Free Spencer Cohen Series, Book One (The Spencer Cohen Series 1) by N.R. Walker

Emilio has no qualms with putting rude people in their place.”
    “He’s very good at drawing freehand,” he said. “It just surprised me. I guess I’ve never thought of tattoo artists as artists .”
    “He sure is. Except his drawing board is the human body.”
    That made him smile. “What are we doing back at my place anyway?” he asked. “Aren’t we supposed to be going out tonight?”
    “Yep, we sure are. We need to get your record player all set up because you haven’t listened to Jeff Buckley sing Nina Simone.”
    He pulled the car into a spot not far from his house, and he just sat there for a second like he wanted to say something but wasn’t sure if he should. In the end, he said, “Sounds good.”
    He was a bit reserved after that. Kinda like he was the very first day I met him in the café. God, was that really just two days ago? He seemed to have a defensive wall up now, the kind that made his smile not quite right and his conversation a little stilted. He put the record player on his dining table. “Wanna plug it in?” I asked.
    He wiped his hands on his trousers. “Maybe later. Want a bottle of water?”
    “Uh, sure.” I gave him my best smile. I don’t know why that bothered me so much and why I wanted more than anything to right whatever I did that was wrong. He offered me a drink but genuinely looked upset by something. I wanted to ask him if he was okay, but I didn’t want him to tell me the whole deal was off. I didn’t want to stop spending time with him. So I pretended there was nothing wrong and charted the mood back into safer waters. “Have any movies?”
    What the fuck was I doing? My brain was telling me to leave. My stupid heart was telling my stupid feet to stay right where they were and telling my stupid mouth to ask him stupid questions.
    “Ah, sure,” he called out from the kitchen. “In the cabinet underneath the TV. Or there’s Netflix.”
    I opened the cabinet, wanting to see what his movie collection said about him. I smiled when I saw the first DVD. How to Train Your Dragon . I pulled it out and held it up as he walked back into the room.
    He smiled a genuine smile. “The second one’s in there too,” he said. “I thought you said you’ve seen the first, not the second.”
    I opened the case and slid the disc into the machine. “I have seen this one. But we need to watch them in order.”
    He chuckled and plonked himself on the sofa, looking more relaxed. Whatever was bothering him just moments ago seemed forgotten and that made me happier than it probably should have. I collected the remote controls from their neat little row underneath the large flat screen and handed them to him when I sat at the other end of the sofa. I was going to plant myself right next to him but figured I wouldn’t risk him freaking out on me again. He gave me the bottled water. “Thanks.”
    He pressed some buttons and the movie started, but then he did something to his end of the sofa, and it slowly leaned back, becoming a recliner. “Hey,” I said. “How do I do that?”
    His lips curved upwards at the bottle he was drinking from. “There’s a button on the side.”
    I found the button and the footrest slowly came up, and the back automatically reclined. “Oh man, I need to get me one of these.”
    “My sister told me it was a waste of money. But it was the best decision ever.”
    “I can see why.” God it was comfy. “Okay, so you have to tell me about anything in the movie that you’ve drawn for promo work.”
    He smiled. “Okay.”
    “What’s your favourite to work on?” I asked. “The humans or the dragons?”
    “Dragons.”
    “Which one?”
    “Toothless.”
    “Of course.”
    “Is that a problem?”
    I laughed. “No. There’d be something wrong if he wasn’t. He’s the cutest, for sure.”
    Andrew laughed at that. “He is. He’s very cat-like to draw.”
    We watched in silence for a while. “Have you worked on anything so far?” I asked. “I