Free The Party Boy's Guide to Dating a Geek (Clumsy Cupids) by Xara X. Piper;Xanakas Vaughn

expecting. He offered to buy
    Fee dinner as a thanks for all the help, and Fee
    picked a Thai place right down the street from
    Grounds For Thought. They ordered a few dishes
    to share and spent so long talking they eventually
    noticed they were getting dirty looks from the
    waitstaff and decided to wander over to the
    bookstore so someone else could have their table.
    There they settled into a pair of plush, purple
    chairs with lemon-berry bars and steaming cups of
    coffee—heavy on the sugar for Fee, extra cream
    for Ash—and talked until they heard the
    announcement that the store would be closing.
    Ash was amazed how simple it was to talk to
    Fee once the initial ice had been broken. Fee had
    asked about the brightly colored tattoos that
    decorated Ash's arms from shoulder to wrist. They
    all meant something, from the opening notes to his
    favorite Zeppelin song ("Kashmir"), to the cluster
    of irises he'd gotten on his left upper-arm to honor
    his cousin, who'd been named after the flowers and
    died of leukemia when she was fifteen, and the
    Byrne coat of arms, which took up most of his right
    forearm and was a tribute to his ancestors and Irish
    heritage. Fee listened to each story and said that he
    was considering getting one someday, something to
    represent his mother, who from the sound of his
    voice, he clearly adored.
    "I could design something for you if you
    wanted," Ash offered.
    Fee looked startled for a moment. "Really?"
    "Of course. That's probably my favorite part of
    the process, actually. I love it when people come
    in with only a vague idea of what they want. It
    gives me a bit of artistic freedom, while still
    forcing me to work within the confines of their
    vision, you know? It's a challenge."
    Fee nodded. "Yeah, I can see that."
    Ash grinned at him. "I'd be happy to come up
    with a few different designs. Just say when."
    "I'd like that." Fee smiled shyly. "I'll let you
    know."
    4.4
    Before Ash was entirely ready for the night to
    be over, Fee was dropping him off. Ash couldn't
    help the flicker of disappointment that ran through
    him when Fee pulled to a stop in front of his
    apartment building. The day had gone unexpectedly
    well—way better than he'd even hoped—and he
    was a little sad to see it come to an end.
    "Thanks so much," he said as Fee opened the
    trunk and withdrew the box that contained Ash's
    new tablet. It wasn't top of the line, but if it could
    do half the things Fee had told him about at the
    store, Ash would be thrilled. They'd decided over
    dinner that Fee would take the parts for the system
    back to his place and build it there. "I really
    appreciate this."
    "It was no problem at all." Fee slammed the
    trunk shut and leaned a hip against the car. "I'll
    have your system ready within the next few days,
    unless you need it before then."
    Ash shook his head. "No, it's cool. I have my
    old laptop and the tablet for now. Whenever is
    good for you. Just text me when you want to make
    plans to bring it over."
    "Sure." After a moment's hesitation, Fee added,
    "Well, thanks for dinner. I had a good time." He bit
    his lip, and for a few seconds, it seemed like he
    would say something else, but then he lifted his
    hand in a wave and went back to the driver side
    door.
    "Good night," Ash called as Fee ducked inside.
    Ash watched him drive away, but once Fee's car
    had disappeared around the corner, he turned to
    head inside. His neighborhood wasn't the worst in
    Chicago by far, but there was no point in tempting
    fate by standing around with something as valuable
    as his tablet after dark. People had been mugged in
    the area for a lot less.
    The apartment was quiet when he entered,
    which wasn't surprising. Jae was never home this
    early. Carley normally would have been, but he
    often had dinner with clients, so it wasn't unusual
    to find him gone, too.
    Ash exchanged his jeans and slim-fitting V-neck
    for a faded Smashing Pumpkins T-shirt and a pair
    of navy blue sweatpants and slumped