Page 9 of His Every Move

“I usually go with vodka pineapple.” He leaned over the bar and grabbed the attention of the closest bartender so he could order, and then he leaned back to me. “You know what they say about drinking pineapples.”

“No, I don’t,” I said, playing dumb.

“That it makes semen taste sweet.”

“Oh, hah, right.” I held down my internal cringe at his use of the wordsemen. Was this a date or a bio lecture? “So how was your day?” I asked. It was weird. I’d been to this guy’s apartment three times now, and yet I’d never really seen him wearing clothes. He looked good, but for some reason, he also looked a little frumpy. His long-sleeved shirt was wrinkled, and there was what appeared to be a small coffee stain on his light-washed jeans.

Also, they were skinny jeans, which… not great.

“It was alright. Had an argument at work, but things got resolved. I think. I don’t know. My manager hates my guts.”

“What do you do?”

“I work at a bookstore. I’m trying to be an author, so I thought this would be a good way to kind of work in that same world.”

“Is it?”

Kevin scoffed. “Fuck no. It’s just made me more jaded. I actually think I hate books now.” He shrugged and rubbed the back of his neck. A slight whiff of musky body odor drifted in my direction. While I was sometimes into a nice musk, I wasn’t exactly expecting it from a man I was supposed to be on a first date with. “How about you? What do you do?”

Annndthere it was. The question I always dreaded. A question that had derailed quite a few first dates already.

Not everyone was against my chosen profession, although I had a sneaking suspicion that almost everyone was at least a little judgy about it. But there were a good number of men who were fine with how I made my money. Some were evenmoreinto me after they found out I was a cam model.

Others… not so much. I’d had guys just stand up and walk out, I’d had guys laugh at me, I’d had guys try and preach to me.

Which kind of guy was Kevin? I figured I was about to find out.

“I’m a freelancer,” I said. It helped soften the blow. Kevin cocked his head and must have assumed there was something else by my suggestive smirk.

“You own a photography business? An artist?”

“A cam boy,” I said. “I stream sexual content for money. And I’ve got a subscription site, too. Diversify and all that.”

Kevin blinked a couple of times. He smiled, taking a quick chug. Judging by how clear his drink was and the small head shake he did, it leaned more toward vodka than pineapple. “That’s, huh, that’s interesting.”

I couldn’t get a read on him. Did he seem uncomfortable? He shifted on the barstool so his leg moved farther away from mine.

Subtle.

Disappointing.

This wasn’t going well.

“Is that okay?” I asked.

Kevin gave a curt nod but kept his gaze focused directly ahead at the mirrored wall of liquor bottles. “I wasn’t expecting it. You seem so, I don’t know, put together. Respectable.”

That might as well have been a slap across the face. I arched a brow, setting my drink down before I was overcome with an urge to toss it on him. “I’m sorry, but what I doisrespectable. I’m comfortable enough with my body to share it with others, and I do it in a way that people enjoy enough to pay me for. It’s a service. One I happily provide.”

“You’re an online hooker.”

“Seriously?” I rolled my eyes. “I’m a businessman, I’m a good fucking guy. I’mnotan online hooker.”

“You sell your body online for all these rando neckbeards to jerk off to. You get paid, but for how long is that really going to last? There’s probably dozens of photos of your dick out online. How can I ever bring you around my family without thinking that they can do the same? What you do is not respectable. It’s fucked-up.”

Heat flared in my cheeks, flushing through my chest. The crammed bar began to feel even more uncomfortably packed. A lovey-dovey couple danced reggaeton right behind my stool, bumping their hips into me.

For a flash of a second, I pictured myself pushing Kevin off his stool and making him break his fall on that flat ass of his. He made an unreasonably hot swell of anger rise inside me.

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