My Sweetest Escape (32 page)

said no when I’d asked for one every single

birthday and Christmas. A lot of the time it

was because we were renting in a place that

didn’t allow them.

I’d always wanted a dog, but now I was

seeing the cat appeal. Big-time.

Dusty passed him over to me and he

mewed at me.

“He’s just saying hello. If you scratch him

right here, he’ll be in love with you

forever.” He put his fingers under

Napoleon’s chin and scratched, which made

Napoleon close his eyes and start purring

again. Dusty moved his hand and mine took

his place under the kitten’s chin.

“I didn’t know you had a cat,” I said as

Napoleon snuggled closer to my hand.

Dusty sat down on the couch that took

up much of the limited space.

“I didn’t plan on it, but then the woman

downstairs found a litter of kittens and she

asked me if I wanted one and I couldn’t say

no. Could you say no to him?”

“Never.” I sat down next to him, making

sure I didn’t jostle the sweet little kitty.

“This really isn’t that bad, Dusty.”

He had it organized at least. There was a

bookshelf in one corner with quite a few

worn paperbacks on it and an ancient

television, one of those with the big

wooden box around it, across from the

couch with a DVD player that looked very

out of place on top of it.

The walls were pretty bare, but here and

there were a few pictures. It wasn’t what I’d

expected, from the few times I’d been in

guys’ apartments and dorm rooms. Usually

there were more than a few posters of

half-naked girls, or at least a Playboy or two

hanging around, and lots of beer cans and

chip bags.

“It’s not much, but it’s mine. And

Napoleon’s. It’s really his place and I just

live here.”

Everything was quiet except for

Napoleon, who was still purring away.

“So are you still mad at me?” he said.

I couldn’t lie. “I’m not happy about it,

but it’s not completely your fault. I’m going

to have it out with Renee and the rest of

the residents of the house when I get back

about it.”

“Do you have to? I mean, they don’t

have to know that you know.”

“But they lied to me, Dusty. I can’t just

let that go.”

“You’re right.” He stroked Napoleon’s

head and sighed.

“So I have something for you. Something

to say I’m sorry. Or at least start saying I’m

sorry. Do you want it?”

“Does it have anything to do with the

socks?”

“Nope.”

I had no idea what this could be. Dusty

took the now sleeping Napoleon from me

and placed him gently in a little kitten bed

on the floor beside the couch.

“Be right back. Oh, and close your eyes.”

I gave him a look and did what he said. He

left the room and went into his bedroom. I

listened as he came back and placed

something on the floor in front of me.

“Okay, open.”

I looked down to find a clear plastic

bucket with a huge bow on the lid. It was

absolutely filled with…

“An equal ratio of Skittles and M&M’s. I

actually counted them out. Did you know

they don’t put the same amount in each

bag? I learned that around five this morning

when I couldn’t stop thinking about you.”

“Do you mean to tell me you sat and

counted all of those?”

There must be thousands of them in

there.

He put his hands into his pockets. “Yeah,

it took a while.”

I looked down at the bucket again and

shook my head.

“You are so weird, Dusty Sharp.”

“Is weird good?”

I stood up and stepped over the bucket

and pulled him toward me.

“Yeah. Weird is awesome,” I said before

I tilted my face up and kissed him. He took

his hands out of his pockets and wrapped

them around my waist, pulling me up so I

was on my tiptoes. I pulled away from his

mouth, which tasted like chocolate.

“Did you eat any of them?”

He grinned.

“They were uneven, so I had a few left

over.”

“Oh.” I shrugged and went back to

kissing him. It was a little bit slower than

last night. Softer. Like a tentative first kiss.

Like we both knew we could take our time. I

let the taste of him flood my senses as his

hands slipped under my shirt and set off

every nerve ending. He pushed me back,

and we nearly tripped over the bucket on

our way to the couch. He laid me down and

got on his side so he wasn’t on top of me.

He pulled some hair loose from my bun

and twirled it around his fingers. “Want to

try it slower this time? We have all day.”

“What do you mean by slow? I think I

need to see a demonstration before I

commit to it,” I said with a serious face.

“I was thinking something like this,” he

said, giving me a slow kiss before moving

down my chin and to my neck.

“And this,” he said, pulling aside one

shoulder of my shirt and kissing down my

clavicle, moving my bra strap aside.

“And this,” he said, coming back up to

my mouth and sliding his hands upward,

under my shirt.

“Slow…good,” I said. Once again, my

moaning-while-talking issue had returned.

He laughed, sending vibrations racing across

my skin. Jesus. H. Christ.

We kept making out and he kept moving

my clothing, but not removing it. Which was

both awesome and totally frustrating at the

same time. Also, because he was fully

clothed, as well. I’d never seen him without

a shirt on, and I had about had it with

waiting.

Finally I just started pulling it off him so

he had no choice but to take it off.

“About time,” I said, taking in the toned

muscles, which, up until now, I’d only felt

with my hands. Seeing them with my eyes

was something else entirely. He was cut,

but not in a gross way. Just…perfectly

perfect in every way. And I got to see the

tattoo for the first time.

It was two identical Chinese characters. I

had no idea what they meant, but I made a

note to ask later. I didn’t have any tattoos

myself, but I always liked hearing the stories

behind them. They reminded me of a tattoo

I’d seen before. I couldn’t begin to imagine

what Dusty’s meant. I just hoped

it wasn’t Gangsta 4 Life or something

like that.

“Wow,” I said before going to his mouth.

My fingers raced along his blazing skin, and

I kissed my way down his neck.

“Fuck, Joscelyn.” I loved when he used

my full name. Like he was having sex with it.

Really, really good sex. “If we go much

further, I don’t think I can stop, and I don’t

think either of us is ready for that. Yet.”

His words were right, but I didn’t want

them to be. My body was screaming so loud

I didn’t want to hear anything else.

“You know, you’re not really being fair.

You can’t get me all worked up and then

expect me to be able to…shut it off.”

“Do you have any idea how many times

I’ve had to jack off since I met you? It’s like

I’m twelve again and hiding in the

bathroom and praying my parents don’t

walk in.”

“Gross,” I said, putting my hand on his

chest as if I was going to push him away.

“Oh, don’t tell me that you haven’t done

it.” My ears betrayed me.

“Not today.” That was a lie. It had

technically been today when he’d called me

and we’d had our little session in the

backseat of the car.

He climbed off me, looking down at his

pants. He shook his head as he grabbed his

shirt and put it back on.

“I always tell myself before I see you

that I can control it, but it never turns out

that way,” he said, as if he was speaking to

the bulge and not me.

“Are you giving yourself a pep talk?”

He threw his hands up. “Why won’t you

go away?” Yep, he definitely was. Talking to

his dick.

“I’ll stop being so…seductive,” I said,

adjusting my clothes so everything was

covered.

“Oh, Red. You can’t stop. It’s just…you

don’t have to do anything. You could sit

there and do absolutely nothing and it

would get me hot.”

Yeah, well, he was the same way.

“Maybe I should start picking my nose,

or hocking loogies. What about that?” I

said.

“I’d find that charming and adorable.”

Napoleon had woken up and was crying

from his bed. Dusty went and picked him

up. He brought Napoleon up to his face and

gave him a kiss. Sweet Jesus H. Fucking

Christ.

“Is Napoleon helping with your

problem?” Since I didn’t own a penis, I

didn’t know exactly how that whole thing

worked. I did have brothers, but they were

all younger and this wasn’t really

dinner-table conversation.

“A little. I’ll get over it. I hope. I’ve had

worse.”

He kept looking at Napoleon and not at

me and I kept looking at his pants. It should

have been the most awkward thing ever,

but Dusty was treating it like no big deal.

“Does it hurt?”

“I’m fine, Red. You don’t need to worry

about my dick.”

Maybe I wanted to worry about it. But

he clearly wasn’t going to let me anywhere

near it, so I took the top off the bucket of

M&M’s and Skittles and pulled out a

handful.

“It’s not that bad. Eating them

together,” he said, making faces at

Napoleon, who kept pawing Dusty’s nose.

“It’s like chocolate-covered fruit.”

“Exactly,” I said, cracking an M&M’s

between my teeth.

“Do you want anything else to eat? I

should have offered.”

He walked into the kitchen with

Napoleon and looked in the fridge. “I don’t

have much, because, as you know, I can’t

cook.”

I followed him, enjoying the view from

behind. He had a great ass. You could see it

was great even though his pants sagged.

That reminded me…

“How do your pants stay up?” He closed

the fridge and turned around, holding a

block of cheese.

“What?”

I pointed.

“How do your pants stay up? I’ve

wanted to ask you that for weeks.” I sat

down at one of the only chairs as he went

to the counter and got out a knife and

started cutting up the cheese.

“Can you hold him? He doesn’t like

being set down. Little monster.” He handed

me Napoleon, who was upset that Dusty

was abandoning him, but as soon as I

started scratching him under his chin he

relaxed.

“I wear a belt, as you can see,” he said,

lifting his shirt and showing it to me. Yes, I’d

seen it earlier and contemplated how to

undo it in the sexiest way.

“But your pants are so saggy.” They

were kind of not saggy right now, given the

situation, but normally, they were.

“They just defy gravity.” Napoleon

started batting at my finger, so I waved it

around for him to attack. He dived for it, got

off balance and nearly tumbled off my lap.

“Um, Jos?” I looked up to find Dusty

regarding me with his eyebrows raised.

“Yeah?”

“Talking about my pants isn’t really

helping with my current situation.” He

gestured in the vicinity of his situation.

How long was that going to be a

problem for him? Should I offer to leave?

“Sure thing.” I went back to petting

Napoleon while Dusty cut up cheese and

then got some crackers out of the cabinet

and put them on a paper plate.

“Want some?” he held the plate out to

me and I took a few pieces of cheese and

some crackers. I wasn’t hungry, but I didn’t

know what else to do.

Dusty got out two glasses and poured

me a soda and sat down. It was probably

more comfortable for him that way.

“So, socks. What’s with the socks?” I

said, trying for a subject change.

He smiled and took one of the bags and

opened it.

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but this

entire apartment is linoleum. From the

living room and down the hall and out here.

As you know, linoleum can be very slippery,

especially if you’re wearing new socks, and

especially if it is freshly cleaned. So, let’s put

Napoleon back in his bed and get some

socks on your feet, Red.”

“Sock sliding? We are seriously sock

sliding?” I said when Napoleon had been

shut safely in Dusty’s bedroom so we didn’t

run into him.

“I have a lot of free time,” he said,

putting a pair of the new socks on his feet

as I did the same. “And I used to drink that

time away, or smoke it away, or do other

bad things with it. After I decided not to do

those things anymore, I had to find sober

ways to occupy my time. You’ve only met

sober me. Drunk me was way more fun.”

“I don’t know about that. You’re pretty