Page 21 of Spring Breakup
Dean sighed and weighed his options. He had wanted to kiss Tyler. He’d wanted to muss up Tyler’s hair and yank him into his lap. To lick the sweat off his neck. To pull out the wild child underneath.
But Tyler had an earnestness that plucked at all the protectiveness deep in Dean’s soul. He didn’t sleep with people who were easily hurt.
“What is it thatyouwant, Tyler?” Dean asked. If Tyler said no-strings fun, it would be incredibly hard to deny him. Dean usually tried to do the right thing, but it was hard when the wrong thing was way more fun.
“To spend the rest of my spring break reading and watching TV. I don’t want to think about my breakup or my job or any of the things that keep going wrong. I want you to sleep upstairs so we both have our own space. And stop fucking with me just because I find you attractive. I’m not a plaything.”
“You find me attractive?”
Tyler let out an exasperated laugh. “Don’t get a big head. You’re tall, which is basically the same thing in my lizard brain.”
“You’re, you know, hot too.”
“Oh.” It was clear Tyler wasn’t used to compliments, even awkwardly delivered ones. He frowned down at his lap. “Thanks.”
“But you recently went through a breakup.”
“Which I don’t want to think about. And so did you.”
Dean pretended to zip his lips and throw away the key. “Noted. I don’t want to lead you on. That’s why I stopped you.”
A weird expression flitted across Tyler’s face. “Trying to kiss youone timewasn’t exactly a marriage proposal, Dean. You’re not…”
“I’m not what?” Dean had a sneaking suspicion Tyler had planned to sayrelationship material. Which was the truth, or so he’d been told many times before. He’d tried with Viggo because he thought that was what he was supposed to do at his age. It was what his friends seemed to be doing—pairing up and adopting dogs and having kids. But it had just proved he was still a failure at all things of the heart. You couldn’t force love.
Surface-level guy—that was Dean.
Tyler shook his head, bringing Dean’s attention back around. “I wasn’t expecting you to give me your letterman jacket. We’re here without Rosie and Leo for who knows how long. Our only other company might be the Alaskan mountain man who appears randomly in the woods with his huge dog. I figuredwhy not.”
An unwitting laugh escaped Dean. “Kissing me to stave off boredom. Got it. I’ve been kissed for worse reasons.”
A smile curled the corners of Tyler’s mouth. Dean was mad that he’d missed his chance to taste those lips, but he’d made the correct decision. Now that they’d had a moment to reset, Tyler had asked for space, not a hookup.
“Can you put some clothes on?” Tyler said, snarky acid in his voice. He waved his hand in Dean’s direction, indicating the whole of him in one sweep of his arm. “You’re kind of the worst.”
“Sure thing.”
Dean grabbed his bag and dragged it upstairs to Rosie and Leo’s room. It took him a full ten minutes to stop smiling.
Later that evening, after eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch and dinner, Tyler disconnected from his laptop for long enough to pour them both a glass of wine. He’d been buried in the computer all day, watching a dating show with his headphones in, and Dean wasn’t complaining. He’d needed the breather too.
Dean fiddled with the edges of his drawing pad, and snuck another secret look at Tyler’s hands. Dean sucked at drawing hands, and he was only sketching Tyler’s because they were right there, and that was better than trying to do his own. Tyler’s fingers were blunt, and he bit his nails.
“Have you heard from Rosie and Leo?” Tyler asked him as he handed over a plastic wine glass full of a generous helping of white wine. It was their second each.
They’d hardly said a word to each other in hours, and Tyler’s voice sent a delightful thrill up Dean’s spine. The wine was going to Dean’s head.
“Some texts. What about you?”
Tyler shook his head. “I had to turn off my phone. Francis keeps calling.”
“Asshole. Well, Rosie and Leo are taking this whole thing in stride.”
“They would,” Tyler said darkly, and Dean willed himself not to laugh. “Did you know slush flow avalanches can happen on slopes that are only three- or four-degree grades? That’s effectively flat.”
“How did you learn that?”
“I looked it up.” Tyler shrugged.
