Page 27 of The Arrangement

I frowned and muttered to myself, “Isn’t that most porn?” Though apparently not quietly enough, because JD chuckled and his demeanor lightened significantly.

He ran a hand over his head. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have come at you like that. A lot of people like to label anything gay as smut or erotica if there’s sex in it, and I’m used to having to defend or hide my reading choices. So, yeah. Sorry.” Abashed was not a good look for JD, and I wanted to punch every asshole on the planet who’d made him feel bad for reading a damn book—smut or not. Who fucking cared?

“That sucks, man. I’m sorry you’ve had to deal with that. I hope you know I would never judge you like that.”

He took a deep breath that expanded his impressive chest and let it out slowly, while nodding his head. “I do. Yeah. So,” he clapped his hands, a grin spreading across his face, “let's chunk some junk so we can grab some food and find some reads.”

The junk hauling took even less time than I expected, which meant I was that much closer to having the flower refrigerators installed. God, I couldn’t wait to be surrounded by flowers again. They were my happy place. Not that seeing them outside wasn’t great and all, but it wasn’t the same as actually getting to createwith them. And maybe a small part of me wanted to show JDwhyI wanted to do this, that I was really good at it.

Lunch was a quick affair, though I was pretty sure that had more to do with JD’s impatience to get to the bookstore. We still hadn’t made it to McSharry’s, but he was right; we had the entire summer. There was no rush. Plus, I still needed to take him to the beach at some point. Now that the shop was finally getting close enough to open, there was more that required professionals and needed us out of the way. Plenty of time to tackle all ‌the things I wanted to show him. Not that I had a list… or not one that I planned to tell him about.

We finished ‌our grab-and-go sandwiches from Rae’s Kitchen—another veteran-owned business—as we walked up to the impressive entrance of Page & Palette. JD paused on the sidewalk, looking up at the two-story, orange-brick facade.

“What’s up?” I asked, following his gaze.

“I still can’t get over the ironwork here. Somehow it manages to be completely random but totally in place beside modern buildings.” He shook his head in wonder.

I grinned. “Welcome to the South, where the architecture makes sense because it doesn’t.” He shook his head again and stepped forward. I went to follow him when my gaze snagged on a patch of tulips. It looked like some kid had tried to pull them up. Tulips were sensitive enough to maintain here without some brat messing with them. So, of course, I squatted down and carefully re-secured the roots, murmuring gentle words of comfort to the undoubtedly distressed flowers. The saddest part being that it was a miracle they’d held out this long. Tulips werenota summer flower.

By the time I made it inside, after dusting off as much dirt as I could manage, I wasn’t remotely surprised to find JD already at the counter for Latte Da, the cafe portion of the bookstore. He gave me a goofy grin, and I left him to his latest source of toothdecay to peruse their gardening books. Not too long later, I had a couple of contenders and went in search of my friend. I briefly contemplated asking for directions to the Romance section, then I spied my giant redhead. Really, who needed signs to find you when you were a walking one?

Chuckling to myself at my arguably not funny joke, I wove around the other patrons to get to him. He was completely immersed in a paperback with a small stack beside him when I got there. Grinning, I walked into his bubble so we wouldn’t disturb the other shoppers by talking too loud. He wasn’t the only one enjoying some casual reading.

“Find anything interesting?”

He whipped the book down so fast and tucked it behind his back, you’d have thought I’d caught him with a copy of Hustlers or something.

“Really, JD? I already said I wouldn’t judge what you read. I, uh, might be curious?” Did I mean to say that? The look on his face echoed my thoughts.

“Really?” If he raised his eyebrow any higher, he was going to need a replacement.

I shrugged and went for broke. Truth be told, I was dying of curiosity after our—altercation? conversation? interaction?—whatever you wanted to call it this morning. “Yeah. How’s the selection? Any of your favorites here?”

“Not as many as I would like,” he admitted, though his dubious expression remained.

I sighed, but refused to give up. Maybe I was shit at flirting, but this was books for Christ’s sake. “Any recommendations?” I asked, reaching toward his stack of paperbacks, which he promptly moved further out of my reach.Ouch. Thathurt. I withdrew my hand, shoving it into my pocket where it could hopefully get me into less trouble. “Sorry. I’ll, um,” I swallowed thickly, “just leave you to it.” Jesus, I was so bad at this. Why didI ever think he was actually interested in me? I backpedaled as quickly as the packed store and my wounded pride would let me.

Somewhere behind me was a hissed, “Shit,” followed by a ruffle of books. God, why were there so many people here? I knew the place was popular, it always had been, but this was ridiculous. Where the hell was the exit? How had I gotten so turned around? It wasn’tthatbig a store.

Something that I refused to label as panic was setting in when someone grabbed my elbow. If I hadn’t been clutching the nature books for dear life, I’d have lashed out. As it was, I had no choice but to make a scene or let myself get dragged off to the side. One guess which one I went with.

By the time I stopped moving and dared to look around, I was in an area roped off for what looked like an event. Pretty sure I wasn’t supposed to be here. I shuffled my feet and scanned the ground to see if I could figure out the way to an exit without having to look up. It didn’t take a genius to know who’d grabbed me. I’d recognize his firm grip anywhere, even before this mess I’d made for myself. Alex was going to have a field day with this. No, that wasn’t true. She’d commiserate with me over yet another failed attempt at making a romantic connection, then help me put myself back together with the optimism only your twin can have.

“Marc, please look at me.”

I clutched the gardening books to my chest as if they were Kevlar that could protect my bruised heart, even though I knew it was already too late for that. This was why I didn’t try. What even was the point? “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t… I’m sorry.”

JD’s heavy sigh was like a punch to the chest. “No, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that the way you took it.”

I snorted. Hard to take it another way. He’d been everything short of outright hostile.

“Okay, that’s fair. You might have caught me in the middle of a particularly spicy scene, and I lashed out. I’ve been told I can be a bit of a cranky reader.” I could hear the attempt at humor and could only surmise what he meant by spicy, but that didn’t explain moving the books away from me. “Please look at me, baby boy.”

I really needed him to stop calling me that. It was confusing, and I was already horribly out of my depth. Yet, I still found myself meeting his gaze. “Why’d you move the books?”

He closed his eyes with a wince and gave me a sheepish half-smile. “Yeah, I could have handled that better. Give me your hand?” I narrowed my eyes at him, and his grin gained strength. “I promise, nothing untoward. I just want to show you why.”

Not sure how much of this I trusted, and possibly vowing no more pebbles for him, I gave him the hand I’d previously shoved in my pocket. He took it with a gentleness that surprised me, running his calloused fingers over the back before slowly turning it until my hand rested palm up in his. Smudges of brown decorated my fingers and streaked across my palm. There was even dirt still embedded under my fingernails.