The Party Boy's Guide to Dating a Geek (Clumsy Cupids) (34 page)

pesky brother. Just wait till Christmas. It's going to

be insane."

"Are you sure they'll accept us?"

"They're going to love you." Ash kissed Fee,

deeply, pouring all his pent-up emotions into it.

"Just because their son does," he added after they

broke the kiss.

"I never knew Jackson felt that way about me. Is

Marisol pissed?"

Ash laughed. "Goofball."

Fee leaned over and kissed him, a toe-curling,

never-gonna-let-you-go kind of kiss.
A perfect

kiss
, Ash thought as Fee pinned him to the couch

and nuzzled his neck. Ash spread his legs to wrap

them around Fee's waist and kissed Fee again.

"Thanks for the bracelet," Fee said when he

pulled back. He put one hand on Ash's chest.

Ash smiled and looked at Fee's hand. "You

know you already have the key to my heart, but I

wanted to give you something you could show the

rest of the world, too."

Fee returned his smile, but then his expression

grew puzzled. "What did you mean earlier? When

you said you could take a hint?"

"Shit," Ash said. All his worries from that

morning had been forgotten as soon as Fee opened

the door. "I was so stupid."

"Why?"

"When you didn't show, I thought …" Ash shook

his head. He looked at Fee. After everything Fee

had told him, he didn't want to add to Fee's pain.

But Ash also couldn't keep anything from him. "I

thought you were ashamed of me." Ash's eyes

filled up with tears when he realized Fee had

actually been fighting for him.

"I was ashamed to have you meet him, but it

wasn't of you. I'm ashamed of
him
."

"I know that now. I should have trusted you. I'm

so sorry, Fee. I had no idea what you were going

through. I should have had more faith in you."

Fee nodded. "Yes. But I should have had more

faith in you, too. I really was going to try to

explain that night, but then we fought and I …"

"I know. I shouldn't have cut you off the way I

did. I was being a selfish idiot. If I had known,

Fee," Ash said, "there is no fucking way I would

have let you go alone." Fee was staring straight

ahead again, and Ash held his breath. "And I

promise, I will never doubt again."

Fee turned to him and smiled. "There will never

be a need, for either of us. Farm Boy."

Epilogue

15.1

8 Months Later …

"Well, that's the last box. About friggin' time.

How did you have so much stuff in one room?"

Ash set down the bags he was carrying and

turned to grin at Donovan. He shrugged a little. "I

was in that room for a long time. Trust me, even I

was surprised. I thought I'd be able to cram it all

into a few boxes. Not so much."

Donovan grunted. "I need a Coke."

He wandered over to the kitchen and opened the

fridge, digging around until he found a can. It didn't

bother Ash to see that Donovan was comfortable

enough in Fee's apartment to help himself. He and

Donovan had gotten to be friends in all the months

since Halloween, and there wasn't any weird

animosity anymore. And, well, it wasn't just Fee's

apartment anymore, was it? It was
theirs
. Ash's

and Fee's.

It still felt weird thinking that. Ash had never

lived with a boyfriend before. Sure, he'd

practically been living with Fee since October, but

Fee asking him to move in last month had made

things official.

Ash couldn't believe how much had changed in

the past year. He'd gone from carefree club boy to

responsible man. From a tattoo apprentice to co-

owner of his own shop. From playing fast and

loose to being in a committed relationship. He

liked things better this way.

Carley and Jae were happy for him, but they

were even happier they wouldn't have to search for

another roommate after just having found someone

compatible to replace Archie. Donovan would be

taking Ash's old room—which was part of the

reason he'd agreed to help Ash move.

It remained to be seen how Donovan would get

along with Carley, Jae, and the new guy, Dex.

Roommates could be tricky, Ash knew. He hoped

the situation worked out okay for everyone

involved.

Ty was another matter entirely. Their shop had

been open for going on three months, but aside

from the time they spent there, he and Ty didn't

hang out much anymore. Ash was still trying to

figure out why. He missed his best friend and he

wanted to fix things. Ty kept insisting that nothing

was wrong, though, and what could Ash do but go

along and hope that one day Ty would be ready to

tell him what was going on?

Strong arms wrapped around Ash from behind,

jarring him out of his thoughts.

"Hey," Fee said in his ear. "Welcome home."

Ash reached up to cover Fee's arms with his

own. "Glad to be here."

Fee nipped at his neck and ground himself into

Ash's ass. "Glad to have you."

"Oh, Lord." Donovan groaned from the kitchen.

"I think that's my cue to get out of here."

Ash laughed. "But we promised to feed you."

Donovan drained the rest of his Coke can and

tossed it into the bin under the sink. "I'll take an

IOU."

Ash didn't want the guy to feel rushed out—he

appreciated that Donovan had sacrificed his

morning to help him and Fee lug boxes across

town—but Ash wasn't about to protest when

Donovan grabbed his car keys from the counter

and started for the door. "Okay," he said. "Well,

thanks for helping. We'll take you out after book

club on Thursday."

"Works for me. Later." Donovan paused to

salute them and disappeared into the hallway.

"Bye!" Ash called after him.

"Alone at last," Fee murmured.

Ash turned to face him, his fingers going to the

cluster of stargazers at the base of the tattoo on

Fee's left upper arm. It was a couple of weeks old

but had already healed beautifully. The image of

the angel Michael went from Fee's shoulder to

halfway down to his elbow, and Ash had worked

Pilar's name into one of the pink stargazer petals.

He always found it right away because he knew

where to look, but most people who'd seen the

tattoo hadn't spotted it until Ash or Fee pointed it

out.

"I'm glad your mom likes it," Ash said.

Fee pulled him closer. "She loves it."

Ash smiled. Fee had waited until the tattoo was

completely healed to show his mother, so she'd

only seen it a few days before. Ash hadn't been

there at the time, but she'd called and left him a

message thanking him and praising the tat. "That

makes me happy, and I think it's awesome that she

and my mom have been talking. Did she tell you

they're planning a spa day for when my mom

comes up next month?"

Fee laughed. "Yeah. She's excited."

Their mothers had finally met when Ash's

parents had come up from Florida again for

Christmas. Both Ash and Fee had been surprised to

learn that their mothers had exchanged numbers. A

few initial phone calls had turned into a weekly

tradition, and the last Ash had heard, they were

exchanging emails and Skyping, too. It almost felt

like destiny that the two women had become such

unexpected friends, much in the way their sons had

hooked up originally. Ash guessed the opposites

attract thing worked for friendships as well.

The one disappointing thing was that Fee's

father still hadn't come around. For Fee's sake, Ash

hoped it would happen someday. But for himself,

well, Ash wasn't entirely sure how he would react

to meeting the man who'd nearly broken Fee's nose

just for saying he'd found someone he wanted to

spend his life with, and that person happened to be

Ash. It would be a
long
time before Ash could

think of that day without anger clouding his

judgment.

"Do you want to start unpacking?" Fee asked,

bringing Ash back to the moment.

"Maybe just my clothes for now," Ash

answered. "I don't want them to get all wrinkled."

Carley would have a fit if he saw the way Ash had

stuffed everything into his bags.

"Sure." Fee leaned down and kissed him briefly.

"Want to order a pizza while I start?"

"Yeah. The usual?"

"Sounds good."

Fee grabbed the bags Ash had set down earlier

and vanished into the bedroom. It took Ash a while

to hunt down a menu for Fee's favorite pizza place

in the area. He'd ordered for Fee before but never

programmed the number into his phone. Ash

figured he might as well do it now. Neither one of

them would be cooking all that often. Ash didn't

have any delusions about that.

When he walked into Fee's room—
their
room—

a few minutes later, he found Fee sitting on the

edge of the bed with a book in his hands. Ash's

heart almost stopped when he realized what it was.

Oh, God, that stupid guidebook.
Ash had forgotten

he'd stuck it in his duffle bag. A part of him had

considered tossing it, but the book actually
had

helped a bit, and he'd felt bad at the idea of

throwing it away.

Fee looked up at Ash and arched an eyebrow.

"I can explain," Ash started.

"Don't bother."

Ash's heart stuttered. He gnawed on his lower

lip for a second. "It's … I mean, it was just a silly

—"

Fee stood and tossed the book onto the mattress.

"I'm serious, Ash, you don't have to explain. It's

okay."

"It is?" Ash said, relieved. "You're not mad?"

"Mad?" Fee repeated. "Why would I be mad?"

"Well, it's … it's a guidebook, you know? For

dating. I was trying to figure out how to win you

over."

Fee smiled and stepped closer. "You didn't need

an advice book for that."

"No?" Ash asked as Fee took another step. "Did

I manage to win you over with my natural charm?"

Fee laughed softly and closed the remaining

distance between them. "You did," he murmured,

before bowing his head for a kiss.

Several long, dizzying minutes later, he pulled

back. Ash clung to Fee's arms, his knees weak.

"Besides," Fee said, "I have something to

confess."

"What?" Ash stared up at him, dazed, his mind

still moving slowly. Man, Fee could kiss.

"I have one, too."

Ash blinked in confusion. "Have one what?"

"One of Valentine's guidebooks."

It took Ash a few seconds to process the words,

but even then, he still couldn't believe them. "No

way. Seriously?"

Fee grinned. "Yeah. It's called
The Geek's

Guide to Taming a Party Boy
."

"Show me."

Fee released Ash and crossed to one of his

bookshelves across the room. He pulled a book

from a stack on the top. When Fee returned and

handed it to him, Ash had to laugh. The colors on

Fee's book were reversed—yellow on blue instead

of blue on yellow like the one Ash had.

Ash couldn't seem to get the laughing under

control. "Oh, God," he managed to choke out, his

voice breathless. "This is perfect. I guess we

really are meant to be."

Fee kissed him then, playful at first. Ash's

laughter finally stopped, replaced by a moan of

pure need as the kiss grew deeper, harder. The

book fell from his hands and hit the carpet with a

thud.

That time, when Fee pulled away, it was only

long enough to say, "Yeah. I think we are."

Fin

About the Authors

Piper Vaughn

Piper Vaughn wrote her first love story at

eleven and never looked back. Since then, she’s

known that writing in some form was exactly what

she wanted to do. A reader at the core, Piper loves

nothing more than getting lost in a great book—

fantasy, young adult, romance, she loves them all

(and has a thousand book library to prove it!). She

grew up in Chicago, in an ethnically diverse

neighborhood, and loves to put faces and

characters of every ethnicity in her stories, so her