Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 87943 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87943 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Sven had to bite his tongue because Geoffrey wearing him out sounded like a damn good time. Brendon was obviously an idiot.
Geoffrey hopped up onto a concrete block, his hands held out for balance. “Tell me about one of your exes.”
He stared up at Geoffrey for long moments as the happy screams of delight from the children filled the air, before pulling his gaze back to their surroundings. One man stared at Geoffrey from a bench. He watched him closely as spoke. “I’ve never truly been serious about anyone, but there was a man I dated for a time back in Michigan.”
“That’s where you’re from? I would have said the Netherlands.” He hopped back down and started walking again. “But that could just be fantasy. Though, occasionally I do hear a trace of an accent in your tone. When you speak up that is.”
The man still watched Geoffrey but the more Sven observed, the more he came to realize the stare was coming from a place of appreciation. He looked back at Geoffrey with his blond hair shining in the sunlight, his slinky blue T-shirt, and skinny jeans that showed every taut muscle in his legs and ass. Appreciation, he could easily understand. He had to think back to remember what Geoffrey had asked him. “My family came to America from Norway when I was seven. Any accent left is probably from listening to my parents.”
“You still have them?” He paused, looked up at Sven.
The wistfulness in Geoffrey’s voice made him take a step closer before he realized he was doing it. “I do.” He remembered all the questions from the night before. “I have three older brothers and one sister. I moved here to be with her because she got a management job at the Macy’s headquarters.”
“So, you said two years here. Do you plan to stay?”
“Alida is now married with a baby, so she’s staying. I will be, too.”
Geoffrey’s mouth fell open. “Just like that? That’s the reason you came and the reason you’ll stay? What about what you want?”
“I want to stay.” He missed his brothers, but he’d always been closest to Alida and didn’t want her to be alone here. Their brothers came to visit often and his parents had come just the month before. Plus, he liked this city and loved Ward Security. He felt at home here.
Long moments passed before Geoffrey threw up his arms. “Really? You have a very frustrating way of not embellishing.”
He couldn’t help the amused twist of his lips. “So you’ve told me.”
Geoffrey growled. “Is there anything that shakes you up?”
The first thing that came to Sven’s mind wasn’t going to go anywhere near his mouth, so he merely stared at Geoffrey.
“You can’t just leave it like that. Why do you want to stay? Do you miss your parents? Your brothers?” He paused, his eyes going huge with whatever thought was filling his brain. “And oh my God, are they all big and beautiful like you?”
Sven frowned. “I’m not beautiful.” He wasn’t. He was overly large with a body that turned to fat if he didn’t work out every day, and when he smiled, he was all cheeks. His beard helped with that—or so he thought.
“You mean that,” Geoffrey breathed, his hands going back into his pockets. “You really don’t think you’re beautiful. Tell me something, do you have trouble getting laid?”
He narrowed his eyes. “No.” He didn’t. Not when he truly wanted to be.
“Of course you don’t! Even if your face wasn’t so gorgeous, that body is most men’s fantasy.”
“Not mine.”
“Well, self-love aside—which isn’t such a bad thing, you know—you could probably pick up most of the men in this park if you wanted.” Geoffrey chuckled.
Sven was more familiar with self-love than he liked. Most of his love life came to be with his right hand. He looked around at all the men, most of them fathers with young children and wives. None nearly as interesting to look at as Geoffrey, who was the picture of pure beauty with his light hair, sharp features, and bright, blue eyes. He forced his gaze away, instead looking at the shimmer of sunlight on the surface of the river. “I’m not interested in any other man in this park.”
Geoffrey went utterly still beside him. “Any other man?”
That was the wrong thing to say. So damn wrong. “I meant any man.”
The smirk that coiled those goddamn lips held such a wicked, impish cast, Sven wanted to cart the man off over his shoulder and take him somewhere very, very private. Geoffrey knew good and well he’d said what he’d really meant.
He should call Rowe and have Dominic or Royce put on this job. He should, but he wouldn’t. He didn’t want anyone else staying in Geoffrey’s house, anyone else watching him there with his fluid movements and his constant chattering. Sven had never felt the need to talk as much, but he liked Geoffrey’s honesty and his openness.