Page 39 of Eye Candy

I nodded. “Very Don Draper.”

He grimaced. “A philandering alcoholic. Not what I was going for.”

I bit back a grin. “Let me introduce you to my friend.” I tappedLyssa’s arm to get her attention, and she looked up from her face on the screen.

Her eyes widened comically at the sight of Chase up close. “Wow. Hello. You look like what happens when we put the glasses on the Calvin models and make them hold a book they’ve never read. Except you’re shorter than a model.”

“Very astute,” he replied dryly.

“Oh, that’s not a bad thing. This is the era of short kings.”

Chase didn’t seem bothered by Lyssa’s freight-train energy, or her pointing out that he wasn’t especially tall. I liked that his masculinity wasn’t fragile, tied up in meaningless things. That he was secure in himself was a good sign of what he would be like in bed. Or out of it, as the situation warranted.

The memory of our antics at Lueur sprang to mind.

To distract myself, I pointed at the framed drawings on his walls. “Explain your art.”

His ears pinkened. “They’re Dungeons and Dragons characters. The kids at Roll for It, the games hall Xan runs”—he pointed out an African American man in the lounge who looked like he’d just stepped off a runway—“drew them.”

“That’s your business partner? Are you sure he’s not a movie star?”

Chase grinned. “He gets that a lot. I met Xan at a fundraising event a few years ago. He made a lot of money in tech but quit to pursue his true love, Dungeons and Dragons. We hit it off and opened Roll for It, a games shop downtown where kids can come and play. Xan runs the games and stocks all the dice—way too many dice—and I do the accounts and try not to get in the way.”

“What’s that drawing?” I pointed at one.

“That’s Leon’s Dragonborn Rogue. He draws it every year, and I put the newest on the top. There are four drawings in that frame. He’s getting really good at talons.”

I wanted to lick this man from head to toe, and then curl up in his arms and hope his goodness could rub off on me. Also his badness.

Yes, I particularly wanted his badness rubbing all over me. When he came, it would be with a hoarse shout, and I’d tease him that he hadn’t lasted very long—just so he’d reprimand me for being a brat.

I was staring at Chase and all but licking my lips. He could see the direction my thoughts had gone in, and there was an answering flare of hunger in his mismatched eyes. Not even kids’ objectively-terrible drawings could cool the heat between us.

I wondered if he knew, like I did, that this feeling wouldn’t go away until we gave into it.

The bartender, Buzz, leaned over the counter then, interrupting our eye fucking.

“The Hulk over there is drunk and getting drunker.” They nodded at Joe, who was over by the fire escape next to a curvy woman crooning to a spiky succulent. His gooey posture confirmed Buzz’s assessment.

Chase sighed. “Damn. Can you water his drinks down, Buzz?”

“I have been. It’s not helping.”

Noticing us watching, Joe grasped his companion’s chin and pulled her in for a deep kiss that went on and on. And on. I was no prude but even I had to look away. Lyssa, whowasa prude, squeaked and went back to her phone—but she angled her front camera so she could still watch them. Perve.

Without breaking the kiss, Joe flipped his middle finger to Chase, who made a disapproving sound in his chest.

Now wasn’t the time, but that sound turned me on. I wanted Chase to make that sound for me.

Mother Marlene Dietrich,I had it bad.

Joe separated from his girl and turned his face just in time to let out a huge belch. “Woah. There are those meatballs again,” he said. “Meatballs the sequel. Meatballs 2.0. Too Meat, Too Ba—” He only stopped because he lost his footing and slid down the wall a bit.

“I have to talk to him.” Chase pushed away from the breakfast bar.

“Now?” But he was already gone.

In Woodville, the first sign a party was about to take a turn for the worse was when glasses were smashed. The second was when drunk men progressed from opening beer bottles with the edge of a table (appropriate, useful) to levering them between their teeth (concerning, unnecessary).

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