Roommate Arrangement (Divorced Men's Club #1)(35)

“I’ll text you,” Lee adds.

Of course he fucking will.

We leave without so much as a goodbye, and it’s not until we climb into the back of an Uber that Beau looks at me.

“What was that?”

“What do you mean?” The question is stupid though, because we both know what he means. “Fine. I know you said you hate the small-talk part of dating, so I was trying to save you. You’re welcome.”

He hums. “I was trying to think of how to get away.”

“It’s easy. You say, ‘I’m leaving now, bye,’ and then you leave.”

Beau laughs. “It’s not that easy for me. This is what I mean. I struggle with things like that. I don’t like letting people down.”

“You’re not going to go on a date with him just because you can’t say no, are you?” Because while I might have been a dick by stepping in when I shouldn’t have, the last thing I want is Beau feeling uncomfortable.

“I should go on a date with him.”

“Right.”

“Because he seems nice.”

I snort. “That fucking word again. Nice. What an endorsement.”

“He’s hot too.”

Okay, that one I don’t like, and I shouldn’t say the thought that pops into my head, but I do. “Hotter than me?”

Thankfully, Beau laughs. “Different than you. But since you’re mentioning it, that’s exactly why I should give him a chance. Do I want to go? No. But if I don’t give anyone a chance, I’m going to end up pining after you alone, and I don’t think either of us would like that.”

That’s the reality though, isn’t it? And that’s exactly why I need to keep my nose out. It’s not up to me to decide who is good enough for Beau. “You’re right. I shouldn’t have stepped in.”

“I’m glad you did.”

“I know you are. But I shouldn’t have done it anyway.”

His phone lights up, and he tilts the screen to show me Lee’s name.

“Guy works fast.” I grunt.

“Yeah. He wants to catch up next weekend. I should do it, right?”

“It’s up to you, Bo-Bo.”

He chews on his bottom lip for a moment before nodding. “Yeah, I should.”

He’s right. I don’t like it.

“But you know what this means, don’t you?” he asks.

“Oh, yeah? What’s that?”

“You really need to get onto pointing out the dumb things I do. Fast. Because if this works out, crush gone.”

Crush gone. “And as flattering as it is, I think that’s for the best.”





14





Beau


It’s for the best.

I keep repeating Payne’s words to myself the whole day while he’s at work.

He didn’t say it to be a dick, and thankfully he isn’t treating me any differently than usual, but he also hasn’t walked in and told me he wants to bone me, so I think it’s time to acknowledge that is solidly off the table.

Now I need to convince all of me of that.

Because my dick disagrees in a big way and is determined to harden the fuck up every time Payne walks into a room. Because lucky me, suddenly my body is on normal people time, which means seeing him in the morning wearing those tight shorts and the polo for Ford’s Garage, and then again all afternoon while we eat dinner together and settle in front of the TV for the night.

I thought for sure Payne would come up with every excuse under the sun to avoid me, but so far, he’s doing the opposite. Like he enjoys my company, but that can’t be right.

He’s also taken my book like he said he would. That bare space on my shelf is haunting me, and I want to ask him what he thinks, but I also really, really don’t.

It’s one thing to have a bad review by some random person on the internet; it’s another to have the guy you’re pining for think your life’s work is trash.

I’m still making progress on the next book, but it’s frustratingly slow. I know I can be done by the deadline if my muse hits, but struggling with a few hundred words a day is painful.

So instead of working on what I should be working on, I open another file and smash out a few thousand words on betrayal and heartbreak without a second thought. It’s a waste of a few hours though, so I reluctantly close the window I’m working in and turn back to my book.

Maybe if I skip this part and write a scene I’m excited to write, that might help?

A sword fight, maybe?

My hero, Jaciel, is one of the best, and I include at least one sword fight with Tombra in each book. They’re usually my favorite scenes to write because the antagonism brings it alive. They might be fighting with the intent to kill the other person, but the way Tombra plays with Jaciel is a fun dynamic.

They’re also scenes that take forever to write because logistically it’s a balance between making sure it works and writing it in a way where it’s not bogged down with details but shows just enough.

I plan it out, research the steps, then jot out on paper the beats I want to hit. Now, to make sure they’ll work.

I’m nothing if not thorough. When I have a scene where there are a lot of steps, I like to walk through them. I grab the umbrella I have next to my desk specifically for this purpose—buying an actual sword seemed excessive—and walk through it.