his breath.
“Quiet today,” Shaun said. “The weekend’s pretty much full, so we’ll have some traffic tomorrow, though.”
“How’s the computer?”
“Pristine.” Shaun smiled. “The only problem is that I get things done so much faster that I’m left with downtime. If Gran had been home when I called to tell her I’m staying over, I probably would’ve stayed on the phone with her to just kill some time. And this desk is the cleanest it’s ever been, I swear.”
Con chuckled. “I won’t tell the boss man. He’d probably want you to start cleaning the pool too.”
He’d probably be doing that some anyway if he took the promotion, but Con didn’t know that. “I should probably get better at that whole swimming thing first.”
“Good point.” Con grinned. “I’m going to head to town, stop by a window or something to pick up dinner. I’d love to bring you something too. Whatever you want, provided they sell it in Commerce.”
Shaun knew he had chicken noodle soup on offer, but his stomach was lobbying for something a little more substantial. “That would be awesome. Maybe a chicken sandwich and fries?”
“And sweet tea?” Con leaned in, and Shaun got a whiff of his skin under the soap. His skin prickled with goose bumps.
“Always.” His voice came out rough, and as Con smiled slowly, Shaun’s breath came rougher too.
“Your wish is my command.” Con pushed away from the counter, not breaking eye contact until he had to. “Back in a few,” he said, and he was gone, leaving Shaun’s heart pounding and his body on high alert.
Jesus , he thought. Con should be registered as a deadly weapon. “Deadly to me, at least,” he muttered before trying to shake off the haze of arousal.
He remembered the soup again, so he reached for his phone to text Cory, glad to have something to do.
Hey, Con’s headed to Commerce to pick up some dinner. Rain check on the soup?
No problem. There’s plenty, so you can totally have some for lunch tomorrow if you want. Enjoy your date!
Shaun snorted. I don’t think takeout eaten over the lobby counter counts as a date. Or at least it shouldn’t!
Good point. Tell that one I said he needs to wine and dine you before he 69s you!
“Oh yeah, that’s gonna happen.” Shaun tucked his phone away and turned back to the computer. There had to be some folders that needed reorganizing or something else to distract him until Con got back.
Chapter NINE
“DAMN, THESE fries are good.”
Shaun nodded, his mouth too full to talk. Con had returned with dinner from a local place—giant fried chicken sandwiches and two huge bags of crinkle-cut fries dusted with seasoned salt, along with vat-sized cups of strong, sweet tea. Shaun didn’t care how good Cory’s chicken noodle soup might be; it wouldn’t have measured up. Not tonight, anyway.
Once they’d polished off half their dinners, they slowed down enough for conversation. “I have to head back to Nashville over the weekend,” Con said, dragging a fry through the mound of ketchup he’d squeezed onto one side of his sandwich wrapper. “Prep work for the last installation contract I’m doing up there. I’ll have to go back up next week to do most of the work.”
Shaun tried to ignore the pang that went through him at the idea of Con not being around. “When will you be moving to Atlanta for good?”
Con shrugged and swallowed his fry. “My lease runs through the end of next month, so as soon as I finish this installation, I’ll start looking for a place.” He picked up his sandwich. “Maybe I’ll take you along as my property-search wingman. You can keep me from ending up with bad neighbors or getting ripped off for rent.”
Shaun snorted. “I live with my grandmother, man. I don’t know from rentals.”
“Then maybe I’ll just bring you along because I like your company.”
Con winked as he bit into his sandwich, and pleasure curled in Shaun’s belly at Con’s admission. Con
Cheryl Kaye Tardif
Thorarinn Gunnarsson
C. J. Cherryh
Dorothy Salisbury Davis
Charles Tang
Susan Coolidge
June Whyte
Catherine R. Daly
Karen Cantwell
Jonathan Braham