was smiling at the phone. I could almost hear the hesitation in Casey’s text.
I’ve seen the pups on the site.
The text was carefully worded to give nothing about how he felt about it away. I couldn’t decide if it was overwhelming or just too outside of his comfort zone for him to relate to.
Most of the time they have candid photos at home with just their handlers or masters, but for this one we wanted to do a more formal shoot for the ones who were comfortable with it.
I set the phone down and went back to the dish drainer as I listened for Casey’s reply. It took several minutes, so I was imaging him staring at the phone, unsure of how to respond. When the chime finally sounded, I didn’t even bother to finish drying the bowl in my hands, I just set it aside and picked up the phone. Casey’s reply made me chuckle.
They look happy in the pictures.
That was enough of an opening that I pushed a bit in the next message.
They’re usually a lot of fun. Eli loves to throw the balls for the pups.
I gave up pretending to do dishes and just watched the phone. I could tell that Casey had read the message, but it took him several long moments to respond.
He playswith them like really throwing the ball?
I wasn’t sure exactly what he was asking, so I tried to guess as I responded.
