I pulled out of his grasp and gave a curt nod. “Good to know. Glad we were able to clear the air. I’m sure it’ll be a pleasure to work here. Have a nice day, Mr. J.”
“Who’s Mr. J? And hey—are you dismissing me?”
“You, I assume. And yes. I need to get to work. Thank you again for the donuts.”
“Hmph. You’re welcome.” He ruffled my hair as he stood. “My last name is Prescott, by the way.”
“What does the J stand for? You never told me.”
Bobby J rested his arm over the top of the cubicle partition and cocked his head thoughtfully. “It’s confidential info. You have to tell me a secret, and I’ll tell you.”
“My middle name is Allen.”
“Nice try, but I get to choose the secret. Stay ready, Code-meister. Go for the chocolate next. It’s awesome.”
I stared at the blank space he vacated for a moment. I popped up and quickly rounded the corner. “Wait. Are you flirting with me?”
He flashed a brilliant smile—the kind that would make anyone’s toes curl and heart stop…and then, he walked away.
3
Bobby J
Was I flirting with him? Yes. I was. But I didn’t know why. Sure, I was attracted to him, and I’d made it my personal mission to always follow my instincts, whether that meant dropping out of med school to pursue music or moving from Chicago to LA in the hopes of joining a band worth a damn. It also extended to the laws of attraction.
Truth time…I was also an equal opportunity horndog.
I’d figured out that I was attracted to both sexes when I was a teenager and had happily explored every aspect of my bisexuality over the past couple of decades. I was lucky and I knew it. There was no one in my life telling me I was perverted or disgusting. There was really no one paying much attention to me at all—the lone perk of being an only child of an absent professor.
Whatever. Not important. At the end of the day, I’d learned to rely on myself and trust my gut. And something in my gut had me spinning over Cody. Seriously spinning.
I bent my head over my guitar and let my fingers fly across the strings. I swayed into the rhythm, weaving a pretty pattern over the beat Cade and Gill laid as Declan sang in a deep, melodic voice. My body might be in the studio, but my brain was trying to work out weird shit…like why I couldn’t stop thinking about Cody.
He was pretty. Those big expressive eyes, full lips, and that aura of extraordinary intelligence fixed with a dose of innocence was charming as fuck. I liked him. A lot. But I couldn’t follow my gut with him and get him out of my system. He was the fucking intern. And as much as it pained me to admit it, he was probably too young for me. A nine-year age difference wasn’t huge in the grand scheme of things, but it felt big right now. Don’t ask me why.
I was glad nothing had really happened between us. We flirted, we kissed, and yeah, I would have happily fucked him. And he knew it. It might have been a “fuck the guy in the band” syndrome. Though Cody didn’t strike me as the type of guy who’d be into a one-night stand. He seemed more deliberate and purpose-driven. But hey, I didn’t know shit. And I wanted to.
Cody’d been at Scratch Records for two weeks now and I caught myself wondering silly things that didn’t seem important anymore…like how’d he get that sunburn? Logical, intelligent people knew better than to test the sun’s UV rays. And why would he take this internship when he had a job waiting for him after summer with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab? Analyzing data for missions to outer space and following social media trends for a start-up record label were two different balls of wax. He’d said he was doing research with his friends, and yeah…I wanted to know more about that too.
Cody was a trip. In a good way. Don’t get me wrong. I didn’t have a crush on the guy or anything. But he was a breath of fresh air, and I liked him. I’d made a couple of detours to his desk to say hi. It was abbreviated banter about the weather and the state of his sunburn…gorgeous and fading. I didn’t know why, but those small exchanges made me smile and—
Declan ended the song with a flourish, snapping me back to reality. I half expected one of the guys to call me on my lack of attention. Thankfully, no one seemed to notice.
Dec flashed a megawatt grin and slapped his hand over his strings. “That was awesome.”
“And sexy too. I need a cigarette after that,” Gill joked.