Page 42 of Devoted

“Really?”

“Really. My personality doesn’t generally work in my favour. I find I’m more likely to get laid if I don’t speak.”

“Huh. I find that…odd.”

“You do?”

“Yeah. It’s not like your personality’s ever put me off. If anything, it’s done the opposite. It’s what got us here. And I don’t know what you look like, so that’s not got anything to do with the fact I’m currently naked.”

I stared at the ceiling. How was it that Sam was so perfect for me? He had to be my mate, right?

A question popped into my brain, rolled through my nervous system and straight out of my mouth before I had a chance to stop it. “Do you want to know?”

Sam’s breath caught again. “Do I want to know what you look like?”

“Yes.” I closed my eyes, as if that might soften the blow about to fall. It didn’t matter what he said, it was going to hitme regardless. Either he’d say no, leaving me feeling rejected, or he’d say yes, and I’d be dragging us deeper into this mess.

That was assuming he wasn’t my mate, of course. If by some miracle fate had smiled down on me and given me someone as perfect as Sam for the rest of eternity, this could just be a cute anecdote we told people in future.

The time I got jealous and insisted on having phone sex instead of Sam actually getting laid by someone. Yeah, super cute.

See? Sarcastic inner voice again.

“Okay,” Sam said eventually. “Show me what you’ve got.”

9

Sam

Iheld my breath as I waited for Zeke’s photo to come through.

When it did, it wasn’t what I’d been expecting.

I’d been expecting something similar to what I’d sent. A body shot, or maybe a dick pic.

But this…this was Zeke in all his glory.

And fuck, was he glorious.

“Holy shit,” I whispered, zooming in on his face. There was no smile on his lips, just an almost nervous curl on one side. Despite this, his intense blue eyes shone with amusement. Auburn stubble covered his jaw, while locks in the same colour fell over his forehead. With the white pillowcase behind him, he looked almost like he had a halo.

An angel brought to life.

“Holy shit,” I repeated, zooming back out to take in the other details. The thick veins on his forearms. The broadness of his chest, covered in enough hair to have my mouth watering. The tight vee of muscles pointing south. “Zeke, you better be catfishing me right now, I swear to god.”

“God would definitely tell you I’m not a catfish.”

“This isn’t funny,” I hissed.

“Hang on, are you upset?”

“I’m not upset, I’mmortified.”

“Why?” Zeke sounded baffled, which was weird. It should have been very obvious why I felt like this.

“Because you look like Sam Heughan fucked Henry Cavill and birthed a beautiful red-headed angel.”

Zeke laughed, the sound even richer thanks to the earbuds I wore. I stared down at his picture again, wondering if his eyes sparkled as he did so. “That’s physically impossible.”

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