Page 63 of Mason's Run

I laughed at him and he grinned back, his green eyes twinkling at me. Damn, that smile was dangerous.

“So, you slept well?” he asked, eyes turning back to our food. At least, I hoped it was “our” because it smelled delicious, and I realized with a start that I was starving.

“Yeah, I slept like a rock,” I mumbled, feeling the tell-tale heat begin to work its way up my neck.

“Really, now? And how exactly does a rock sleep, Mr. Malone?” he asked, continuing to use the spoon as a microphone. “Would you say they slepthard… and werethick… and long…andheavyin the sack…” He teased, drawing out every salacious consonant as he eye-fucked me.

“Fucker,” I muttered, sitting down at the table, feeling the heat move up my face. I was glad for my long hair, because at least he wasn’t able to see my pink ears.

“That’sMr. Fucker to you, boyo,” he teased.

He set a plate in front of me, then joined me at the table. I took a bite of the eggs he placed in front of me. Damn, he might not have much in the variety department, but the man made somedamngood eggs.

“So, do you always make eggs whenever…” I paused, trying to figure out how to classify last night. It hadn’t felt like a one-night stand, but we hadn’t exactly been focusing on relationships or labels at the time.

“Whenever what…? Whenever I…fly?” he prodded with a non-sequitur.

I didn’t respond at first, because I was reliving the evening on my end, an event painfully attested to by my cock. It had swollen almost painfully as I’d watch Lee move around the kitchen. Apparently, my silence egged him on.

“Whenever I… host a world-famous artist and writer?” He asked, throwing out increasingly more ridiculous options as I became more flustered and hesitated to respond.

“…Kiss a hippo?” he quipped. The image was so unexpected, I laughed out loud.

“No, jackass,” I said, finally, when I caught my breath, “…whenever you sleep with someone.”

His face sobered as he set the rest of the eggs and toast on the table and served himself.

“Nope. I just suck at cooking everything else, so it’s usually eggs or Pop Tarts for breakfast,” he said, grinning.

“Hmmm… I’m not a bad cook, maybe one morningI’llwakeyouup with French toast,” I said.

He froze across from me, his gaze turning heated as his eyes locked mine. “I would be honored to eat your French toast.”

The moment broke and we both burst out laughing.

He was being a huge goofball as we ate at the dinette table, so different from the guy I'd met just a few days ago, and I wasn’t really sure what to make of him.

“There’s coffee if you want it,” he said. “But I usually stop at the donut shop on my way into work. They make way better coffee than I ever could.”

“Oh my god!” I exclaimed. “Donut shop coffee? Please tell me you’re joking,” I scoffed.

“Hey! I’ll have you know that Jubilee Donuts makes the best coffee this side of, um, Seattle,” he continued. “And their cream sticks are to die for!”

I mumbled something appropriately snarky about him and his stick full of cream, but he just laughed. “Don’t knock ’em till you try them!”

We ate together in comfortable silence for a few minutes and Itried to figure out what it was about Lee that made me so strangely comfortable in his presence. I didn’t usually relate well to strangers. My therapist said I had trust issues.No shit!

He had just swallowed a bite of toast when his eyes caught mine, his face sobering.

“Seriously, though, how are you... you know, feeling today?” He asked, pushing eggs around his plate, but his concern apparent on his face.

“Um, good,” I said, trying to take stock of my emotional inventory. “Weirdly relaxed. I feel kind of like I hit the sex lottery,” I teased.

The grin on Lee’s face got wider. He jumped to his feet and did an over-the-top fist pump.

“Hoo ahhhh!Yes, ladies and gentlemen. Or rather, gentleman and gentleman, I suppose,” he eyed me cheekily and winked. “You definitely ‘hit’ the jackpot. Now I need a t-shirt made that says ‘Jackpot’ on it.”

We laughed and I might or might not have argued with him about who, exactly, had scored last night… but before long we had finished breakfast and were placing dishes in the dishwasher.