Page 18 of Starry Skies, Stolen Kisses, and My Best Friend's Brother

Dad heads home first, and then I invite them all to my place for drinks after dinner.I don’t want to miss out on this anymore.

By the time I get out of the shower, I hear noise down in my kitchen and living room.

As much as I want to put a button-up shirt on, I resist.I put on my watch though and then throw on a pair of joggers and a t-shirt and head downstairs.

The living room is full of laughter.Abi, Mae, Mark, and Noah have squished onto the couch.Levi stands against the wall, looking grumpy.Ethan and Jacob have taken the chairs, and Isaac is on the floor with a lemur on his chest.Deka is pressed up against his other side, her eyes on the lemur.She cocks her head like she has no idea what to do with that thing.

“I don’t remember inviting the monkey,” I say.

“Sissy is always invited,” Isaac mutters.Deka raises her nose to sniff, and Sissy grabs it.Deka yelps and scootches away.“And she’s a primate but not a monkey.”

Mark jumps up.“You can sit next to Mae.”

The couch isn’t made for four people, and I’m fully aware of Mae’s thigh pressed against mine.The jasmine scent of her hair makes me want to bury my face in it, but I rest my arm along the back of the couch.She snuggles into me.

It’s a good thing we’re in a roomful of people.

“How are things going?”Isaac asks.“Is your plan really going to work?Because if it’s not, I need to start finding new homes for the animals ASAP.”

“Well, in two days, Mae has already booked five of the twenty spots, so I’d say we’re off to a good start.I haven’t even reached out to my contacts yet.”

Levi runs a hand along his thick beard.“I still can’t believe people are willing to pay so much.”

“To be fair, they’re paying half price for the first weekend.We’ll even be giving away a few spots.We want the publicity.”

“That’s still an obscene amount of money.”He frowns.

“It’s not really.You’ll have to get used to some entitled people though.Some aren’t that way, but some are, and we’ll need to be nice to them all.”My friends and I have stayed at some pretty swanky resorts.Most of the other vacationers are nice and friendly, but there’s always one jerk who thinks the whole place is there to wait on him and him alone.

“I’m glad I’m just the handyman.I don’t have to deal with them.”

I snort.“You’ll see more of them than you think.The place will be perfect, and they’ll find something wrong, and you’ll have to fix an imaginary problem.And smile about it.”I give him a big, exaggerated grin.

He gives me a skeptical look back.They have no idea what’s in store for them.

“They’ll probably want to see the animals, huh?”Isaac asks.

“That’s a good idea actually.We can offer up close and personal wild animal encounters.I don’t think we’ll use that in any marketing yet.But it will be a nice surprise for the guests.”

Sissy turns around on Isaac’s stomach and then launches herself onto Deka’s back.Deka stands straight up, snapping and growling at Sissy.Both Isaac and I leap up and rush for the animals.Sissy lands on the floor and screeches like a scared cat.Deka’s hackles rise, and she growls at Sissy.

I grab her collar and shove her outside while Isaac gets a hold of Sissy.

I shut the door, and everyone starts laughing.

“No more monkeys in my house,” I say.

SIX

Mae

Working with Seth is hard because I’m distracted by daily fantasies.Especially when we’re alone in the conference room 99% of the time.The insane draw I have to him is crazy, and every time I see him, I want to climb into his lap and kiss him.I’ve never felt this way about any other guy before, but I shouldn’t be surprised, considering the crush I’ve had on him for years.

What I am surprised about is how he behaves toward me.Our texts have gotten increasingly flirtatious, but in person, he never acts like he sees me as anything but a coworker.

He’s sitting across from me, absorbed in his computer.It’s been a good week, and now we’ve filled nearly half the spots for the hideaway weekend.I’ve spent the last hour chatting with a YouTube singing sensation.She’s very, very good at what she does, and she’s got a bazillion followers, but based on how long our conversation goes, it seems like she’s pretty lonely.She’s already booked for our hideaway weekend, and she reached out to ask a few questions about the vegan and gluten-free food accommodations.After I assured her that we would be able to work around that, she just kept talking.And now I know everything I never wanted to know about her mom and her dog, her only true friends.It makes me grateful for my own close relationships even though they are not many.Abi, Seth, and Terry.I used to be able to count my friends at SETI, but I haven’t been able to see any of them in a while because I collapse into bed every night.But one of these days, I’m going to visit them and hopefully make a regular gig out of it.

Deka lies at my feet.She seems to like me more these days than she does Seth, but that might be because I play with her when I get bored.

---