Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
Reginald
Josey smiled at me, the flush on his cheeks matching the shock of pink on his head. His kiss-swollen mouth pulled into a smile, and he looked at the menu for no longer than five seconds before turning his attention back to me.
“You pick for me,” he said, chewing on his bottom lip until I tugged it free of his teeth.
I ordered a salmon bagel for each of us, and Josey slipped his hand back into mine while we waited for them to be made.
For a moment, we both stood there quietly, staring down at our joined hands.
His fingers were shorter than mine, a few hangnails, but still perfect as far as I was concerned, and that wasn’t just me speaking as someone who’d been alone for a very long time.
Josey was really attractive, and the more time we spent together, the harder it was for me to not picture him naked.
“So.” Josey cleared his throat. “What do you do for work?”
“I’m a lawyer,” I said. “Partner at my firm.”
He let out a low whistle. “You weren’t kidding about not having time for anything besides work.”
I smiled and shook my head.
“And you said your real name is Rainwater?”
“Yeah. Yes.”
“What’s Claire’s real name?” he asked.
I chuckled at the question. “You’ll be disappointed to know Claire is Claire Marie. Our father lost a bet shortly before I was born, and that’s pretty much all I know about how I ended up being called Rainwater.”
“But Reginald as a middle name?” He tilted his head to the side, eyes crinkling in the corner when he smiled at me. “That’s a little old-fashioned compared to Claire.”
“Claire has actually been around since the middle ages,” I corrected.
“And Reginald?”
“Much older.”
Josey laughed at that, an honest sound that beamed out of him like sunshine. Instead of letting go of my hand to laugh at me, he pulled me closer until my arms were wrapped around his waist, and then he pressed his face against the front of my shoulder.
“I like both of your names,” he whispered. “And I like the way you smell.”
“So you said,” I murmured.
Regretfully, our bagels were ready shortly after that, which meant Josey extricated himself from my arms to go get the brown paper bag.
He was quick to take my hand again, something I liked a lot, and we walked together to a park about half a block farther down the road.
We found a weathered picnic table beneath a massive maple tree and made ourselves at home to eat.
I waited for Josey to take a bite of his sandwich before I said anything else, nervous to see his reaction.
I hoped I hadn’t hyped the place up too much.
I didn’t want him to be disappointed, even though I hadn’t even known him long enough yet for something like that to matter.
He was slow and thoughtful with the way he unwrapped his sandwich and raised it to his mouth, the careful way he maneuvered it up to his mouth to fit it all between his teeth.
His tongue slipped out, just enough for me to see, and I finally had to look away or risk getting an erection at a public park.
It was a good thing too. Because right after that, he did finally take a bite and the sound that left his mouth at first taste was absolutely sexual in nature. I screwed my eyes shut, imagining the sounds he’d make if I had his cock in my mouth, if he slid his dick into my ass.
“I have to say,” he offered, smoothing the foil wrapping on his sandwich flat, “this house is definitely the top of the list so far.”
There was something I wanted to be on top of, that was for sure.
Instead of telling him that, I took a bite of my breakfast and chewed, then swallowed. “I agree, but why?”
“The bagels are good, like you said, and this park is nice. Also walking distance.”
“I don’t normally have much time to walk anywhere,” I reminded him.
“Maybe you could start,” he suggested. “Saturday mornings or something. A little treat.”
“Maybe you could join me,” I blurted.
As soon as the words left my mouth and we both heard them, the back of my neck broke out in a cold sweat. I sat my bagel down and wiped my hands on a thin and otherwise useless napkin.
“Would you like that?” he asked.
It was a simple question.
It had a simple answer.
“I think I might,” I whispered.
“Well, it’s definitely at the top of the list now then. Do you want to even look at the rest, or should we call it a day and have your sister come open it up?”
He was so eager, and I loved that. The easy carefree way he approached everything, including this unconventional, accidental date with me was a breath of fresh air compared to the way I normally lived my life.
Maybe Claire had been right about me needing to get out more, but I’d never tell her the truth of that.
“She won’t let me off if she thinks I’ve dialed it in to get her off my back. I need at least one more house before lunch to make it believable.”
“That’s fair,” he agreed. “It’s good to have options, but I have got to be honest.”
“Please.”
Josey sucked his thumb into his mouth, working at a smear of cream cheese before he answered, “I’m too distracted to do much of anything besides think about what you look like out of those clothes.”
I exhaled sharply, my earlier hopes at not popping a boner at the park long gone. “We should hurry then.”
“Yeah.” Josey smiled at me from across the table. “We should.”