Page 20 of How Not to Date a Griffin

“God, yes,” Nolan agreed, cheeks flushing.

“As long as we can both fit,” Reid responded, and was already dragging Nolan across the room, toward the harsh light of the bathroom.

Reid

Some of the urgency faded beneath the harsh lights of the bathroom. It was all marble, with a huge walk-in shower, including a rainfall shower head. Reid had only seen those in movies, and he would be lying if he said he wasn’t in awe.

“So you’re like, rich-rich, huh?” he teased.

Nolan sputtered, and it pulled a soft note of amusement from Reid. He stepped forward, fingers lifting to Nolan’s shirt and sliding the first button loose. Against the counter, Nolan’s hands gripped the marble behind him, gaze intense as their eyes met.

“My father is. I’m doing alright for myself.”

Reid arched a brow at that. “If you ever did decide to tell your father how you really feel, you’d be okay?”

He didn’t know why he cared. He shouldn’t, not after only spending a few hours together. But the thought of Nolan having no one to lean on, no buffer, didn’t sit right with him. In fact, it made his chest tight, and he had the crazy urge to—

“I’ll be okay. I’ve saved enough over the years that I could make it work. Which still feels like cheating, because the only reason I’ve been able to save my own money is because I spend his, and—”

“Hey,” Reid interrupted, stilling his fingers halfway down Nolan’s chest. His skin was so warm against his fingertips, Reid couldn’t help but skim them beneath his shirt, over his ribs. “That’s perfectly alright. All that matters is that you’ll be okay.”

Nolan scoffed. “Yeah. If I ever find the courage to actually do it. Talking about it, imagining it, is so easy. But whenever I’m in front of him, the focus of his stupidly intense, disapproving lens…”

Reid slid both hands inside Nolan’s shirt, cupping his waist and holding tight.

“He makes me feel like a kid again, just waiting for Dad’s approval,” Nolan admitted with a huff. “I hate that. I hate that even after all this time, even when I know I’ll never have his approval, his opinion of me still matters.”

“I think that’s part of having a dad, man. I mean, I haven’t known mine in a long time, but sometimes I still wonder—would he think I’ve done okay?”

Nolan’s lips curled up slightly, considering they were so downturned a moment ago. His eyes were shiny under the lights as he stared at Reid, searching for something in his expression. “They don’t deserve it. Their opinion shouldn’t matter. But for the record, I think he’d be proud.”

Reid scoffed, shifting his gaze away at the compliment, at the warmth Nolan’s words stirred up. “You don’t know that. We hardly know each other. I could still be a serial killer on the side.”

“Wow, you’re a busy guy. Taxi. Restaurateur. Serial killer,” Nolan reflected, tilting his head to the side.

“Gotta pass the time somehow,” Reid retorted.

Nolan finally lifted his hands from the counter, bringing them to rest on Reid’s waist. They were mirroring each other, Nolan half-dressed.

Reid shifted his hands over the expanse of his warm skin, falling back to the buttons to remedy this tragedy.

Nolan followed his lead, palming his shoulders, pausing over the feathers there.

“They’re so soft,” Nolan noted, voice quietly devastating. Continuing his exploration, he directed his hands beneath Reid’s button up, slipping it off his arms. His breath caught as he spied the few tattoos scattered up and down Reid’s arm, fingers gliding carefully over the dark ink. Chills spread out from Nolan’s touch, and they chased their way up Reid’s spine in a shiver.

Reid pushed Nolan’s shirt off too, and then lifted his remaining tee shirt over his head. Nolan gasped softly, and when the shirt fell to the floor, Reid studied him. Nolan was pale in the way only office jobs could make you, and lean but perfectly soft around the middle. They moved at the same time, Reid curling a hand around the back of his head to pull him in for a kiss.

Their chests met, warm skin against warm skin as they chased the taste of each other. Nolan threaded a hand through Reid’s hair again, and Reid couldn’t decide if he hated that he was so transparent, but forgot what he was trying to decide as Nolan tugged and sharp, delightful pain lit up his senses.

Reid drifted his touch south, hesitating at the button of Nolan’s pants, not wanting to overwhelm. But it wasn’t Nolan that Reid should’ve been worried about, because it was in this moment that Reid… paused.

“Reid?” Nolan asked, lips brushing against his as he breathed his name.

Reid swallowed, pulled back, and let his hands fall to his side.

“What’s wrong?” Nolan’s touch ghosted up his arms.

“Not… wrong, per se. Just… something you should know?”