Page 69 of The Arrangement

“Yep.” He stood and stretched his long as fuck arms overhead. I shamelessly appreciated the view, earning myself a cocked eyebrow and a knowing smirk. “And you’resureyou don’t remember anything else from the pier?”

I crossed my arms. “I already told you no. Why?”

He shrugged. “Little disappointed you don’t recall saying you wanted to climb me like a tree.”

I let out an honest to God guffaw. “You, James Gallagher, are a bold-faced liar.”

“Except I’m not,” he said in that sexy voice that sent a wave of heat through me as he walked by to get to his things.

My jaw dropped, and I scrambled to recover. “Nu-uh. I don’t believe you. Tell me exactly what I said.”

“Ooh, would you look at the time? Better hustle, baby boy. The shop won’t open itself.” He leaned down to pick up—who gave a damn what. He knew damn well what his ass looked like in those barely-there skimpy shorts.

Regretfully, I tore my gaze away from the round perfection of his ass to look at the time and immediately let out an aggrieved sound. “Fuck me,” I hissed. He was right.

“Anytime, baby boy,” James said, tossing me a smirk over his shoulder. “Anytime.”

I finished making a beeline for the bedroom and closed the door before letting out another aggrieved sound. Damn it, now I was going to contend with a boner while getting dressed…andjudging by the throaty laughter coming from the other room, James knew it too.

Chapter 34

James

Istood in the doorway to Marc’s bedroom and appreciated how unbelievably adorable he was curled around a pillow, his hair sticking up in all directions. Despite my resolution to enjoy whatever time we had together, my heart still gave a pang at the thought of leaving. Most of my life, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. Enlisting had merely been a way to escape the pomp of “high society” and the expectations that came with it. Now I knew exactly what I wanted.

I wanted to wake up every day and have Marc smile sleepily at me when I gave him his morning coffee. I wanted to spend hours working beside him in the shop, even though I didn’t know a damn thing about flowers. We’d tease each other, trade kisses, carve out our place in this small town. The town as a whole still had some rough edges where the queer community was concerned, but we’d work together to change that, make life better for us, for little Rumi, for Frankie the installer, for everyone.

The only problem was I didn’t know if that was something he was remotely interested in having. We were having a great time together. Did I really want to jeopardize that by dumping all of my feelings on him? Andy kept encouraging me to be upfront about how much I was falling for him. Except there was no “falling” to it. I was completely fallen, head-over-heels in love with Marc. Then there was the not so small matter of the clock running out on my leave.

My CO had pulled a lot of strings and shuffled some dubious paperwork to give me as much time as he had. Not easy, given that my contract was all but up. My window to figure out what I wanted to do was rapidly closing. A point driven home by the three emails currently taunting me in my inbox.

Marc shifted in his sleep, and a smile stole across my face at the cute noise he made as he snuggled tighter into the pillow. Would he ever hold me that way, or was that yet another empty fantasy? Behind me, the coffeemaker beeped. I turned back to the kitchen to make our respective cups. When I’d woken at for-fuck’s-sake-o’clock, I’d debated going for a run, but the idea of returning to see his sad expression because I’d gone without him made the idea far less appealing.

Coffee in hand, I rapped on the open door. He jolted awake, and I bit back a snicker. “Rise and shine, sleepyhead.”

He blinked at me bleary-eyed, then picked up his phone to check the time. His subsequent groan had a chuckle slipping out of me. “Why are you evil?” he grumbled, turning to flop on his back and covering his face with the previously snuggled pillow.

“If I were truly evil, would I have made you coffee?” I asked as I stepped into the room.

He tugged the pillow away from his face enough to peer at me. “What happened to it being a day off?”

I moved close enough for the steam wafting out of the cups I was holding to be clearly visible. “Still is. It also happens tobe a beautiful morning for a run.” His gaze slid from the cup down my body to latch onto the running shorts I wore. I took a sip from my Orange Beach coffee cup and tried like hell not to preen. Marc’s affinity for my “ridiculously short shorts” had definitely not escaped my notice.

“I suppose I could do with a run,” he finally said with a put-upon sigh that I didn’t buy for a second. “Coffee first.” He finished sitting up and held out his hand. I dutifully brought it closer and watched his beautiful face relax with appreciation as he took his first sip. “Mmm, perfect, just like always.” He squinted at me, then curled his finger for me to come closer.

Curious what he was about, but trusting he wouldn’t do anything to risk spilling our drinks, I leaned closer. “Did you need help disentangling yourself?” I teased.

In lieu of answering, he hooked his free hand around the back of my neck and tugged me closer for a kiss that lingered and tasted even sweeter than my coffee. When he pulled away, happiness sparkled in his eyes. “You were too far away.”

My heart threatened to grow wings and fly out of my chest. Did he have any idea the effect his words had on me? Was he even remotely aware of how unbelievably in love with him I was? Would he still talk to me like that if he did? I pushed the questions and doubts away and offered him a playful grin as I stepped out of reach once more, loving the little pout that pinched his handsome face.

“I’m about to be a lot farther away if you don’t hurry and change,” I threatened, taking a deep pull of my coffee.

An impressive five minutes and two to-go cups later, we were rolling down the road toward Flying Creek Nature Preserve. Marc glanced at me as he polished off the last of his coffee and finished parking.

“Something on your mind?” I asked once I unfolded myself from the passenger seat.

He shrugged and reached into the back seat for the drawstring bag of water bottles, which he slung over his shoulders. “Nothing much.”