Page 61 of Catching Sparkles

“Well, I… I guess if you really don’t mind,” he said. “But I’ll turn it off if it starts to bug you.”

“Okay,” I said, only because it seemed like if I didn’t agree to that then he wouldn’t have the guts to actually turn it on. It was so weird. Was he used to getting in arguments over stuff like this?

I watched as he downloaded the ESPN app onto my TV, easily the most masculine thing that had ever or would ever be on there, logged in, and navigated to the game he’d been watching.

“So who are we rooting for?” I asked, and he snorted.

“The Colts.”

“Cute,” I decided. “Like a baby horse, right?”

“I guess,” he said, but I could tell by the tiny smirk on his face that he found my observation cute.

“Is this an important game?”

“Ah, not exactly. We’re in the offseason. Preseason starts in August.”

“So this is kind of like a practice game,” I determined.

“Well, no. It’s more than that,” he said. “You have to do well in the offseason to get put on the main roster for the team.”

“Oh, okay. That makes sense.”

Truthfully, I didn’t care much about any sports, football included, but the way his eyes lit up when he was talking about it was so attractive I couldn’t stop asking questions. I let the game play out, peppering in occasional questions about the rules so he could explain them to me. I could tell he liked it too, and he seemed way more relaxed than when he’d first turned it on.

“What are you doing there?” He eventually asked me, gesturing to the screen on my Switch.

“Animal Crossing,” I answered. The lack of recognition in his eyes informed me I’d need to elaborate. “They’re really sweet and cozy. In this one, you move onto an island and build a house and, like, make friends and do tasks and collect stuff. There’s a ton of characters and you kind of get to pick who moves onto the island, and how it’s decorated.”

He tilted his head, watching as my character dug a fossil out of the ground.

“It’s cute.”

“Yeah! And it’s real time, so certain stuff resets every day. It’s really grounding,” I said, and he raised an eyebrow as he evaluated it.

“Cool.”

We spent the next handful of hours just snuggled together, chatting. It was incredibly sweet, and my brain couldn’t help latching onto the fact that we could do this forever, if he’d just figure out that a quiet life with me, someone who would adore him forever and never judge him or make him feel inadequate, was exactly what he needed. When we were like this, it didn’t even feel like it would be hard to convince him. And we’d just fulfilled another requirement of the Perfect Relationship checklist: amazing sexual compatibility.

“So my dad knows a guy who owns a company, and they’re headquartered over in Westport,” Rhys said after a stretch of silence. Westport was a bigger city nearby, only a 15-minute drive away. “They’re looking to hire someone for their marketing department.”

“Oh?” I blinked as I waited for him to continue. I was between his thighs, comfortably settled on his chest.

On one hand, him getting a job nearby was good, because that meant he wouldn’t be going anywhere. Then again, since I’d pretty much decided to make it my mission to keep him in Cherryvale, and I was the type of person who always accomplished the things I set my mind to, I wasn’t too worried about him wriggling out of my grasp. There was a more pressing issue with the idea.

“I think I’m going to apply,” he finished.

“Do you… want to work in marketing?” I asked, analyzing his stormy expression. I was only asking as a courtesy. It was more than obvious that he didn’t.

“I mean… It’s going to pretty much be like my old job.”

“Did you like your old job?”

He hissed out a breath, letting his head fall back onto the arm of the couch. “It was a job. You’re not supposed to like it.”

“You don’t have to be miserable at work. That’s not a rule or anything,” I said, and he scoffed.

“Yeah, right.”