Page 8 of Perfect Matcha
Chapter Four
It had beenthree days since Theo had asked Camden to play matchmaker and Camden had suggested Hawke Howard.
Three days for Theo to think about trying to have a conversation with Hawke without making a fool of himself.
Three whole days to contemplate the implications of dating, and possibly,hopefully, eventually being intimate with Hawke.
It was intimidating. And scary.
And exciting. But mostly intimidating.
He couldn’t stop thinking about it, even though he should have been thinking about the problem he’d discovered in a dataset this morning. Normally, Theo was very capable of getting in a productivity groove with the bustle of Bold Brew around him. Today, though, all the tables near him were occupied by disastrous first dates, and he couldn’t stop worrying about his future disastrous first date with Hawke.
For example, at the table to his right, some airhead college boy kept offering his gluten-intolerant date bites of his cinnamon roll, despite the man’s explanations. And to his left, a shy woman had accidentally spilledtwoseparate drinks in her nervousness, one of them into the lap of the bewildered man across the table from her. Theo felt like these dates were a literal horoscope of his future.
The bell over the door jingled, and Theo glanced over. He hadn’t expected to see Camden waltz through but happily welcomed the distraction. Camden dropped into the seat across from him.
“Hi.” Theo checked the time. Then the date on the calendar. “Did we have plans?” It wasn’t unusual for him to blank on stuff when he was really invested in work, which had frustrated Freddie to no end. Not that Theo was super-invested in his super-boring work project. He was basically just obsessing over the mere idea of talking to Hawke Howard without melting into an insecure puddle.
“No. I saw your fancy Prius out there on my way home from work, so I stopped by. I have a gift for you.”
Theolovedpresents. “What is it?” He sat up straighter in his seat and grinned. “Give it to me.”
A strange and hungry light passed through Camden’s eyes, but Theo had long ago stopped trying to interpret other people’s idiosyncrasies.
“I can’t give it to you here. Bundle up, and we can move it from my truck to your car.”
“Is it big?”
Camden laughed. “Some of it.”
“Huh?”
He scooted his seat over and whispered directly into Theo’s ear. “I told you I’d help with your sex-toy uncertainty, so I have agift for you in my truck. From First-Rate Finishes. For you. In my truck.”
“Oh …Oh!” Theo’s face flamed. “Well, my goodness. Okay. I guess we better do a discreet handoff.”
Theo snagged a regular named Charlie, who was hanging out at the counter, and asked him to watch his laptop and bag. Charlie seemed to take to the task with an over-serious sense of responsibility, so Theo followed Camden into the parking lot.
Luckily, Camden had parked his rusty old truck next to Theo’s car. Camden opened the door to his extended cab and passed over a large basket wrapped in rose-gold cellophane and tied at the top with a silver bow. It looked like something you’d get from the Hallmark store.
Until you peeked inside.
It was cold outside, but Theo felt as if someone had poured lava on his chest. And cheeks. And ears. He deposited the basket of debauchery into his backseat and loosened his scarf.
“This is a lot of stuff,” he choked out.
“Yeah.”
“And I’m supposed to know what to do with it all?”
“Well, there are usually instructions in or on the box.” Camden shrugged, all calm, cool, and nonchalant, like he was saying,Oh no big deal, here’s a boat load of sexy gadgets, have fun, my clueless friend.“Plus, you could search the name of the toy on a porn site. Or ask me. Also, follow the instructions for cleaning before and after use and use the right type of lube.”
“The right type of … of, uh …” Theo lowered his voice. “Lube?”
“Yeah. There are certain kinds that you can’t use with silicone toys, and there is a lot of silicone in that basket,” Camden said.Loudly. Okay it wasn’t loud, but itfeltloud. “What kind of lube do you use? I mean, I put some in the basket too, so you should be set, but I’m sure you have a preference.”
Theo’s ears started to ring. It wasn’t like he and Camden had never talked about sex. As teenagers, Camden had regaled Theo and Freddie with his escapades, most of which had probably been exaggerated. And when Theo had lost his V-card sophomore year of college to a guy from the basketball team, Camden had been his first call. Camden, then Freddie. Camden hadwhoopedand asked for the dirty details, which Theo had primly not provided. Freddie had pushed condoms on Theo with a frown, which had been annoying. Theo had snagged his own handful of condoms from his RA the day before because he wasn’t irresponsible, thank you very much.
