Page 45 of Flirt
He couldn’t wait to read more about Miss Dorothy or Lady Kiki. Marshall Kane in high heels for the first time had sent him into peals of laughter that had tears streaming down his cheeks. He wanted more.
Glancing over his shoulder at the clock on the microwave, he bit his lip and debated if it was too late to call Asher back. He’d said he wanted to try to write for a couple of hours, and it was only a little after nine. Cameron bit down harder on his lip. On one hand, he really wanted to call and tell Asher how much he’d loved the chapters. On the other hand, if he interrupted him, it would take longer to getmorechapters.
He snatched his phone up from the coffee table, brought up his recent calls list, and tapped Asher’s name. Clearly, he had issues with impulse-control, but he promised himself he’d only talk for a minute, maybe five.
“Hey, Cam,” Asher answered on the third ring, his voice light and filled with happiness. “Did you read it?”
“I did.”
Be cool. Be normal. Don’t be weird.
Then he immediately launched into all-out fanboy mode and spent the next fifteen minutes recounting every, single thing he loved about the book so far. Super cool. Way normal. Not even a little weird.
“It was really good,” he finished lamely.
Asher laughed, the sound rich and warm. “That’s what I like to hear. I’m glad you enjoyed it.”
“So, when do I get more?”
“I give you a little taste, and you’re already demanding more.”
The teasing tone made Cameron all shivery inside, and he gripped his phone a little tighter. “I could beta read for you,” he offered. “You know, to help you out.”
“Of course, because you’d get nothing out of it at all.”
“Hey, what can I say? I’m a nice guy, willing to sacrifice for the greater good.”
“I’ll have more chapters for you by Thursday,” Asher promised, the grin evident in his voice. “Goodnight, Cameron.”
Cameron closed his eyes and sighed, happy right down to his bones. “Goodnight, Ash.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Asher was going tolose his mind.
At the time, it had seemed like a good idea to get everything over with and out of the way as quickly as possible. In hindsight, he probably shouldn’t have scheduled deliveries and pickups witheveryoneon the same day. There had been people in out of his house all morning, and the chaos of it all was making him a little bit insane.
The people from the women’s organization arrived just half an hour before the people from the LBGTQ center. Natalie came by around noon in a black box truck to make their trade, but at least she’d brought food with her.
“I kind of fucking love you.” Dropping the paper bags onto the kitchen island, he turned and dragged her into a hard hug. “Help me,” he whispered dramatically. “You have got to get me out of here.”
She had a laugh just like Cameron’s, and while her eyes were a little darker blue, they were just as expressive when she reached up to pat his cheek. “It’s kind of overwhelming, huh?”
“You could say that.” He liked a little chaos in his life…just not in his house. It was his safe place, and currently, he felt like it had been defiled. “I really didn’t think this through.”
“Deep breaths,” she encouraged, leading him to one of the barstools. “It’ll be over soon. What’s left to do?”
“The people from the HAVN Foundation are finishing up with the furniture right now. I decided to donate the beds from three of the guestrooms along with the arcade games to the teen shelter, so there’s another truck on the way. There’s an appraiser from the auction house coming in about an hour.”
“Wow,” Natalie breathed. “When you decide to do something, you jump right in, don’t you?”
“It sounded like a good idea at the time.” Having to deal with this for days sounded so much worse than getting it all finished at once. Sort of like ripping off a Band-Aid.
“Okay.” Nodding, Natalie pulled out a deli sandwich and a carton of truffle fries. “Eat.” She pointed a finger at the food. “I’ll go check to make sure everyone is on task.”
He hadn’t spilled his guts so that she’d take over and save him. “You really don’t have to do that.”
“Eat,” she repeated, clamping down on his shoulder when he tried to stand. She was a lot stronger than she looked. “I’ve got this.”
