Page 45 of Challenge Me

“That you might be interested, I guess.” He returned his gaze to his plate and picked up a piece of the quesadilla. “My gay-dar or whatever is obviously faulty.”

I snorted a laugh. “It’s not faulty.”

“No?” He glanced sidelong at me.

“You caught me off guard,” I admitted. “It was abrupt. Seriously, how many guys have you picked up like that?”

He looked away, and I felt the urge to turn his face back to me, but I refrained. My fingers were still shaking from earlier, plus I had no clue what was going on anymore.

“I haven’t dated any guys.”

“Yeah, I know,” I replied. “That’s sort of why this whole thing is happening.”

“No, I mean I haven’t been with any guys.”

My lips parted as his meaning set in. “So, when I damn near fisted your ass, you’d never done that before.”

There was a delicious vulnerability in his eyes when he looked at me. “No.”

“Holy hellfire.”

His face softened with his laugh. “You’re odd. You know that, right?”

“Of course. Wait.” I cocked my head. “What exactly do you think I was doing in the shower?”

“Jerking off,” he replied matter-of-factly.

I snorted as I leaned back in my chair. “You think your kiss got me so hot and bothered that I had to go take care of myself?”

“You did try to grab my dick.”

“And I don’t run off and pout when I’m rejected, so tone down the ego, baseball man.”

“Why’d you run off, then?”

I reached across him to grab the glass of wine that he’d put on his table. After taking a small sip, I set it next to my plate. “You should work on your game, Amir.”

“Yeah, probably.”

“So, work on it.”

“That’s hard when we’re dating. I can’t exactly go out and pick someone up.”

With my feet flat on the lounger, I leaned my elbows on my knees and tipped my head to look at him. “You can pick me up. We’re dating, after all.”

“Except not.”

“We can pretend, even when no one is looking. I’ll stay put this time.”

His lips turned down. “Why are you so hard to figure out?”

The question made my eyes dart away from him. “I suppose that depends what your expectations are.”

“I’m trying not to have any.”

“Your intentions, then.”

When he was silent, I looked at him as he stared out at the city. I took the moment to study the angles of his face. The setting sun made his skin a warmer bronze, turning his body into the Sahara, with its gentle slopes and old-world beauty.