Page 32 of Shine For Me

You’re supposed to be looking for her glasses,I remind myself.Not being a fucking idiot.

I move sheets and blankets aside, trying not to breathe in too deeply, until my fingers curl around a pair of plastic frames. “Got them. And they aren’t even bent.”

“Oh, thank God.” Her voice sounds more awake now that she’s taken a few sips of her coffee. I hear soft footfalls behind me. “So are you going to tell me what—”

She stops in the doorway and I look up to see her staring at me with wide eyes. I’m grinning like a lunatic as I hold up the paperback in my hand. “Is this what you were reading?”

“No,” she squeaks. “I have no idea where that even came from. I was reading something much more high-brow and pretentious.”

I laugh, and start flipping through the book. “From the state of this thing, I’d say whoever was reading it has read it before. Probably lots of times.”

She makes a move for the book but without her glasses her depth perception seems to be off and she doesn’t actually come close to touching it. “Fox, give me that.”

“I thought it wasn’t yours?”

“Give it.”

“I just want to see. I’ve never read a book with a naked man on the cover.”

“He’s not naked.” She shifts on her bare feet. “He’s just shirtless.”

I peer down at the expansive man chest on the paperback cover. “This dude isjacked.”

“He’s a male model, Fox.”

“I was a male model,” I remind her. I’d done a bit of modeling right before getting my first film role. “I didn’t look like that.”

“You looked just fine,” she mutters, then lunges for the book again before I comment on her complimenting my body for the second time in the past week.

“Hey, I was just getting to the good part.” I hold the book over her head and skim the page. “Jesus, June, this book is filthy.” I’m totally bullshitting. I haven’t read a single word. But from the way her cheeks go bright red, I know I hit the nail on the head. “Are you reading porn?”

“It’s a romance novel,” she says, with a surprising amount of dignity. She stops reaching for the paperback and straightens her shoulders.

“It looks like porn.”

She rolls her eyes. “Sometimes women like to read books with sex in them, Fox.”

The image I had of her snuggling up in bed with her book takes a surprisingly dirty turn and all of a sudden this doesn’t feel like such a fun joke. I set the book carefully onto the nightstand. “You’re right. I’m being immature.”

She blinks at me, like she’s surprised I dropped it. Trying to keep my thoughts from the very dangerous place they just visited, I hand her the glasses. “Are you properly caffeinated?” I ask. “Can I tell you what we’re doing today?”

“We’re doing something?” she asks. “I thought you just came here to ruin my sleep and harass me.”

“Nope. I have big plans for us, Cain.”

She takes a sip of coffee and regards me over the rim of the cup. “Do the plans involve staying in this room and playing online Scrabble? Because that’s all I had on my agenda for today.”

“Nope. We’re going out.”

She turns to the window and its view of the still dark sky. “We’re going out at five in the morning?”

“Yup. Go get dressed.”

“I didn’t agree to this.”

I shake my head. “I brought you coffee, June. I found your glasses. Does that not entitle me to a little trust?” I can see her struggling to keep her mouth in a tight line—she totally wants to smile. “Come on. Get dressed.”

“What am I supposed to be wearing?” she asks, and I feel a surge of triumph that she’s already decided to join me.