Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 85167 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85167 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
“No. It smells good and you like it here. I’m fine, swear.” As if trying to prove it, Tam smiled. And for the life of him, Driver couldn’t find the lie in it. He was an expert at reading people. He’d met so many in his life and knew what to look out for, how to spot the signs. Except when he studied Tam he couldn’t find any. All he saw was acceptance.
“Okay. But first let me...” Driver forked his fingers through Tam’s hair. It was appealingly mussed from the helmet. The silky strands were soft against his work-calloused skin as he straightened and fluffed.
“Is it awful?”
Driver met Tam’s eyes. “Nah. You’re beautiful.”
As they walked side by side toward the entrance, Driver had the urge to slide his hand into Tam’s. Instead, he placed it at the small of Tam’s back. Tam made no move to pull away and for some reason that made Driver’s pulse pound. When had simple touch become so exciting?
Just as he’d remembered, the place was chaotic. Diners slurping noodles, waiters rushing food to tables, and in the back, the cooks filling orders. Scents of roasted meat and Asian spices permeated the air and made Driver’s stomach grumble.
They found seats near the back. “I’ve missed this place,” he said, after taking a deep breath.
“How long has it been?” Tam looked at the menu under the glass-topped table.
“Must be like two years I guess since I’ve been to the East Coast.” Evading the truth, since he knew exactly how long it’d been, down to the day. Brandon wouldn’t let him forget. He’d come back last time at a moment’s notice just to help him out of a jam and now the guy seemed to think he owed Driver something.
Tam lifted his gaze. “Do you travel for work?”
“Yes and no. I kept getting hooked into one thing or another. Sometimes a job, sometimes an adventure.”
“Oh.”
“It gets addicting, you know? I kept meeting cool people and they’d invite me to do amazing and crazy things. I always said yes, because why not? It just happened that Harrison caught me between trips this time, otherwise I might not have come.”
“I couldn’t do it. I like knowing I have a safe place to go, friends to help, a bed to sleep on each night.” He said that like he’d experienced the opposite and Driver wanted to hear about it. He wanted to know more about Tam’s life, where he came from and what he’d gone through.
“I sleep on a bed, most of the time anyway.”
The server came and took their order. Driver recommended Tam get the roasted pork with noodle soup, which he did. Then Driver ordered the shrimp wonton soup and roasted duck, plus a couple of duck rolls, salted baby fish, and a side dish of vegetables in oyster sauce.
“So, what about you? Are you from New York?”
“No, I grew up near Allentown.” Tam pressed his lips together, smearing his pink lipstick.
“What brought you to the city?”
“Financial incentives,” Tam said, without looking at him.
“Yeah, I get that. Half of the shit I get roped into is for money.”
Tam huffed. “You have no idea.”
“Care to explain?”
“No.”
This made Driver smile. “You know the man of mystery act just makes you more interesting to me, right?”
One slender shoulder lifted. “You’re only torturing yourself.”
Laughing felt good, especially when Tam flashed his cheeky little smirk. Their drinks came and provided a distraction.
“Tell me about dancing.”
“What do you want to know?”
Everything. “When did you start?”
“I was seven, I think. There was a small studio in my town. They had big glass windows. Whenever my mom brought me into town to, um...” Tam crossed his legs, gaze darting around the restaurant. “...shop. I would see the dancers at rehearsal.”
“So you took classes there?”
Tam picked at a hole in his jeans. “Never trained. I taught myself.”
“Wow.” He couldn’t imagine loving something so much that you dedicated yourself to it, enough to be as good as Tam was. And all alone.
“It’s not as impressive as it sounds.” Tam’s hair fell forward but couldn’t hide the blush that tinted his cheeks.
“Don’t be modest.”
“You haven’t really seen me dance.”
“What was last night then?”
“A freak occurrence, not the same thing. When the Boyz perform an actual routine together it’s awesome.”
“Do you choreograph all the dances?”
Tam fiddled with the straw in his glass. “I’d say it’s more a team effort but they always give me credit. They help a lot because I have a tendency to make things too complicated, especially Jae. He only joined a few months ago, but he’s an amazing dancer.”
“I didn’t really get a chance to talk to him at the party.”
“He’s quiet, a bit aloof except with Z.”
“Ah, Z.” What was there to say about the brash, dark beauty who’d cornered him in the kitchen with nothing but his piercing eyes?