Page 23 of Left on Read

“It’s not that,” I said quickly. “I’m just confused.”

“Confused?”

“Yeah. I’m just…not used to people being so…”

“Overbearing and annoying?”

“I was thinking nice and helpful.”

He shrugged, his expression going blank. “I just don’t like the idea of leaving it here to be some albatross that’s gonna stress you out. I’m pretty good at building these things and could have it up in a few hours. Seems like an asshole move to just leave you hanging.”

“I…as long as it’s not going to be a problem for you.”

“It won’t.” His easy grin slid back into place. “I’d just be going home and finding busy work to do. Might as well do something useful and hang out with someone.”

I tried not to read into the last part. Being better company than being alone wasn’t something to get excited about.

“Let me just go tell Zane, and I’ll BRB.”

A smile tugged at my lips as he rushed out of the room. His energy was as endless as his friendliness.

True to his word, River and I managed to build and secure the shelves in just under two hours. The time had flown by, and that was mostly thanks to River’s endless chatter and patience. He’d maintained a steady stream of conversation, keeping me engaged and distracted as I’d fumbled my way through helping him.

My biggest role was as a set of extra hands to hold things or pass stuff to him, and even that proved to be a challenge when we were at the tricker parts of the instructions.

He was easy to talk to, and he hadn’t minded when I messed up or he had to fix one of my mistakes. We didn’t talk about anything deep or overly personal, but it hadn’t felt like a superficial conversation either.

It was the same script I’d heard on dozens of first dates.

But that couldn’t be right. He was doing all this because he was a nice guy. I was the only one thinking this could ever be anything more than just a guy helping out another guy.

I was about to thank River again when his stomach growled.

“Oops.” He covered his midsection with both hands and let out an embarrassed chuckle.

“Hungry?” It was nearly six. I was getting peckish too.

“Yeah. Forgot to have lunch again. The beast is not happy.” He patted his washboard abs.

“I was going to order Thai for dinner. Do you want to stay?” I asked before I could stop myself.

River’s face lit up. “Yeah? That would be awesome. Thanks.”

“Yeah. Of course.” I cleared my throat, hating how my neck prickled with heat. I dug my phone out of my pocket. “I’ll pull up the menu so you can see what you want.”

“Do they have green curry?”

“I’m sure they do.” I unlocked my phone and opened the internet.

“That’s what I want. I love green curry. With beef if they have it. Chicken is good too if they don’t.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to see what else they have?”

“Nah.” He rubbed one hand over the back of his neck in an “awe shucks” kind of way. “I’m weird when it comes to food. When I find something I like, then that’s all I want until it doesn’t make me happy anymore.”

“And green curry is your happy food?”

“When I’m having Thai, it is.” He dropped his hand, some of his unease gone.

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