Page 23 of Otter Heart
“I… I guess,” Adam replied. “I thought we had a bit of a connection at the coffee shop the other day and you seem like a nice guy that I could get along with. But I didn’t feel right aboutpretendingthere weren’t ulterior motives. The last thing I want to do is hurt someone again.”
Honesty. I liked that. Even though it wasn’t exactly the type of relationship I was looking for, I couldn’t deny my curiosity at his proposal.
“I know it’s crazy,” he continued. “And I don’t expect you to say yes. But I thought I’d ask just in case. I really think we could be friends regardless and I don’t have a lot of those either.”
“Hypothetically,” I replied. “What would be the rules for this dating? What are the boundaries? Anything off limits?”
He was caught off guard by my question. “I-I figured we would w-work those out together.”
“I don’t have any limits.”
Adam swallowed hard. “I could probably work with that. But you have to force me to be honest and open with you. I’m gonna try my best, but that’s the part I’m really bad at.”
“Oh, we can make demands?”
“I… I guess.” He took a breath. “Yeah. If I’m gonna ask you to do something, then it’s only fair you can ask me for something too.”
“Perfect,” I smiled. “You’re the bottom.”
He froze and I didn’t have to see his face to know it turned bright red. His fingers slowly moved over the surface of the counter, and I heard him shift in the chair, the fabric of hisshorts forced to one side. If I had to take a guess, I’d say my demand had gotten him just a little excited. The thought went straight to my cock as well, and I leaned against the counter, hoping he didn’t notice.
“But you’re shorter than me…”
“What the hell does that have to do with anything?”
“O-Okay,” he muttered after a long while, his voice soft and low. “I agree.”
“Beautiful,” I replied, giving him a big smile. “When’s our first date?”
Chapter Ten: Adam
Istood outside Mateo’s apartment for the second time that week feeling far more nervous than I should have been. It wasn’t like I hadn’t been out on a date before. I’d been on hundreds of them! But something about Mateo made my stomach twist itself into knots. I was so anxious I could barely function.
“Get a grip,” I muttered to myself. “This isn’t even real.”
True, Mateo and I had decided to keep our relationship squarely in thepracticezone. We both knew it wasn’t going anywhere serious. I needed to learn how to be more open and he deserved better than some broken asshole like me. Besides, it wasn’t like he was actually interested. I’d seen that glint in a man’s eyes before. When he told me I was going to play the part of bottom, I knew exactly what he was looking forward to. The best I could ever hope for was friends.
I just wished someone would tell those fucking butterflies in my stomach that because they were driving me crazy. Going on a fake date shouldn’t have been so nerve-wracking. What did I have to worry about?
Exactly fucking nothing.
And yet, I worried anyway.
I hitched the backpack up on my shoulders, my back already sweating from the beating heat of the sun. Mateo and I had decided to start simple. We were going on a walk to the beach and taking some food with us. That way we could justtalk and get to know one another a bit more. I had about a million questions I wanted to ask him, mostly revolving around his blindness. But I was determined to avoid that subject. Something about it just seemed rude and honestly, none of my business.
And yet, I wanted to avoid talking about myself as well. I figured it would be safe to talk about the dog, the weather, and my health. Other than that, topics had to remain light. Just because I needed to practice being open didn’t mean I needed to go from zero to one hundred on the first date. We could wait until at least the third or fourth to start trauma dumping. It might take me even longer.
Figuring I would draw the suspicion of the neighbors if I stood on Mateo’s front porch any longer, I took a deep breath. Lifting my hand, I knocked on the door.
A single bark sounded inside followed by Mateo’s voice.
“Coming!”
I took a step back, taking a moment to double check my breath and my pits to make sure I didn’t stink to high heaven. I was already sweating, and my idiotic ass had decided to eat garlic with lunch. After brushing my teeth three times I couldn’t smell any hint of it, but Mateo’s senses were much stronger than mine. I just hoped it was enough.
Finally, the door handled turned and the whole thing swung open.
My jaw dropped at the sight of Mateo and for once I was glad he couldn’t see me. He was wearing a tank top made from an old t-shirt. It was the kind where pretty much the entire thing had been cut away except for the hem around the neck and the waist. I could see most of his muscular chest, the dark hair splashed across it. My eyes followed the sculpted outline of his body down to his waist. He was hairy all the way down and it made my mouth water. Not to mention the tan, the perky nipples, and the swim trunks that left very little to the imagination in the dick department.
