Page 70 of Chasing You

Hector’s eyes widened, and he backed away at a comically slow pace. After a beat, both Ridge and Adele burst into laughter, and Adele turned to his friend.

“I love you. Also, he’s a good guy. He’s just young.”

“And I know people are fucking thirsty for my tragic backstory,” Ridge admitted.

“No one is owed that, no matter who they are,” Frey said stiffly. Adele understood why. He had his own, and he knew Frey felt a kinship with Ridge, being that they both had Deaf kids. “Send them my way if it ever gets to be too much. If my snark won’t shut them up, Renato’s glare will.”

Ridge laughed again. “Thanks.” He turned to Adele and took a breath, flopping his arms to the sides. “Well?”

“Very…floral?” Adele tried.

Ridge flicked his nipples to make them hard. “Sexy?”

“Very,” Frey said. “Go get oiled up.”

After Ridge was out of earshot, Adele leaned in. “You don’t need to protect me.”

“Isn’t that why you brought me?” Frey challenged. “And besides, work’s sucked the last few days. We have this woman in who is leaning in deep with her homophobia. She calls me her little f-word.”

“Oh, Christ,” Adele groaned.

Frey grimaced. “Mm. It’s super fun. Yesterday, she put her chocolate mouse in her bed and pretended like she shit on her sheets and demanded that her little f-word clean it up. I almost quit.”

“You could totally be a stay-at-home dad,” Adele said. “Renato makes enough to put all our kids through college.”

“You know why I won’t do that,” Frey said with a shrug. “And anyway, it’s normally not so bad. They let me take a couple days off, which means I get to be here with you and stare at hot chesticles all afternoon.”

“Lovely,” Adele said. He slapped his thighs and stood upright as the doors opened and a nervous-looking young man walked in. He had very tight, short curls in an undercut with light brown skin and dark eyes surroundedby thick, black-framed glasses. He was wearing a plaid, short-sleeve button-up and jeans, almost like he’d tumbled out of a hot D&D nerd magazine. He had a camera strap around his neck and a bag on his shoulder that made him walk lopsided with the weight.

“I should go see about that,” Adele said. “Wanna see if any of the guys need help?”

Frey huffed. “I promised Renato I would look, not touch. Except you. He’s not threatened by you.”

“Flattering,” Adele said with a grin. He left Frey to his eye candy as he crossed the room and waved at the man, who was hovering awkwardly near the refreshment table. “Hi. You must be…”

“Fallon,” he said. Adele frowned. The name sounded so familiar. Fallon attempted to stick out his hand and almost toppled sideways. “Whoops!” He had a thready yet smokey voice, like a lounge singer. “Sorry. I normally have an assistant, but he was busy today.”

Adele grabbed the bag off his shoulder and set it down carefully so nothing would break. “No worries. Anyone here will be willing to help out if you need someone.”

Fallon gulped as he seemed to realize he was surrounded by shirtless firefighters. “Right. Yes. Right. Okay.” He pushed his glasses up his nose. “Is there a place you want me to get set up? I have a lot to do.”

Matter-of-fact. Adele liked that in a person. “Over here,” he said, directing him along. “And the guys all love this, so feel free to get as creative as you want.”

“Don’t tell me that,” Fallon said quickly. “I’ll believe you, and then the photos will be terrible.”

Adele stopped and frowned. “Will they?”

“I’m kind of into abstract art. Real macro shots, you know?”

He didn’t know what the fuck that meant.

“Up close. And I like a lot of movement and motion. It…whatever, it doesn’t need to make sense to you. Just tell me how you want the shots to look, and I’ll do that. I’m good at following directions.”

Adele almost laughed, but he was kinder than that. “That’s doable. Just don’t let these guys walk all over you.”

“Can’t be worse than my day job,” Fallon muttered. He touched his shoulder, then looked panicked. “My bag!”

“I’ll get it,” Adele said. He didn’t know why he liked this guy, but he did. “Nothing will be a disaster today, I promise.”

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