Page 17 of Filthy Sweet

“Oh my god,” I grumble. “Could you not act like I’m a child on my first day of work, Reggie.”

Fox hums under his breath. “He doesn’t want to do it. Stop acting like the big brother, hey? It was just some bullshit Decker spouted off.”

“But it would be good for both of you,” Reggie says, then shoves some bacon in his mouth. “Owen could get a tour of the city, have a good wingman to show him the rainbow ropes. And he could be your chaperone, help keep you out of trouble for a little bit and make your bosses happy, too.”

Fox rolls his eyes. “My bosses are already too happy, if you ask me.”

“And you can find a boyfriend this way,” Reggie encourages me. “You can fake-dump Fox for some other guy, a rock star, maybe. Fox never gets dumped. It would be good for him.”

I force a laugh, then push some eggs around on the plate. Reggie is taking me out for breakfast on my first day at work, which is so nice of him. But he keeps acting like I’m so helpless and inexperienced, and it’s frustrating me.

Around Fox, I’d at least like to pretend I’m a normal, well-rounded adult.

Fox drops his arm and leans forward on the table. “I should put some time into steadying my reputation,” he says to himself. “Decker is right about that.”

“When’s your next public appearance?” Reggie asks.

Fox yawns. “A concert. It doesn’t matter.” He turns and looks straight at me, the silver-gray in his eyes flashing, and his face relaxes in a smile. “Enough about my bullshit. It’s your first day of work, right?”

I smile back. Ever since he took me to meet Kissing Dirt, I’ve felt more comfortable with Fox. I’m still insecure that he’s just being nice because I’m Reggie’s brother, but I feel like we have our own thing, too.

Heat pulses through me, tickling my skin.

The familiarity is not helping at all with my crush.

“I’ve been to the museum to fill out paperwork and meet people, but this is my official first day,” I say.

“Cool. Good luck.”

Reggie inhales more bacon. “Maybe you could celebrate with a concert this weekend?”

“Reggie, fuck,” Fox grunts, annoyed. “He’s already gotten sniped by paparazzi. He doesn’t want to chill as my fake boyfriend, got it?”

“It’s not that,” I blurt out. “I mean, the picture thing is kind of intense. But I spent like an hour trying to find it last night, and I’m good at that kind of thing, and it didn’t seem like it travelled off of Instagram.” I bite on my lip, not sure why I’m saying all of this. “I’m not scared to be in public with you or anything. So you know.”

Okay, the paparazzi thing does make my stomach jittery. But I don’t want Fox to feel bad about himself, not after he’s always been so nice to me. And it’s not his fault that my clumsy ass spilled a box of dildoes and panties the second we reconnected.

Reggie leans back and folds his arms over his chest, satisfied. “See?” He looks at me. “You’re into it, right?”

I twirl the fork in my hand, my heart pounding. “I’m not… I mean Fox didn’t…”

Fox’s mouth quirks up in a smile, like he’s entertained and maybe a little impressed. “You want to go to a concert with me this weekend? I can’t say it will be any good.”

My cheeks feel warm. “Oh.” I twirl the fork again. “Sure! I mean, why not?”

“Cool,” Fox says. “I’ll text you the details.”

Reggie laughs, his barrel chest bouncing as he looks between us. “Hell yeah. My best bud and my little bro, helping each other out. Talking about music, and kissing dudes, and—”

“Cool it, Reggie,” Fox says, beating me to it, then looks at me and winks.

By the time I’m walking up to the museum, I’m just about done blushing from that wink, although it’s incredibly difficult to wrestle my focus away Fox and on to work. I remind myself that the only reason he and I are going to this concert is because I’m not real boyfriend material. It might feel like he would actually be perfect for me, like we make each other happy in a way no one else could, but that’s just the horny chemicals in my brain talking.

My thoughts flicker somewhere I’ve been trying to avoid. It’s actually really hot that Fox has had so much sexual experience. It turns me on, like how he’s so confident, just saying he’s into panties and threesomes. I can’t imagine how good it must feel to be wanted by him, to feel his hands all over my body, let him come inside me over and over until he’s spent…

I trip over a crack in the sidewalk and barely manage to avoid falling flat on my face.

Luckily, the big stone columns at the entrance to the museum do the trick and snap me back to reality. I walk through the front doors, and immediately, a massive mammoth skeleton cast its shadow over me, filling me with awe like the first time I saw it.

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