3. Chapter 3
Chapter 3
“Last one.” Gonzo dropped the box on the bedroom floor and glanced around the spare bedroom. Boxes of Bailey’s belongings lay strategically near the closet and the bookcase. He counted seven boxes, well eight if he included the one he’d placed on the bathroom counter. That’s it? She’d agreed to stay here for the next couple months at least, and she only needed eight boxes? His sister needed more than that for a weekend visit.
“Do you have a knife or something I can use to cut the tape?” Bailey asked.
“Yeah, one sec.” He left the bedroom, grabbed a pair of scissors from the cutting block on the kitchen counter, and made his way back to the room. He stopped at the nearest box and deftly sliced open the seam. “You opening them all?”
“May as well. There’s not that many.”
He walked up to the next box, sliced it open and continued around the room until all the boxes were open. Now what? Did he help her unpack? Was that an invasion of her privacy? Was he a dick if he didn’t help? Shit.
“Thanks. I appreciate all your help today.”
“No problem.” It wasn’t in his nature to stand and do nothing, so he crouched down and flipped the lid of the box closest to him. “Is this all books?” That seemed safe enough to unpack.
Bailey grimaced. “Maybe.”
He chuckled. “You only wanted a handful of things out of storage, and one of them was a box of books?”
“Two boxes of books,” she replied. Her cheeks flushed the cutest pink color, making her freckles more pronounced, as she glanced over at him.
She had nothing to be embarrassed about. He just couldn’t imagine needing one box of books, let alone two. “Wow, we definitely have different priorities.” He pushed the box over to the bookcase. “You want any of this stuff left on here or get rid of it all?” he asked, pointing to the knickknacks and book stacks his decorator had artfully displayed on the shelves.
“Umm, maybe see how much space my books take up and you can leave whatever fits.”
“Alright.” Flipping open the lid, he pushed the flaps down so he could start emptying the box. He picked up a textbook and eyed the title. Introduction to Sociology . Made sense since she was a sociology professor.
He scooped up a handful of books and placed them on the bottom shelf next to the textbook. His gaze snared on the next book in the box. Algorithms of Oppression . Geez, nothing like a little light reading.
Growing up, Bailey had always been the brain and he’d been the jock. She’d helped him with school and he’d kept her from being a social pariah. As odd as it was, their friendship had just worked.
He was well aware of the fact that he’d gotten more out of their friendship than she had. If it hadn’t been for her, he wouldn’t have graduated high school and he sure as hell wouldn’t have made it through university. Without Bailey, he never would have figured out he had dyslexia. And that diagnosis had made all the difference for him. Suddenly, he wasn’t just some dumb jock. But as he eyed her reading material, he sure felt like one.
As he finished loading the books from the first box onto the shelves, he could hear Bailey in the walk-in closet hanging her clothing up on the rack. He pulled the second box of books toward himself and flipped it open. A book with a half-naked dude displayed on the cover rested on the top of the box. Interesting. He reached in and pulled out a stack of books and flipped through them. They all had half-naked men on the cover.
Hmm, not so academic, now. He picked up the book on the top of the pile and flipped to a dogeared page. The word clit jumped out at him, and his eyes widened. What the hell was this? He continued to read. Ho-ly shit.
“Busted,” he yelled. “Bailey Reynolds, you’re a perv.” He practically hooted as he looked down at the book in his hands.
Bailey poked her head out of the walk-in closet. “What?”
He couldn’t keep the glee out of his voice. “The first box was all textbooks and academic shit. But this one” — he pointed at the second box he’d pulled up beside him — “this is your lady porn.”
“I don’t have lady porn,” she mumbled.
“Oh, no?” He raised his eyebrow then cleared his throat and read. “Flattening his tongue, he made one long, slow swipe of her pussy. He swirled his tongue around her clit then sucked the hard nub into his mouth, and she bucked off the bed.”
Bailey’s eyes boggled. “Why are you reading my books?”
“Should I not be?”
She covered her mouth and giggled. “No, it’s fine. I have nothing to be ashamed of.”
“Except you like porn.”
Bailey rolled her eyes. “It’s not porn, it’s spicy romance.”
“I’ll say it’s spicy,” he mumbled. Jesus, the thing described how the guy went down on her, in detail. The passage had been way hotter than anything he’d ever read before. “One girl’s spicy is another guy’s porn, I’m just saying.”
She placed her hands on her hips and glared at him. “Are you seriously being all judgy about my choice of reading material?”
“Me? No. Fuck. Read away.” Who knew his little Bailey liked to read dirty books? In high school she’d blushed practically every time he took his shirt off and now she was reading this kind of thing. “It just surprised me, that’s all.”
“Mmm-hmm,” she mumbled. She turned on her heel and headed back to the closet. “You can borrow it if you want,” she called over her shoulder.
He eyed the book. Even though he’d learned a bunch of tricks to make reading easier, he still didn’t really love to read. Having to make the effort for something that came so easily to everyone else still made him feel stupid. “Any chance they have an audiobook, because I could definitely get behind that.”
Bailey popped her head out of the closet and glanced at the book in his hand. “That one doesn’t, no. But that one does.” She pointed to the pile of books sitting beside his leg.
“I’ll keep it in mind.”
She ducked back into the closet, and he pulled out the next handful of books. As he held the books, he looked back into the box. His gaze landed on a long wooden box. He was just lifting the lid of the wooden box when Bailey whipped out of the closet like the room was on fire. “Don’t open that,” she yelled.
Too late, he’d already lifted the lid. And there was no way he couldn’t look. Jesus. Bailey had a box of sex toys. His head snapped up as Bailey dove across the room. Her palm crashed against the lid before she ripped it out of his hands and held it against her chest.
Bailey closed her eyes. Her normally freckly white skin turned as red as her hair. “Please tell me you didn’t see what was inside the box.”
“What? You mean your little erotic toy box? Nope, didn’t see a thing.”
She shoved the box in the bedside table and stood with her back to him.
“That’s where I’d keep it, too,” he added helpfully.
“Oh my god, shut up,” she groaned.
“What? I saw your books. Of course, you need a little wank while you’re reading,” he teased.
She flopped onto the mattress and covered her face with her hands.
Shit. He pushed himself off the floor. Was she really upset he’d found her sex toys?
Her shoulders started to shake, then Bailey made the most unladylike snort he’d ever heard. She slapped her hand over her mouth and continued to giggle.
With a laugh, he dropped onto the mattress beside her and slung his arm over her shoulder. “Bailey, Bailey, Bailey,” he chanted.
She glanced over at him, tears streaming down her face because she was laughing so hard.
He squeezed her shoulder, pulling her body against his side as he did. “I’ve never been more proud of you.”
Bailey threw her head back and barked out a laugh. “You are the only person I know who’d be proud of me for having sex toys.”
He grinned back at her. “With the shit you gave me in high school about wanking, how could I not be thrilled that you finally admit to doing it?”
“I didn’t use to do it.” She laughed.
“You didn’t sell that story back then and now that I’ve seen all this, you sure as shit aren’t selling it now.” He eyed the bedside table. “So you gonna let me properly look in the box?” he asked and wiggled his eyebrows up and down.
“Nope.” Bailey giggled, then dropped her head against his shoulder. “God, Gonzo, I’ve missed you so much.”
He pressed a kiss against the top of her head. “I’ve missed you too, Bay.” He took a deep breath. This felt nice. Too nice. It was Bailey. He cleared his throat. “What about now?”
Bailey shoved into his shoulder with hers as she sat up. “No. A girl’s got to keep some secrets.”
“Yeah, that ship has sailed,” he snickered.
Her tooth dug into her bottom lip as she glanced over at him. “You really don’t think it’s weird I have a box of sex stuff?”
“I think it’s fucking outstanding.” That was kind of the problem. He wasn’t supposed to think about Bailey and sex at the same time. He’d worked hard to keep them separate in his mind. Now he couldn’t.
“Really?” She seemed so unsure when she looked back at him.
“Of course. Why wouldn’t I?”
She worked her tooth into her bottom lip so hard he was worried she was going to break the skin. “Bay?” he pressed.
“Brad just thought it was wrong to have toys when I had him. It pissed him off when he found out I had them.”
Gonzo snorted. “What a dick.” He looked over at Bailey. It pulled at him how she suddenly looked so unsure of herself. “I’m just gonna throw it out there that any guy who’s confident about what he brings to the bedroom doesn’t need to be jealous of a toy.”
“Mmm, maybe,” she mumbled.
“Not maybe. I’d love it if a girl I was fucking wanted to bring in some toys.”
“Really?”
“Fuck yeah.”
Bailey licked her lips and suddenly he was painfully aware of how close they were sitting and how close that box of toys was to him. He cleared his throat, then pushed off the mattress. “I’m getting hungry. You want to order pizza?”
She watched him for a second. “Umm, yeah sure.”
“Cool.” His head bobbed up and down like a freakin’ bobble head. He clenched his jaw and forced his head to stay still. “What kind do you want?”
“I’m good with anything but ham.”
“Still don’t like it, huh?”
“No, it’s a weird texture.” She scrunched up her face. “Blech.”
“Got it, no ham.” Needing some space, he walked toward the door.
“Thanks for all your help with everything.”
He rapped his knuckles against the doorframe twice. “No problem.” Once in the hallway, he paused. What the hell was that? Bailey was his friend. She needed a place to stay. He didn’t know why she’d broken up with Brad, but it was clear she was feeling vulnerable, and he wasn’t going to be some dickhead who took advantage of that. It would be fine. He’d always managed to keep it in his pants with Bailey before. This wasn’t any different. His dick twitched as he thought about using the toys on Bailey. Except it was. Fuck.