Behind me on the desk the computer made a sad beeping noise for the fourth time already that morning as the screen went black. “Fucker,” I growled.
I tapped aggressively at the keys until the desktop lit back up and the coding window opened for me to work in. Then starting from scratch, entering several lines of letters and symbols, I worked until my phone vibrated with Ophelia’s name and I abandoned everything to pick it up again.
About ten seconds later Mateo pushed through the front door of the storefront with a tray of coffees and caught me leaning against the table staring at my phone.
I was supposed to be downloading software onto the main server in the lobby, but every few minutes I would get distracted by my cell going off and get timed out by the airtight system Mateo insisted we install for our clients.
He was meticulous about his business, and I hated that I didn’t care more. I did my job well, that wasn’t the problem. But tending to computer viruses and monitoring firewalls was the single most fucking tedious day job I could have ever agreed to. Up until recently though, I didn’t have much of a choice.
When shit changed for me and I couldn’t fly anymore, I was lucky to make it out of bed in the old apartment before three p.m., let alone make it to a job. I was living in a den of self-pity, cashing disability checks and spending it all on booze, shutting everyone important to me out of my life—then watching all those relationships crumble. The last straw for Mateo was when he found me surrounded by a case of empty cans of Bud Heavy, passed out on the living room couch on my fucking birthday after I’d missed my own surprise party.
The next day, he was in my bedroom with a dustpan and a spray bottle of Windex, rattling off something about starting a company and getting my shit together before he called my mother and made her drive out to kick my ass herself.
The last thing I needed was my mom finding out the pathetic state her only son was in. My entire life I’d been the rock for our family, always showing up when they needed me, paying the bills, fixing the problems. I vetted every Tom, Dick, and Harry that Adriana befriended in high school, haggled with car salesmen when the Corolla shit the bed and Mom needed a new ride. The whole reason I joined the military in the first place was to secure benefits and start getting paid good money. Not that grocery store minimum wage I was making before I turned eighteen. The Army was going to pay me while I served, pay for me to go to college, pay me to fucking live somewhere—and every extra cent got wired to my mom’s account back home.
That was taking care of them. That’s what my father would have done.
So Mateo mentioning my mother got me out of bed.
Within a week, the two of us had put an offer in on the house, filed for a business permit, and started looking for clients for TechOps.
“What did I tell you, Pike?”
I shrugged and grabbed my drink out of the cardboard carrier. “Not to shave my balls with your razor?”
“Very funny,” he said sarcastically. “Yes. But no.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Want to guess what my girlfriend just called to tell me?”
I had an idea. If Tally and O were as close as I thought they were, my best friend’s girlfriend probably had exact measurements on my dick by then.
“That they’re going to the spa today?”
He made a lewd gesture with his right hand. “That you finger fucked her best friend in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.”
I coughed. “Fuck, man, you are dramatic.” There were very few people working in the cubicles along the wall, but Mateo’s voice carried. I looked around and smiled at the turning heads. “What’s the issue here?”
“The issue is that you even know where the girls are gonna be today without me having to tell you. There’s casual hooking up, and then the type of shit you do where you’re texting good morning and running her errands.”
“It’s just a few things to make cookies,” I rationalized.
Mateo paused with his coffee halfway to his mouth. “See? This is what I’m talking about. That was a joke, and you just fucking proved it.”
“The only thing you said to me was not to get attached. If buying some flour and chocolate chips means getting attached to you, you’re just as much of a pussy as you think I am.”
“Hey, watch your mouth,” he reprimanded me. “There’s people working here.”
The truth was—yes. Obviously I was feeling something more for Ophelia, but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle. What she was giving me was the missing piece of all the other women I’d tried to get to know lately. An actual fucking pulse. I was being reactive to that. A beautiful, intelligent woman with a good head on her shoulders and a mutual attraction—of course I wanted to hop into bed with her.
I understood that our situation was complicated. Vanessa was the only woman I’d been with in the last ten years, and Ophelia had made it clear she was dating to settle down. But we were both stuck in a pocket of time where happenstance overran circumstance.
She wasn’t going to find a forever guy in Coconut Creek, and I wasn’t ready for anything to get serious. So why not make the most of one another while we could?
“We’re just having a little bit of fun,” I assured Mateo. “You’re the one constantly preaching to me about getting back out there. Now the minute I do you’re giving me shit about it.”
“No, I want this for you, Pike. I want you to find someone.” He put a hand on my shoulder. “If she lived here, man, I would be poking holes in the condoms.”
“You’re a sick fuck.” I shook my head. Knowing him, he probably wasn’t even joking.
“Listen, if you really think you can keep it casual”—he shrugged—“then I fucking hope you prove me wrong. My girlfriend seems to think Ophelia needs the release, too.”
After the previous night, I didn’t think you could pry me away from that girl with a crowbar.
I wanted her. Plain and simple.
I wanted to feel her again, and hear her again. The way Ophelia’s entire body reacted to me was one of the sexiest things I’d ever fucking seen. And we’d barely even scratched the surface.
It could have been the years’ long dry spell, but just touching her between those thick, perfect thighs gave my dick ideas. Ideas I needed to see through before the next two-and-a-half weeks were up. I’d always been a vocal lay, but even some of the shit I was saying to her in the heat of the moment shocked me. It was like a primal flip had switched.
From the minute I stepped foot on that plane I was down for Ophelia, and I was damn near positive that she felt the way I did. It was a perfect opportunity to help each other out. As long as we didn’t let it get too far and mutually agreed to put it behind us after the new year, nobody was getting their feelings involved.
“I appreciate how much you care about me, Cap.” I smirked at him. “I think we both realize it’s gotta be casual. I promise you, if things go south, I’ll be the first to admit that you told me so.” Just then the computer behind me timed out again, making that beeping sound of agony. “You gotta be fucking kidding me.”