Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 101168 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 506(@200wpm)___ 405(@250wpm)___ 337(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101168 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 506(@200wpm)___ 405(@250wpm)___ 337(@300wpm)
“You’re…” Edgar began, but he seemed unable to finish the sentence. He trailed off and began tracing patterns on Jamie’s skin.
Jamie grabbed a handful of his hair. They didn’t pull, just squeezed, and Edgar’s eyes fluttered. He squirmed. Finally, he looked at Jamie.
“I’m?” Jamie prompted.
“You’re very hot,” Edgar said.
“You’re very hot too,” Jamie said. “We’re not gonna go any farther tonight. Just kissing.”
Edgar bit his lip. “Thanks.”
“You have permission to keep grabbing my ass though,” they added with a grin.
In one effortless movement, Edgar switched their positions, pulling Jamie onto his chest so his large hand could cup Jamie’s ass.
“Good to know,” Edgar said, and Jamie laughed.
“Your enthusiasm is appreciated by my ass.”
“Your ass is appreciated by my…uh…enthusiasm?”
“Is that what the kids are calling it these days?”
Edgar kissed Jamie’s lips gently, sweetly.
“Hey, can you reach my phone?” he asked.
Jamie contorted themself to snag the phone from the windowsill where Edgar had plugged it in.
“Checking the weather?” they asked. The storm seemed to have quieted a bit. Or maybe they’d just been too distracted by Edgar to notice it.
Edgar shook his head. Jamie traced Edgar’s ribs, the planes of muscle smooth between each curve of bone. Edgar balanced his phone on his stomach and tapped the screen, revealing something pixelated and dark.
“What am I looking at?”
“You’ll see.”
Edgar tapped a settings panel and then something that looked like a switch, and the image onscreen brightened and resolved.
“Oh. My. God. Is that…?”
“Yup.”
Edgar settled back, and Jamie snuggled closer. Edgar’s phone was showing a streaming video of the interior of the cat café. He’d just turned on a light from his phone, and the cats were clearly visible. Some snoozed, some played, and one ran directly into the wall.
“Oh, Basket, get it together,” Edgar mumbled.
“You tap into the security camera and watch the cats? That’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard.”
“Oh, well. Um. Not exactly. I installed the camera. So I could watch them. And a smart plug so I could turn the lights on to see them better.”
Jamie blinked. Was it possible for a heart to explode from sheer adorableness? If so, theirs was currently at risk. “Gah,” was all they could manage, and they squeezed Edgar tight.
They watched the cats, and Edgar narrated the video—where this one had been found or how that one liked to spend its time. He knew them all well.
Eventually, Jamie got up to pee and put the remains of the food away. They turned off the lights as they slid back beneath the covers.
“You didn’t get to eat your cake,” Edgar murmured sleepily into Jamie’s neck. His phone lay on his stomach, a cat snoozing in the foreground, paw twitching in dreams.
“I’ll have it for breakfast,” Jamie said and kissed his cheek. They picked up Edgar’s phone and moved to put it on the side table, but Edgar caught their hand.
“Will you leave them on?”
Jamie nodded and put the phone back where Edgar could see it. They imagined him waking at night, alone and scared or sad, soothed by his friends on the screen.
They put their palm against Edgar’s chest to feel the beat of his precious heart.
***
Sometime in the night, the storm broke. When Jamie awoke, it was to the Louisiana sun peeking through the blinds, the hum of the air conditioner, and a large man spooning them from behind.
Edgar. The motel room.
In the fresh light of morning, Jamie took stock of the situation and found that they wouldn’t change a thing. Edgar’s arms were warm and heavy, his breath sweet on the back of Jamie’s neck. The bed was surprisingly comfortable for a roadside motel, and Jamie wished they were here under more romantic circumstances. But since they weren’t, they carefully extricated themself from Edgar’s arms.
After a quick shower, they slung a clean towel around their waist and went to wake Edgar. But Edgar was already up.
“Ugh, they’re still damp.” He plucked at jeans strewn over the chair, T-shirt drooping over his arm.
“They’ll dry pretty quickly in the sun.”
Edgar nodded but stared at his shirt.
Jamie crossed the room to him. “Are you okay?”
Edgar nodded again but didn’t meet their eyes.
“Weirded out?”
Edgar nodded a third time, and Jamie forced themself to let go of the dream of coupledom that had lasted the length of their shower.
“No worries,” they said, injecting their voice with a hearty dose of chipper. “The chances of us being stranded together again are vanishingly small. I won’t hold you to anything.”
Jamie squeezed Edgar’s shoulder as they walked past him to claim their own clothes. A quick, fraternal gesture to reinforce this new distance. This was fine. This was perfectly fine. Last night, Edgar was vulnerable, horny, scared. And this morning he…wasn’t. That was allowed. It was all fine.
“Hmm?”
Jamie looked up at Edgar with their friendliest smile. Their sunniest, most self-sufficient, I-don’t-require-anything-from-you-so-you-don’t-need-to-deny-me smile. Once, that had been their default expression. One that projected nonthreatening, no-strings-attached opportunity. It excluded no one and included no one, so it was inoffensive. Insulated. Safe.