Disney Got It Wrong

Chapter 14

When Sunday came, I made arrangements for Mom to keep the kids for me so I could spend the day with Myles at the bakery. I was sure he was more than capable of handling the repairs by himself, but with his brothers being busy with other things, I wanted to help in any way that I could. I woke up early to get there before him so I could unlock the doors and move some things that might be in the way of the work that had to be done.

Myles had held up to his promises since Friday. Everything had gone back to our normal. I woke up Saturday morning to a snap and a message waiting for me, though why he got up so early, I had no idea and made it a point to eventually ask. He even called me at bedtime and we talked until we both agreed we'd be worthless if we didn't get some sleep.

The tone of the messages between us felt a little different. All restraint hadn't been lost, but Myles was noticeably more blatant about his interests now that everything was out in the open, and I found myself encouraging it to some extent. He hadn't done or said anything overtly suggestive—he hadn't graduated overnight to unsolicited dick pics—but he had definitely spent Saturday working SnapChat to his advantage.

Case in point, his reply to my snap of the cleared out storage room was a bathroom mirror selfie. He was standing there in nothing but a towel. His phone was held high, showing me only the image in his mirror where he had wiped the condensation off it. His chest and abs were still glistening with water, his wet hair doing that floppy thing that I liked, and the towel riding so low that the entire V shape of the line of his lower abs was visible. I could even see that he kept up with his man-scaping. He wasn't hairless, but it was closely trimmed just like his chest hair, and...

It stopped me in my tracks and made my head spin and my heart pound in my ears. My mouth was dry and watering at the same time, and I was very jealous of the toothbrush hanging out of his mouth and his free hand that was resting against his lower abdomen. The cocky little half grin he managed around the toothbrush made my chest feel funny.

"Oh... my fucking god," I whispered to myself.

I stared at the picture way too long. My basic motor skills failed me when I tried to zoom in and accidently swiped the screen and closed the snap. Before I thought about it, I replayed the snap for one more long look at that beautiful man who, for whatever reason, wanted to be a part of my life and sent up a silent prayer to whatever hedonistic pagan god might still be floating around in the universe that I would be able to manage such a tall order without imploding on the spot.

The message notification popped up while I was still molesting him with my eyes, and I finally swiped off the picture to see what he had sent.

Myles: I could always send you a copy for the spank bank.

Me: Why when I could see it in person?

I was tingling all over and thinking for the millionth time about that make out session. And while I was contemplating an entirely different scenario, one where I didn't run away, he sent a short video of him in all his wet floppy haired glory with his teeth sinking into his bottom lip as he winked at the camera. It was a boomerang video that played and reversed in a never ending loop as long as I kept it open. The caption across it said, "Say when and where, baby." I giggled in spite of my better efforts and sent a reply.

Me: You're too pretty for your own good, and you know it.

Myles: I play to my strengths. Is it working?

Me: Yeah, yeah, I'm a pile of Raegan goo. Don't we have work to do?

Myles: God I love it when you get bossy with me. Be there in 20.

Shaking off an especially strong case of the tingles, I switched to my iMessage to let Natalie know that work would soon be under way and that I would be at the bakery all morning to oversee it. I added that she should feel free to stop by to see how things progressed if she wanted to. Not that I expected her to actually stop by, but she was still my partner. Even though things were still tense between us and she had hardly spoken to me all week, I was adamant that I should still be civil and keep her in the know of what was going on.