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him hard.
    “What?” His exhale had me reeling back. If
air could cause intoxication I would have been on the floor.
    I pinched the bridge of my nose before
looking around for inspiration. His pants were in a heap on top of
his boots. The shirt was across the room. I walked across the room
and picked up the shirt contemplating ideas. I grabbed his jeans
and boots and stood next to the bed again.
    I set the clothes on the bed and leaned down
to Nicholas. Taking a deep breath, I shoved down my irritation to
speak in my gentlest voice. “It’s time to go.” I gently tugged on
his arm. “Come on sit up for me?”
    Guiding a toddler had such similarities that
I smiled to myself. Nicholas grumbled but sat up with his eyes
closed. I reminded myself not to stare, after all staring was rude
without permission, but his bronze skin on display deserved a hymn
to honor its perfection. His pecs were bare but a trail of hair ran
from his belly button down to where thankfully, the blanket still
covered him somewhat. Swallowing hard and glancing nervously at the
bathroom door I decided to get this over with. I tugged the shirt
over his head and guided his arms through the sleeves.
    On the middle finger of his right hand he
wore the ring he kept toying with last week. Up close, I could see
a black stone—possibly onyx, maybe obsidian—set into a fleur de lis
pattern that almost looked like a cross. Chunky and made of either
silver or platinum, I bet it was worth more than my advance for
taking this job.
    I took a slow deep breath and exhaled just as
leisurely. I will not look turned into I will not
judge when I pulled the covers back and pulled his legs over
the side of the bed. I kept my eyes carefully focused on his closed
eyes so I wasn’t tempted to look where I had no business casting
eyes onto. Apparently returning to his passed out state he slumped
forward. Since he wasn’t arguing or fighting I assumed he was okay
with me dressing him.
    His feet easily tucked into his pants and I
pulled them up to his knees. Next was the tricky part. I kept my
eyes on his face. “Come on, Walker. Stand up for a minute.”
    He grumbled but swayed to his feet with my
help. His torso fell heavily against me as I lifted his pants into
place and nearly took us both to the floor. I tucked his shirt in
and was very careful to keep fabric under my hand.
    I wanted the fabric against his skin for two
reason. One—me touching, even accidentally, that part of him
without his permission felt wrong in so many ways. Two—when I
zipped his pants, if anything caught I didn’t want it to be man
flesh.
    He slumped back to the bed the moment I got
his jeans snapped but that worked for me. I tugged his boots on,
then picked up his wallet and phone from the nightstand and shoved
them into his available pockets.
    “Okay. It’s time to go.” I had no clue how I
was going to get the still mostly drunk and semi-conscious Nicholas
Walker down the stairs.
    “I want to sleep,” he muttered.
    “You can sleep on the bus. For as long as you
want.”
    “Promise?”
    “Cross my heart, Walker.”
    “That’s nice,” he mumbled when I pulled him
up a second time.
    “What is?” I wrapped an arm around his waist
hoping he’d hold up most of his own weight.
    “Walker. No one’s called me that since high
school football.”
    “You played football?”
    He seemed inclined to follow my lead as long
as I kept talking.
    “Some in college too,” he mumbled and
stumbled, but at least he was moving.
    I had to grab his belt loops to keep him from
tumbling down the stairs. His body slammed into mine, knocking the
air out of my lungs and pinning me against the wall. I was
breathing hard for entirely different reasons when his hand came up
and rested on my hip.
    “Walker.” I cleared my throat. The breathy
tone definitely did not sound authoritative. “Walker, you’re
heavy.”
    “You smell good.” He nuzzled the side of my
neck. When his tongue licked as if testing