Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 79308 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79308 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
He was standing toward the back wall with a plate of food. It didn’t look like he’d eaten a lot, but he was eating, so that was good. A couple of people went over and talked to him, Corbin saying something that made them laugh, which in turn made me smile, which I had no reason to do because I didn’t even fucking know what they’d said.
I couldn’t deny I’d had fun with him tonight. Corbin was a fun-loving guy, and it shouldn’t have surprised me that he was so willing to jump in and play a game of charades with the kids, but for whatever reason, it did. He’d been good with them, and I’d had a lot more fun than I’d expected. I was still trying to wrap my head around last night, then inviting him here today, and now the game. I didn’t know what to expect from Corbin Erickson, and apparently, I didn’t know what to expect of myself when it came to him either.
Once I put out all the fires, I returned to Corbin. He was talking with Jini, who ran the center’s library.
The first thing I noticed was he had two pieces of cold cuts on his plate, a few carrots and cucumbers, and some cantaloupe. Of course, I didn’t know how much he had before or if I should be paying attention to things like that. Corbin was an adult who knew how to take care of himself. He clearly wasn’t starving himself. He had too much tight, firm muscle for that. At the same time, he’d admitted to having struggles with food, something I didn’t have experience with.
“Hey, CB.” He winked at me. So clearly, we were going with the whole cuddle-buddy thing. I bit back a smile.
“CB?” Jini questioned.
“Don’t ask,” I replied with a chuckle.
“He pretends he doesn’t love it, but he does,” Corbin told her, then turned to me. “Anyway, Jini was telling me about the library and that while you have a lot of books, your romance section is lacking. I mentioned how Park likes to read queer romance novels. I’ll talk to him about doing a book drive. And I’m sure that if we talk about it on the podcast, we can get a lot of people on board.”
I…didn’t know what to say to that. There was no doubt in my mind that they could, and damn, it was an amazing offer. Sweet too.
“That’s…thank you, Corbin. It’s not easy around here to get the things we need.” Even being in a city like Santa Monica that had a lot of money.
He frowned. “We’ll have to see what we can do about that.”
Before I could respond, Tristan, Bailey, and a couple of the other boys ran over. “Spencer! Come and dance!”
A Beyoncé song had just come on and, well, how in the hell did you not dance when Beyoncé was playing? It should be against the law.
“I’ll be right back,” I told Corbin before heading over with the group.
I’d always loved to dance. It was something that surprised a lot of people. I was this bear-looking man who could get down and move like no one’s business.
I immediately started to move my body. The kids didn’t really dance with me and usually ended up watching in a circle around me, getting a kick out of seeing the thirtysomething big guy out there.
Like I usually did when I danced, I felt alive. Heart pounding, surges of adrenaline shooting through my body. My gaze caught Corbin’s, who was watching me with a huge smile on his face. He’d set his plate down, Jini standing beside him, and he had this amazed look on his face. Every time I spun or made jerky movements where I was going too fast to see his face, I could feel it, feel the hot burn of his stare and the joy he got out of watching me. Because he was surprised, or because it was fun? I didn’t know, but it felt good.
When the song ended, the kids tried to keep me out there, but I shook my head. “I can’t. I’m gonna go see my friend now.”
“Is he your boyfriend?” Bailey asked.
“He’s hot,” Tristan said.
“And a grown-ass man, which you’re not, so be appropriate, please.”
“Hey, I’m eighteen!” Tristan countered.
“Not happening,” I told him, though I knew he was only teasing. “And no, he’s not my boyfriend. We’re…friends,” I told Bailey, and we were, I realized. In twenty-four hours, Corbin and I had somehow become friends.
I made my way back to him, and noted that one of the pieces of turkey was gone, along with a few of the veggies.
“That was incredible. You can dance.”
“Big boys are flexible and can move too.” I winked at him.
“I didn’t mean… I wasn’t…”
“I know. I was giving you shit.”