Operation Meet Cute by K.M. Neuhold
Chapter 8
HARLOW
The smell of coffee and syrup fills Teddy’s apartment, empty containers from the breakfast we had delivered littering his coffee table, the sound of both our laughter filling the air as we sit facing each other on the couch, flipping cards onto the center cushion in a game of War.
“Mine.” I slam my hand down and drag the pile to me with a grin.
The television plays in the background, some strange indie movie that he picked that only held my attention for about ten minutes before I pulled out a deck of cards. I tried to throw him a bone and let him pick a movie for a change, but it would’ve really helped if he’d picked something with some kissing, just saying.
He slams his own hand down on the stack this time and drags it over, not wasting any time in flipping the next card. Teddy doesn’t take time after his own victories to preen or taunt. No, the man stays focused. I have to admit, it’s weirdly hot.
“By the way, I’m flying to Georgia at the end of next month.”
“Oh yeah? You haven’t been home in a while.”
I wrinkle my nose, tossing my last card down and letting him claim victory. Boo. “Georgia isn’t home. It’s just where I grew up.”
“LA is home?” he asks skeptically, arching an eyebrow at me.
I scoff. “No. This is home.” I gesture vaguely, a funny jolt going through me when I realize what I’m saying. Teddy goes still, pausing in his attempt to get all the cards neatly stacked and looking at me. “This couch with a belly full of pancakes and way too much coffee,” I joke to ease the moment, and he sags a little, a crooked smile forming on his lips as he returns his attention to the cards.
I shake my head at myself and drag my fingers through my hair. I’ve been feeling strangely mixed up the past week or so. I’m not sure if it’s because Timothy still hasn’t mentioned my script again or if it has something to do with my and Teddy’s new arrangement. It’s just been a couple of blowjobs, which really shouldn’t make me weird, but they were good. Great, actually. Like almost suspiciously good. Can blowjobs be too good? If so, what are the consequences?
This is the kind of thing I would typically get Marnie’s opinion on, but she was way to jazzed when I told her about the initial hookup. It’s probably best if I don’t bring it up again. Besides, I’m sure there’s no such thing as blowjobs that are too good. Nothing has changed between us. It’s all good.
“You should come with me.” The words surprise me. They somehow managed to bypass my brain and come straight through my mouth as if they came from someone else. Maybe that’s a consequence of suspiciously good blowjobs.
“To Georgia?” Teddy asks.
“Yeah. You’ve never seen my dinky little hometown, and you’ve never met Marnie or my mom. It would be fun,” I coax, liking the idea the more I talk about it. “You can even see my bedroom. My mom has left it exactly the same, so it’s like a freaky time capsule of my childhood.”
He chuckles. “You really want me to come?”
“I really do. I mean, as long as you don’t mind me ditching you to do wedding planning stuff with Marnie while we’re there.”
“Okay.”
“Okay?” I repeat, grinning. “You’ll come?”
“Sure, why not?”
A giddy feeling bubbles through me at the thought of showing Teddy all around my old stomping grounds. And by stomping grounds, I mean the coffee shop Marnie and I frequented as teens and the field where kids used to go to make out.
I wiggle happily in my seat as I make a mental list of places to take him and people he needs to meet. I’m drawn out of my thoughts by a soft pitter-patter sound against the window.
“Oh my god, it’s raining.” I jump off the couch, that lazy Sunday feeling evaporating, instantly replaced with a new sense of purpose.
“So?” Teddy asks, looking at me like I’ve lost my damn mind.
“It hardly ever rains, which makes it really difficult to stage a rescue by a handsome stranger. I’m going to drive outside the city and put on a flat tire. Then all I have to do is wait for my knight in shining armor to rescue me,” I explain, but that doesn’t seem to clear much up for him.
“That sounds like an excellent way to meet a serial killer.”
“You’ve been watching too much ID channel.” I slip on my shoes and check my pocket for my car keys. “Oh, I’d better go change into a white T-shirt. It’ll be even better to have it all see-through and clinging to my skin.”
He snorts a laugh at me, clearly not on board with my brilliant plan. “Can you at least tell me where you’re going? That way when the police come to ask about your last known whereabouts later, I’ll be able to tell them.”
“You are such a drama queen,” I mutter.
He raises both eyebrows at me. “Right, I’m the drama queen. Humor me.”
“Fine, you know that dirt road with the dilapidated barn?”
“Got it,” he says. “Low…be careful, okay?”
I stop with one hand on the door handle and turn back to press a quick kiss to his cheek, his beard tickling my chin when I do. “Don’t worry so much, Teddy Bear.”
TEDDY
Don’t worry, right. Easier said than done.
I would love to be overthinking what it means that Harlow invited me to Georgia next month. Instead I’m pacing my apartment, trying not to picture him getting into the car with some Ted Bundy wannabe, batting his eyelashes at the guy before he’s strangled to death.
Eileen meows, perched on the arm of the sofa, her head swaying back and forth as she tracks my path in front of the door.
“He’s an adult. He can stand out in the rain and wait for a stranger if he wants to,” I reason aloud, and the cat mrrrows, possibly in agreement or possibly telling me to go after the man if I’m so damn worried about him.
The rain pounds harder against the window. We’re in LA. Shouldn’t it have stopped by now? And fuck knows no one around here knows how to drive in inclement weather. What if Low parks near a curve and a car comes around it too fast and runs him over? My breath catches and my skin goes cold at the thought.
Fuck it.
I snatch my keys off the key holder next to the door and hastily shove my feet into my shoes. It’s raining so hard that I’m drenched by the time I make it from the front door of the building to the entrance of the parking garage. If Low really is standing out in this, he probably looks like a drowned rat right about now. I chuckle internally at the image and set my GPS for the road with the old barn.
I remember the first time we spotted the place. We drove outside the city one Saturday in search of a farmer’s market he insisted was supposed to be the best—spoiler alert, we never did find it—and on the way back, we got lost and saw the barn. It had clearly seen better days, barely standing with the roof half caved in.
Harlow spun a salacious story about what the barn must have seen in its heyday, and yes, the pun was intended. He mused about a hired farmhand and a traveler with a flat tire, shacking up inside the barn during a rainstorm and forking each other’s brains out in the hayloft. My brain had done the work of replacing the men in the story with the two of us, and I’d spent the rest of the drive home with a raging erection that I took care of later in the shower with Harlow’s name on my lips.
By the time I reach the little dirt road, the rain has tapered to barely a drizzle. I slow and roll down my window so I can look for him. My heart leaps when I spot him, standing soaking wet near his car. I have to give it to him, the see-through white T-shirt clinging to his upper body is porn worthy. His drenched hair plastered to his head? Not so much. He still looks pretty cute though.
I ease to a stop and roll my window the rest of the way down. “Hey, hot stuff. You need a hand?”
He pushes his soaked hair back off his forehead and grins at me as he wrings out his T-shirt. “I was hoping a handsome stranger would come to my rescue,” he flirts, batting his eyelashes. My heart leaps even as my brain reminds me he’s only playing around. I wasn’t who he was hoping for, but some stupid part of me can’t help wishing that maybe one day I will be.
I swing my car around to park behind his, putting on my hazards and grabbing the blanket out of my backseat. It ended up there after a picnic excursion Harlow came up with a few months ago, and I forgot about it until this second, which turns out to be lucky. I get out and stride over to him.
It’s not exactly cold out, but he’s dripping wet from head to toe, his arms wrapped around himself, his skin pebbled with goosebumps. As soon as I reach him, I wrap the blanket around his shoulders and jerk my head back toward my car. “Get in and turn on the heat. I’ll change the tire.”
“You don’t have to do that, Teddy Bear. I put the flat tire on, so I can switch it back.”
I give a frustrated growl, and he smiles. “Relax, growly pants.” He pats my chest and sighs, tightening the blanket around his shoulders and going to my car like I asked.
It takes no time at all for me to change the flat tire. I wipe my greasy hands on my jeans and put the flat tire, jack, and tire iron into Low’s trunk.
When I slide back into the driver’s side of my car, Harlow is happily singing along with the song blasting through my car speakers. He locks eyes with me, his expression dancing with humor as he croons to me about being simply the best. Again, I know he’s only playing, but the way he holds my gaze for a few seconds and belts the romantic words at me does funny things to my heart.
“You’re all set to go,” I say, clearing my throat. “What do you say we go back to my place, and I’ll make some hot chocolate?”
“You going to get me out of these wet clothes first?” he asks, waggling his eyebrows at me.
“That would probably be smart so you don’t drip all over my apartment,” I agree blandly, and Harlow laughs.
“You really are the best, Teddy Bear.” He leans over and presses another kiss to my cheek, just like he did before he left my apartment earlier. Is this going to be a new thing? I’m not sure I can take it if it is. I also hope he never stops.
He unwraps the blanket from his shoulders and tosses it into the backseat before climbing out of the car. I watch as he makes his way over to his own car, stopping to throw me one last smile before he gets in.
I hit the back button to replay the song he just serenaded me with, a sappy smile spreading over my lips as I follow him home.
