Page 27 of Third Time Lucky

Lake’s brain had kind of stuck on “I don’t bottom” and was playing it on repeat like a strangely enticing merry-go-round. Lake could see how men would find Grady being a top appealing. Which he wasnotgoing to think overmuch about.

“Sorry I went off on him,” Lake said again. Bringing his “officer” persona home was something he tried hard not to do, having heard too many horror stories about people that couldn’t leave it at work. But the idea of someone treating Grady like that, speaking to him like that, had made him see red.

“You don’t have to apologise. I’m not feeling very warmly towards him right now. Maybe I’ll be willing to hear him out one day, but not today. Or any time soon.”

“You wouldn’t take him back, would you?” Lake asked, frowning. Was that not a “do not pass GO” move for a relationship? Lake didn’t think he could forgive a person for betraying him like that.

“No,” Grady said. “But maybe for closure. We’ll see. Do you want some more?”

“I love how you ask that as if you don’t already know the answer.”

“Right. My bad.” Grady pulled Lake’s bowl towards himself and scraped more of the meal from the Tupperware container into it.

“What are you even doing here?”

“I was bored.”

“Second string. Nice.”

“Excuse me. I bypassed a perfectly good night of channel surfing and gooey popcorn for you.”

“I beat popcorn?”

“Any chance youhaveany popcorn?”

Grady threw his head back and laughed, a loud sound full of mirth. Lake couldn’t have stopped the answering curl of his lips if he’d wanted to. And if he stared a little too hard at the way Grady’s Adam’s apple was very… noticeable, that was his own business.

Lakehadanumberingsystem for his dates. In his head, anyway. An 8 was when the date was going so well Lake knew that they were going to get naked before the end of the night. Those were his second favourite kind and the rarest. It wasn’t often he immediately wanted to sleep with a person. His favourite were the 10s, where the date was justnice.Like getting a warm hug or being surprised with his favourite flavour of ice cream. The intimacy of it appealed to him more than a hot roll in the hay, even though those were fun.

This date was currently a 1.

Possibly a negative 1. Negative 10, even. He would need to compile all the data in his mind. He grimaced internally. He’d turned into Zach. His friend would laugh himself silly.

“Excuse me,” Marlie said, standing. “I need to use the genie room. I won’t be long. If the food gets delivered before I get back, don’t start eating without me. We wouldn’t want to be rude, would we?”

Lake just shook his head “no” and let out a sigh of relief as she turned her back and walked away. He wasn’t even going to ask about the name. He didn’t want to know why the fuck she called the ladies’ room the “genie” room. Did she think her parts would grant wishes if rubbed right?

Lake didn’t have the world’s biggest sex drive, but he liked to have a good time when it reared its head. He didn’t want to take this woman home at all. There would be no rubbing of anything.

Maybe when he scrubbed himself clean in the shower when he got home, but she wouldn’t be the one he was thinking of while he did it. Where had Zach even found this woman? If this was a prank, he was getting punched. Twice. Maybe even three times if Lake’s knuckles didn’t hurt too much after the first two.

He quickly got his phone out of his pocket and dialled a number that had become increasingly familiar to him over the last four weeks. And one that always made him smile. He had a tune he hummed when he tapped it out, using the numbers to create his own sound.

What he loved the most was that Gradyalwaysanswered. Lake was sure it was a detective thing; nine times out of ten when someone called him it was probably a call about a crime. But Lake liked to think it was because he saw Lake’s number, too. Surely he screened his calls for the same reason.

“Detective Donehue,” Grady answered gruffly. The sounds of people talking and low music were in the background, but Lake could hear him clear as day. His voice had a rumbling tone to it that always stood out. Lake had a feeling he’d always be able to pick Grady’s voice out of a crowd even after knowing the man only a short time.

Also, he always sounded so grumpy, like a wet cat waiting for the next water spray and getting ready to hiss and snarl and make swiping motions at the attacker. Lake snorted out a laugh at the imagery.

“It’s me,” he said once the chuckles had subsided.

“I figured, after the evil laugh.”

“It wasn’t an evil laugh,” Lake protested. One did not laugh evilly at grumpy cats and expect to make it out alive or unscratched. He had more sense than that.

“They could use you as a Disney villain,” Grady said.

“It gets me hot when you talk about cartoons.” Lake was positive that Grady watched rom-coms, children’s movies, and weird game shows when no one was looking. He was going to find out. No one would believe him, but he wanted to know anyway, out of pure curiosity.

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