Page 26 of The Virgin
“Me? I’m fine. Am I supposed to leave now? I’m admittedly not sure what we’re supposed to do after this, you know.” Though he meant after they orgasmed, it also stood true that he didn’t know what they were going to do when Jonah had gone down the list and worked up the courage to lose his virginity.
“Well, I was hoping you’d stay the night. I don’t like the idea of you running home and overthinking everything until you tie yourself up in ten different knots.”
“I—” Jonah started to argue, but he found that he was too tired to keep up the pretense. “I would do that.”
“I think I like post-orgasm Jonah. He’s far more agreeable.”
“Because you sucked my brains right out of my dick.”
“And I’d do it again.” Spencer leaned over and kissed the side of Jonah’s head, and more than anything else they did that night, that was the thing that terrified Jonah the most. How could he risk losing that easy affection Spencer had started to give him? He couldn’t stop, and he wouldn’t turn back the clock even if he was able to because he’d never had this before. But he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do when it inevitably ended. For now, Jonah would bask in his post-orgasm glow and he’d leave the problems he was creating for Future Jonah to solve.
CHAPTER 14
SPENCER
Jonah leftthe next morning wearing the same clothes from the night before, and Spencer didn’t have the heart to call it a walk of shame. Jonah looked anything but shameful as he walked down Spencer’s driveway and climbed into his car. Not that Spencer watched from the window or anything.
The idea of spending the entire weekend in bed with Jonah had crossed his mind, but Spencer wanted to stretch things out. He knew that everything they did was another thing Jonah had worried about doing, and one day they’d have done it all…and Jonah wouldn’t need him anymore.
Spencer refused to think of what would happen next. Of Jonah with another man. The thought made Spencer’s stomach ache, so he got dressed, climbed into his truck, and headed for the flea market. Spencer didn’t often go in search of treasures the way Greta did, but he needed a distraction.
Jonah had mentioned making a chandelier out of the pop tabs, but Spencer wasn’t quite sold on that idea yet. Maybe he didn’t have the right kind of artistic vision required to picture a light fixture made out of pop can tabs hanging in someone’s house. He could make one, though, and if he couldn’t figure out where to hang it, he could always give it to Greta.
Spencer had spent the past hour walking the flea market, almost ready to give up and go somewhere else. He’d waded through an ocean of coffee mugs and mismatched dinnerware. Old appliances. Old tools. One table was heaped with romance novels, the old bodice ripper kind, and Spencer almost bought one for the hell of it. Then he turned around and there, leaning against the front of a table, was a wooden ladder.
After making his way over to it, Spencer crouched down and checked the price. He knew Greta meant for him to find a wooden ladder in some junk heap somewhere, not for him to spend his hard-earned cash on one, but even Spencer could see that this was perfect. It had been painted at one time, several times over, and the paint was worn off in the fashionable way. The way that made things look old and used and well loved. The way that people paid a lot of money for their brand new furniture to look.
Spencer bought the ladder without haggling over the price. Something else Greta wouldn’t forgive him for, but what she didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him, so he loaded the ladder into the back of his truck and drove across town with it.
He carried the ladder up the stairs to her second-floor warehouse conversion apartment and knocked on the door. A litany of curse words exploded from the other side of the door and, after a minute, Greta appeared. Her hair was piled on the top of her head in a messy bun, and Spencer thought maybe he’d disturbed something, except for the electrical wire she had somehow tangled herself up in.
“Oh, thank fuck, it’s just you.” Her eyes caught sight of the ladder then, and she let out a gasp. “Shut up. You did not.”
“Can I come in?”
Greta moved to the side, and Spencer had to smile at the way she only had eyes for the ladder. “Where did you find this? Oh, my God, Spencer, it’s perfect.”
“Now see, I can’t tell you that. But I can ask you where you want me to put it.”
Spencer looked around at Greta’s place. It was a studio apartment, admittedly a rather large one, but Greta had decided that she wanted a space where she could put her bedroom anywhere, should the mood strike. She used furniture and decor to create different rooms. Her bed was behind a set of decorative screens at the far end of the room and the rest of the furniture had been pushed to the outskirts of the space to create room for her to work.
Greta waded into the mess of electrical bits, wires, and fixtures, a mix of older and newer. “Just put it down here.” She used her feet to move a few boxes out of the way. “I’ve been sorting through this junk, trying to make sense of it all.”
“Is that what you were doing? Because it looks like a bomb might’ve gone off in here.” Spencer laid the ladder on the floor. Greta kneeled beside it and ran her fingers over it, inspecting her treasure.“You and Jonah must operate on a similar wavelength. I told him about the pop tabs, and he suggested I make a chandelier.”
“That’s a brilliant idea.” Greta’s eyes lit up and Spencer knew she was already designing in her head.
“I’m not entirely sold on the idea yet, so if you want them back, say the word.”
“And deprive Jonah of his chandelier? Never. If you need help, though, let me know.”
“Do you know what you’re going to do with the ladder?”
“It’s going to be like a great big long swag light. I’m going to hang it from the ceiling with these chains I have, and I’m going to fix these lights between the rungs of the ladder. I thought of doing fairy lights and hanging it over my bed, but I rearrange the space so often that having it in the kitchen makes the most sense. I can hang it over the island and if I want to change it up, I can play with the fixtures or change them out altogether.”
“Did you want me to stick around and help you get it hung?” Spencer eyed the tall ceilings and his stomach swooped. “I don’t like the idea of you doing this by yourself.”
“And they say chivalry is dead. Sure, Spence, you can help. But I know how you are with heights, so you can stick to the floor and hold my ladder. And while you’re down there you can tell me why you got that weird look on your face when you talked about Jonah.”
