Page 50 of The Geek Next Door
Izzy laughed. “Walking around in the woods? Yeah, I kind of think so.”
“And seeing you work.”
He rolled his eyes as he stood up. “Admit it. The paperwork makes you horny, too.”
I stepped forward and pressed my forehead to his. “Paperwork doesn’tnotmake me horny.”
Izzy and I laughed and headed off to hike along the edge of the field. It was a long walk, and we were planning for an hour, but as we made our way slowly and held hands and sometimes stopped to kiss, we stretched it out even longer.
Not that I minded. I could watch Izzy smile while his eyes danced over the plants all day. His attention reminded me to pause and appreciate the wildlife, something my moms had first taught me to do. The plant life was like he described it: durable and strong, but also precious and needing to be preserved.
Our hands met as we rounded back toward the car. I pulled his fingers into mine and rubbed my thumb across his knuckles. The countryside was so quiet. My thoughts were clearer than usual, like they were ringing out.
And then, birds darting through the sky, it hit me.
I was in love with Izzy. Not falling in love with him. This was love, all the way through.
That was the reason everything was so easy with him. It was the reason we could walk here through the fields, and explore my embarrassing sex stuff, and why I could bring him around my friends and family.
Whatever we were doing, it was fine because we were doing it together.
I squeezed his hand. The thought filled me, and I almost just blurted it out right then.
Tapping the clipboard on my hip, I pulled myself together. I wanted to think about this before I went and told him how I was feeling.
It was almost shocking, actually. Or it would have been, if it had been anyone but Izzy. I’d never truly fallen in love before, not even when I gave a tiny piece of my heart away in college. And while it always felt nice to be romantic with dates, those brief relationships never blossomed into anything bigger.
But with Izzy, the feelings just kept growing. Being with him just felt better every day, even though it already felt ridiculously good.
“Do you want to navigate us to the lake while I drive?” Izzy asked. “Jo should be getting there soon.”
“Sure,” I answered and unlocked my phone while I handed it to him. “Just type in the address.”
“Ohhh,” Izzy cooed as he took the phone. “Looks like the cute hiking pictures are a hit. You’re already pushing two hundred likes.”
I blinked, surprised. “I’m sure Leo will be pleased. I never get that kind of engagement.”
Izzy’s face fell. All the color went out of his cheeks, and his shoulders tensed as he stared at the phone. “Oh my god. Oh my god. Kai, oh my god. I don’t know what happened. I almost tripped when I was posting the picture, and then…”
I arched an eyebrow at him. He was bouncing from side to side, as anxious as I’d ever seen him. “What? You remember I don’t really care about social media, right?”
His lips were trying to form words, but none came out. Instead, he limply handed the phone over to me. “I don’t know how that happened,” he repeated weakly.
When I looked, I saw it. The most recent picture on my Instagram, the one with likes pouring in and endless comments, was not the picture we took at the start of the hike.
It was Izzy and me, dressed up in our costumes and writhing together in bed. Our faces were sweaty, and our hair was mussed, and with the costumes unzipped, our bare chests were on display.
If it weren’t already obvious that the photo was taken mid-sex, Izzy’s fingers were pinched around my hard nipple, and my face was contorted somewhere between pleasure and surprised pain.
Nausea hit me like a wave. My knees were weak, and the world turned upside down. The most intimate, embarrassing thing I could imagine wasn’t our secret anymore.
It was out in the world for everyone to see. My friends, my employees, my clients, my family.
“How do I delete this?” I asked in a rising panic, my fingers flying across the screen as I toggled different options. “We have to delete this.”
“Kai, I am so, so sorry,” Izzy said, his voice breaking. “I guess I wasn’t paying close enough attention when I posted the photo—”
“I guess not!” I snapped, anger seething in my voice.
