Page 35 of Phoenix

“She’s my best friend.”

Dead. I’m so dead. Why is he so perfect?

“You’re brave, doing what you do every day, and so is she.”

“Maybe you can meet her one day,” he says, with that lopsided grin.

“I think I’d really like that.”

He clears his throat and stands. “I’m going to run to the vending machine to get us a couple of waters and give you some privacy to unpack and such. You can just move my bag to the couch. I don’t mind sleeping over here, so you can have the bed.”

“That’s silly. That couch is too small for you, and this is a king-size bed. Like you said, we are adults here, we can share a bed. It’s fine.”

“As long as you’re sure, and promise not to snore.”

I react by throwing a small, blue decorative pillow at him. “Jerk.”

“Domestic violence is starting already? Not a good sign,” he teases me. “Need or want anything else from the machine?”

“No, I’m okay. Thank you.”

“I’ll be back in a few.”

I watch as he walks to the door, taking the moment to ogle him shamelessly.

He’s gone longer than I expected him to be, which is weird because the vending machine is just down the hall. I take the moment of unexpected privacy to change out of the clothes we traveled in today and into something a bit more comfortable.

I stand at the foot of the bed and strip out of my jeans and pull my shirt over my head, folding them both neatly and placing them in the bottom of my bag.

I reach behind to take off my bra so I can put on a more comfortable bralette.

As soon as the lace leaves my body, I hear the click of the door.

“The vending machine up here was out of order so I had—Holy shit!”

I gasp and cover myself. “Oh my God. Jesus, you scared me.”

“You’re uh… Naked.” He turns around to give me privacy.

“Yeah, I am. I was changing, and I guess, I didn’t think about the fact you could just come inside with your key.” I dress quickly, pulling on my pink bralette and black tank top, before shimmying into my gray leggings. “You can turn around now.”

He slowly turns around and we finally make eye contact. “One hour in and I’ve already seen you naked. Broke my own record,” he says smugly.

“For fuck’s sake.” I cover my face and plop onto the bed. “That was embarrassing.”

He sits next to me and offers me the bottle of water he just bought. “Don’t be embarrassed. It’s not necessary. You’re not the first naked woman I’ve seen. In fact, I’d say, outside of the women who take their clothes off for me, I see three naked women a week, just on the job.”

I try to ignore the women who take their clothes off for him part, and just move on to the more interesting portion of the statement. “I feel like I need to hear at least one of those stories.”

“I’ll tell you any story you want to know, but first...we lunch.”

Case

“How did I not know hot dogs could taste this good?” Nora asks, as she digs into her second dog.

It’s hard to ignore the blatant sexual innuendos that could be derived from this scenario, but as the man my mama raised me to be, I don’t mention them...out loud.

“The Varsity is the best hot dog spot in the city. Maybe even the state,” Amelia chimes in, taking a bite of her own. “I’ve never had one this good before.”

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