Chapter 19
NINETEEN
REX
When he was asleep, Perry was an immovable object.
He also had to have been an octopus in a former life because even serving as little spoon, he’d managed to restrain me.
One arm was trapped underneath him and the circulation had been cut off for long enough to make my hand pound and tingle when I managed to move a little and let the blood flow again.
After he’d rocked my world—as promised—I’d taken him into the shower. Our kisses had taken on a dreamy quality by then. Our immediate thirst for each other had been slaked, allowing us to enjoy getting to know each other in a different way.
I washed him from head to toe, and the whole time Perry looked at me with an indecipherable expression. I had to remember that he might have a lot more experience with sex, but when it came to other forms of intimacy, he’d been less fortunate.
During the night, I’d left the door open and now Danish was curled up on the bed at Perry’s feet. His tail quietly thumped on the bedding and then, sensing I was awake, he made his way up the bed, poking at me with his nose, a sure sign that he wanted to be let outside.
When I tried to move, Perry protested with a sleepy grumble. I brushed a kiss against his cheek as I extracted myself from his hold.
“I have to let Danish out.”
Perry grumbled again, and I had to stop myself from ignoring Danish and climbing back in bed to hold him some more. He was too adorable for words. Was it creepy to watch someone sleep? I wasn’t sure as I’d never had that particular urge before now.
It was something I pondered while I let Donut out into the back yard.
Now that I was awake, I fed the cats and changed out their water for fresh.
By the time I’d dealt with everything, I was wide awake with no hope of going back to sleep, but I got back into bed anyway and attempted to read a book.
Concentrating proved impossible, however, with Perry sleeping next to me.
He’d rolled over and curled against my side like the world’s cuddliest heat-seeking missile.
It wasn’t the cats walking over top of him, or Danish coming to inspect the new bedmate, or even me that woke him up.
Before we’d turned in, Perry had plugged his phone in to charge, letting it rest on the nightstand on his side of the bed.
It came to life and Perry’s brow wrinkled at the sound. Then he let out a groan.
“I forgot to turn my alarm off,” he mumbled, his voice thick with sleep. He rolled over and silenced his alarm, then rolled right back into his former position. “Today is a gym day, but I’d like to say that last night was good enough exercise and skip going today.”
“You’re adorable when you’re sleepy. I take it you’re not a morning person.”
“I like sleep. Sleep likes me too. We have a good relationship, but silly things like work always interfere.” Perry stretched and instead of getting up, he burrowed closer, wrapping his arm around my waist.
“What’s your usual routine on a gym day? Do you roll out of bed and go right over? Do you have breakfast first?”
“Food. Gym. Shower. More food.”
“Well, I wouldn’t want to intrude on your workout, so how about we do food and I can go check in on things at the clinic while you take care of gym and shower and we can meet up after for more food.
” God, I was so clingy. This was already the date that never ended, and here I was making plans to spend the day with him.
“Intrude?” Perry made himself sit up. “Seeing you all sweaty would hardly classify as an intrusion.”
“Are you inviting me to work out with you?”
Perry shrugged. “I mean it’s a gym, not a secret society. I can get you in on a guest pass.”
“A secret society?”
Perry laughed. “I was obsessed with them when I was a teenager. The Knights Templar. The Knights of Pythias. The Seven Society. The Illuminati. The Freemasons. You know, the usual suspects. I know it was a weird thing to be interested in.”
“I hate to break it to you, Perry, but that’s hardly weird at all.
You were just made to feel that way by boring people who didn’t want to engage about something they weren’t interested in.
When I was a teen,” I continued, brushing a strand of hair off his forehead, “my special interest was studying animal anatomy textbooks because I knew I was going to be a vet. I’d study them and try to memorize everything I could and to test myself, I sometimes made very bad sketches of the anatomy from memory, just to see how much knowledge I retained. ”
Some of Perry’s self-consciousness faded, and he looked more relaxed. He even managed a smile. “We’re a couple of nerds, you know that, right?”
“I see no problem with that. What got you interested in secret societies?”
Perry’s gaze darted away and he shrugged. He curled in on himself, shoulders rounding as if he was trying to protect himself.
“They just sounded cool, you know. The opposite of me, basically.” He flopped over and draped an arm over his face. Donut made an appearance and tried to stick his nose under Perry’s arm, which made him laugh and seemed to ease some of his tension.
“I don’t want to sound all whiny,” he said.
“But I was the kid with the shit home life who was picked last for everything. A secret society sounded like a friend group that could never kick you out. I mean, some of them were arguably bad, but others were about preserving knowledge or working toward a common goal. But people fear things they don’t know about, so naturally people equate secret societies with evil.
They’re thought of as dark and Machiavellian. ”
Perry stretched and I found myself unable to look away.
He had this way about him that just drew me in.
It was an innocence in a way. This idea that he’d had every kind of physical manifestation of lust and sexual urges available to him, but he’d never been bought flowers before.
He’d had sex, but rarely did he get to bask in the afterglow.
Selfishly, I liked the idea that I was the one who got to show him a different kind of way to be intimate with someone. That I got to be the one to drag him to a shower after sex and wash him down. That I got to be the one to buy him flowers and take him out on dates.
“Let’s hit the gym,” I said, agreeing to his invitation for better or worse. “It’s been a while since I set foot in one, so go easy on me.”
Perry’s eyes lit up like I’d just handed him a gift on Christmas morning. “Really?”
“Yeah. It sounds like fun. Well, I’m on the fence about the actual gym part being fun, but I like spending time with you.”
If the eyes were the windows to the soul, then I just watched Perry’s soul melt into a puddle when I said I liked spending time with him.
His expression went all soft, starting with his eyes, that may or may not have glassed over before he quickly recovered, putting on an upbeat front to disguise the effect my words had on him.
“Then let’s go. I know a great place where we can get something before our workout. And I promise to let you set the pace.” He practically tackled me, stealing a quick kiss before bouncing out of bed. “Oh, God, we need to stop by my place first because I need proper clothes.”
When Perry was happy, he was a whirlwind of energy. A happy little tornado, spinning around from Point A to Point B. We stopped at his apartment and he was in and out in under five minutes just like he promised. His proper clothes were a pair of gray sweatpants and an old, threadbare muscle shirt.
At least, I thought that was his gym attire, but when we got to the gym after our quick breakfast, the gray sweatpants came off, revealing a pair of exceedingly short shorts.
I do not need a boner at the gym. I do not need a boner at the gym. I do not need—oh fuck, too late.
I had a boner at the gym. I forced myself to look away from Perry and that helped a bit. Even though the gym was crawling with hot guys, no one did it for me like Perry.
He seemed to sense my dilemma so he suggested we start out over on the treadmills and get a couple of miles in before moving on to other activities.
The first mile went down easy. As did the second. By the time we hit the third, Perry was barely winded, but I was nearing death. But true to his word, he slowed his treadmill to a walk and chatted at me during our cooldown walk and let me catch my breath.
When we moved over to the weights, that’s when I noticed the looks Perry got from other men. The way some of them practically salivated over him. No one approached, though. They all just looked, like vultures keeping an eye on a potential prize.
Perry had just finished setting up the weights for some deadlifts when one of the men staring at him waltzed right over.
“Look what the cat dragged in,” the stranger said.
I eyed him with curiosity. He was definitely good looking. He had that whole chiseled jaw, blue-eyed, boy-next-door thing going for him.
“You say that as if I’m the one who hasn’t been around lately.”
Perry took a small step closer to me, which made me feel like I’d just won a competition I didn’t know I’d entered.
“Quinn, this is Rex. Rex, this is Quinn.”
Quinn stuck his hand out for me to take and we shook.
Quinn had a genuine smile, one that reached his eyes and seemed to sparkle a little more when he looked at Perry.
Which made it feel like such a curveball when he opened his mouth and said, “Perry and I have worked together. Quite well, I think.”
Quinn winked at me, but before I could react, Perry spoke up.
“Quinn, can I have a word with you?”
I reached for Perry and took his hand. It trembled in mine, and I gave it a squeeze to let him know I wasn’t letting him go.
“Perry,” I said softly, then waited for him to look at me.
When he made eye contact, I gave his hand another squeeze.
“You don’t have to hide your job from me. And that includes your coworkers.”
Quinn put his hands over his heart. “Ouch. Coworker? Really, Perry. I’m wounded.”
Quinn didn’t seem at all serious and it made me think that he was one of those people who weren’t serious about anything. Ever.
“Coworker is a good way to put it.” Perry took a breath and threaded his fingers through mine. Quinn noticed our joined hands and his smile was soft and pleasant.
“Hey, man, sorry. I didn’t know you were a thing, or I’d have been a little more respectful.” Before either of us could say a word, he continued with, “Did you two meet on a shoot somewhere because, Perry, baby, you’ve been holding out on us. He’s gorgeous.”
I choked and sputtered, and Perry just put his hand on my back and started rubbing it to help me recover.
“Nope.”
“Even better,” Quinn said and he and Perry laughed at a joke that I didn’t quite get. But I didn’t have to because Perry kissed my cheek and replied, “I agree.”