Wanderlust (Filling Spaces #1) by Lexi Stone Read Free Book Online Page B

and
the tangled sleeping bag on the floor as the sun warmed his naked body. 
“Asshole,” he muttered to no one in particular.  “You’re welcome for the food. 
And the orgasm.”
    Irritable, he came to
his feet and sought out his clothes.  His shirt hid tangled in the sleeping
bag; his jeans had landed halfway across the floor.  As he dressed, his
thoughts drifted to last night, to Shea—to blue eyes feverish with longing, to
that slim body open and longing under his mouth and his tongue, to the long
languid kisses and that blond head buried in his lap.
    Jamie sighed.
    “Asshole,” he muttered
again, but the word held no real malice.  It wasn’t as though he’d expected
anything to come of it, anyway.  Yawning, he finished tugging on his shirt and
scrounged for the last granola bar in his bag, holding it in his teeth while he
finger-combed his hair.  Shea had...well, some sort of life, surely. 
Graduate school, he’d said.  Jamie tried to picture it, a world outlined by the
proud stone archways of an elite university, the bland white walls of a
comfortable apartment, a regular schedule that blended work and school and a
social life.  Just as well he was gone.  Shea was the type of guy who wouldn’t
make it one day without a schedule, would lose his mind not knowing what the
next day would bring.
    Pampered.  Spoiled. 
Stupid picket-fence—
    “I hope you don’t have
anything against fast food.”
    Jamie started and
dropped his granola bar as the kitchen door slammed, then accidentally stepped
on it as he turned to the cabin’s entrance.  Shea seemed particularly alert,
his pale hair only faintly ruffled and his blue eyes cheerful.  His limp had
improved, too, and he held forth a crumpled white bag, grease-stained here and
there, in offering.  “Breakfast,” he announced.  “Bacon, egg, and cheese.  I
don’t know what your tastes are, so I hope it’s okay.”
    Jamie regarded him
warily.  “What are you doing here?”  Misplaced pride pricked him,
spawned a new and unpleasant worry.  “If this is just because I gave you a blow
job—”
    Shea favored him with a
laugh.  “I’d say last night was probably worth more than the nine dollars I
spent on breakfast,” he pointed out.   “It’s just that you fed me dinner last
night, so I thought the next meal should be my turn.”  Unperturbed by Jamie’s
obvious bewilderment, he pulled out two neatly-wrapped biscuits from the bag. 
“We have to split an orange juice, though.  I didn’t have a ton of cash on me.”
    The scent of bacon made
Jamie’s stomach growl, but he ignored it to plant both hands firmly on the
table and lean forward until his face was an inch from Shea’s.  “What,” he
snapped, “do you think you’re doing?  Shouldn’t you be home by now?”
    Honest confusion
touched Shea’s blue eyes as they searched Jamie’s face.  “I don’t understand. 
Do you want me to leave?  When you first found me here, you said I
should stay if I wanted, and last night you said I should risk something—you
said I should stay, and then maybe come with you.  I thought you were joking,
and maybe you were, but...” He glanced down at his food, then sharply back up
at Jamie.  “But part of it felt true.  So I decided to come back.”
    Jamie opened his mouth
and then shut it.  At a loss for words, he plucked the second biscuit from
Shea’s proffered hand and busied himself with the wrapper as he sat down at the
crooked table.  “You’re spoiled,” he finally muttered after a moment.  “Don’t
pretend you have that much bravado.  All you did last night was tell stories
about your comfortable little life and your comfortable little school.  Don’t
act like you’re just going to leave it all behind.”
    “And you didn’t tell me
anything about yourself at all,” Shea countered honestly as he started on the
biscuit.  “You’re right; I am spoiled.  Coming here to break into an
abandoned house is