“Like what you see?” he drawls.
I decide not to address his remark.
“You’re not supposed to be here.”
He shrugs, looking very comfortable.
“People keep telling me that, and yet, here I am.”
“Okay. Well, I need to get back to work.”
He grabs my arm lightly. “Yeah, but you haven’t heard what I have to say.”
I roll my eyes.
“You’re sorry, you had no idea that I have no food yada yada yada. I get it. Again, apology accepted, if not forgiven. Now, I have work to do.”
But Jethro doesn’t back down.
“Actually, it’s more than that. I have a proposition for you and I think it could solve your problems as well as mine.”
I eye him suspiciously.
“Yeah, but why would I trust you?” I ask. “We don’t know each other, and if anything, my first impression of you has been bad.”
Jethro’s lips quirk up in a smile again.
“Well, it’s not all bad,” he drawls. “You definitely appreciate my physique judging from the way you’ve been drooling over my body for the past ten minutes.”
My eyes fly up to his blue gaze, and then I swallow hard because it’s true. His features are chiseled, and the alpha male is just so damn handsome. Ugh. How do I even deny a statement like that? But I tap my foot.
“Okay, out with it,” I say, crossing my arms over my chest. “What’s your proposition?”
Jethro’s clearly amused by my attempt to ignore his comment, and he shrugs.
“So yeah, I’m really sorry for eating your lunch, Jessie,” he continues like nothing’s wrong. “I didn’t think about it and that was hare-brained on my part. My apologies.”
“Thanks,” I say quickly. “Great. We’re done.”
“But,” he continues before I can go. “I can tell that you’re down on your luck because no human being eats only one meal a day if they can help it.”
I stand up straighter. “What?” I stammer quickly. “Who says I’m down on my luck? That day was just a one-off event when I didn’t have a chance to get to the grocery store.”
Jethro throws me a look.
“So today you’re eating two meals? Or even three?”
I want to lie, but for some reason I can’t because of course, my situation is dire.
“I…I…” I stammer.
“That’s what I thought,” Jethro says in a smooth tone. “So hear me out, okay? Listen, it’s fine to be poor. I don’t come from money either, and things were tight when I was young. My dad was a firefighter, and my mom stayed home to take care of us, so we were surviving on a government salary. All five of us,” he emphasizes.
I look at him, trying to figure out if he’s lying. “You don’t seem the type to go without.”
Jethro shrugs.
“I make decent money now, but it’s not like I’m a billionaire. I drive an old truck I’ve had for twenty years now and to be honest, it’s fine.”
“Well, I take the bus everywhere,” I say in a petulant tone. God, I’m being such a spoiled brat, and it’s a wonder this man doesn’t kick me to the curb right now. But instead, Jethro just shrugs again.
“I’m not trying to turn it into a competition, Jessie. But I can see that you’re struggling a bit, which is why I have a proposition for you. Something that might help us both.”
I squint because what could we possibly have to offer one another? Yes, he’s handsome, but I’m decidedly not beautiful. He’s got money from dancing in Thunder Strike, whereas I’m paying tuition and barely getting by on my small stipend as a wardrobe assistant. What could we possibly collaborate on?
“Listen, is it because you want some extra costumes? Or you need extra fittings for your existing wardrobe? It’s all a part of my job, and you don’t have to pay me extra,” I begin.
But Jethro cuts me off.
“No, that’s not it,” he says in a smooth tone. “Actually, have you ever heard of the term ‘free use’?”
I squint.
“What? Sort of. I mean, isn’t that like when you don’t need a license from a copyright holder to use their work? So you can quote bits of the Declaration of Independence without checking in with anyone?” But then I pause. “Wait, is the Declaration of Independence even copyrighted?”
Jethro grins.
“You’re a smart girl, and no, no one holds a copyright on either the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution. But this is a different kind of free use. It’s a fetish, actually.”
I stare at him, unsure I’ve heard correctly.
“What?”
Jethro nods like everything’s totally normal.
“Free use is a type of consensual relationship where the partners are allowed to sexually “use” each other at any time whether or not one person’s in the mood. Obviously, there’s a lot of variations of the free use lifestyle, but yeah, that’s what it means.”
I stare at him, jaw slack.
“Come again?”
Jethro merely shrugs, completely unbothered.