Say You'll Be Nine

Fuck.

“Yeah, uh… no proving necessary. Let’s just… um…” I swallowed. “Let’s go over the accounts I set up today and the logo choices I put together.”

He blew out a breath. The tips of his ears were deep red. He was even cuter when flustered. “Yeah. Good.”

I turned my laptop around so we could both see it.

“Cooped Up With Nine?” he asked incredulously. “That’s what you’re calling this?”

“Cute, huh? I thought it was a fun play on our names. Besides, part of what we’re going to be vlogging is living together in this small space, right?”

He sighed. “Fine. What else?”

I clicked to another window where I had a selection of logos I’d made. “Do any of these jump out to you? I mean, they’re rough, so… if I need to change or try something else…”

The side of his lips curved up and his entire demeanor softened. “Yeah. This one.” He pointed to a line drawing I’d done on my iPad of a cute cabin outline and comic versions of us and Nacho standing in the clearing. Nine had his arm around me and was kissing my cheek. A tiny cartoon heart floated up above the kiss. It was by far my favorite too, but I was surprised to see him react so positively to seeing himself embracing me that way.

“Oh. Okay. Yeah. Good. That’s done. Now…” I thought of what else I needed to ask him about, but he reached over and grabbed my hand before I could think.

“Coop. That’s amazing work. Truly.” He looked from the logo up to my eyes. “Do you think we can find someone to animate it to put it at the beginning of each video?”

My heart leaped up at his enthusiasm. “Yeah. Uh. I have a buddy from LA who can probably try it. He works for an animation house there.”

“That would be killer. It would look really professional, wouldn’t it?” His grin was contagious. Sometimes he seemed like an eager puppy. The man was mercurial as hell, but I kind of liked the unpredictability.

I nodded. “Okay, what’s next?”

We continued sorting through plans for a couple more hours until it was nearing midnight. Both of us were probably subconsciously avoiding bedtime, but it had been a long day and I was going to fall asleep on the kitchen table if I didn’t move to the bed.

“I’m going to brush my teeth and crawl in bed,” I said, nudging Nacho off the bench so I could get out. “Want me to let this guy out for a final pee?”

Nine stretched and slid out of the booth as well. “Nah. I’ll take him out while you’re in the bathroom. Then I’ll get my turn.”

Once the two of them were outside, I let out a deep breath. How the fuck was I going to manage this? When I’d first met him, Nine had been a gangly teen, but when he’d graduated from high school, he’d suddenly bulked up and sprouted even taller. That was when I’d taken a different kind of notice of him. Since he was still Eli’s kid brother, I’d avoided him like the plague. But now? With that fucking hair and beard and those jacked muscles? How was I supposed to keep myself from climbing him like a tree? He was pure bear, and he even smelled like honey. So help me, if he slept shirtless and had a big chest full of hair, I was going to stroke it whether I wanted to or not.

And I wanted to.

After brushing my teeth and washing my face, I changed into flannel pjs and an old ratty T-shirt. Better to cover everything and look unappealing. As if it mattered at all to Nine. Whatever. If I felt unsexy, maybe it would make me less prone to sexing all over him.

Earlier this afternoon I’d made the bed up from washed sheets my mom had sent along. As I slid between the covers, I smelled the familiar laundry detergent from home. I’d texted Mom and Jacks when I’d arrived, but I hadn’t called to check in. Hopefully they were fine. Since Stallion was allowing us to keep the internet hot spot on all the time, I felt more confident that they’d be able to reach me if something came up.

When Nine came back in the RV, I heard him mumble something to Nacho, and the dog raced into the bedroom and launched himself onto the bed with me.

“Hey, buddy.” I laughed and leaned down to pet him. “You gonna be our chaperone tonight? Huh?”

Nine poked his head into the small room. “Sorry about that. He’s used to sleeping with me. He’ll sleep on my feet and shouldn’t bother you, but I can kick him off if you want.”

“No, no. I like it. It’s fine.”

He smiled a sweet little smile and turned to squeeze himself into the bathroom. I heard the water in the shower turn on and tried not to picture his big ass naked in that tiny cubicle. Lucky fucking shower stall.