Page 49 of How Not to Date a Griffin

“What if we hadn’t met on Sunday? What if all I had to go on was that teal blue tie you wore yesterday?”

“The tie, really? I’m just—”

“That fitted suit, the pants. The way you commanded that whole room of people, with your charts and graphs and numbers.”

Nolan wouldn’t have given it a second thought, would’ve thought Reid was just indulging him, if not for the length hardening against his own. “Well, that’s just—”

“You’re not just anything, Nolan,” Reid argued, leaning down to nip at his lips.

Humming into the kiss, Nolan chased after Reid when he tried to pull away, already mourning the morning they could’ve had, if not for the convention looming over their heads.

“And if I wanna have you at the conference, somewhere private, can I?”

Nolan gulped, indecently aroused by the thought, and found himself nodding.

How could he say no to Reid?

“Good,” Reid purred, and laid another kiss on his lips, light as a jewel placed upon its cushion.

Nolan groaned and, with a tap of his phone, confirmed what he already knew—they didn’t have time.

“Fine,” Reid sighed, sounding very put upon in the cutest way. “Pick me out something nice to wear.” He flopped onto his side of the bed, clearly unashamed of the tent in his boxers as he covered his eyes with a forearm. “Hurry, before I perish.”

“Well, we can’t have that, can we?” Nolan mused, and slid from the bed.

There was something thrilling about giving Reid his clothes, watching him pull the chosen shirt over his arms and buttoning it up. The short sleeves framed his biceps more deliciously than they ever would have Nolan’s, and the fine, tiny print of—

“Are these bees?” he asked, and the wonder in his voice made Nolan’s heart leap with acrobatic agility. Who needed caffeine when he could wake up with Reid?

“Yeah,” Nolan said, voice a little tight as he watched Reid fix the collar, mess with the sleeves.

“So fuckin’ cute, man.” Reid’s voice had a distinct quality to it that brought Nolan’s eyes back to his, only to find them pointedly fixed on Nolan.

Oh.

“Bees are important to the environment. I bought that shirt specifically because twenty percent of the total went to the conservation of them,” Nolan explained.

Reid continued to stare at him. “Do you have a story for every item of clothing you own?” Reid crossed the room and was right there and suddenly catching a breath was a bit harder than it had been only seconds ago.

“Well, no, that would be outrageous.”

Reid waited a beat.

“Okay, fine, maybe,” Nolan admitted.

Reid’s lips twitched, and he leaned up to pop a chaste kiss on Nolan’s, who threatened to melt under the casual affection. “Maybe you can tell me one day.”

“I’d bore you,” Nolan informed him.

“Oh, I highly doubt that,” Reid retorted. “If hearing you talk numbers made me want to drop to my knees, imagine what listening to you talk clothes would do to me.”

Nolan’s face was as bright as the pink sunrise, he was sure. “Oh,” he choked out, eloquent as ever.

Reid only smirked, pressed another kiss to his lips, and stepped back.

“You still have to put pants on,” Reid said, motioning to Nolan’s lower half. “Get distracted?”

“Watching you put on my clothes? Most definitely,” he answered, voice a little rough.