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

cool.”
    “Cool?” I repeated. “They’re amazing. You’re amazing. I can’t believe you drew these!” Embarrassment crept over his cheeks, but there was a dash of pride too. “Why aren’t these on your living room wall with the Dragon ones?”
    He looked them over and sighed. “I don’t know. I guess I don’t want my work to stare at me every day. It’s not all that I am,” he said quietly.
    “Fair enough,” I replied. “I can see your point. But seriously? These are incredible! Not even on your bedroom wall?”
    He snorted out a laugh. “Not sure grown men would appreciate having cartoon characters looking.” He cleared his throat. “If you know what I mean.”
    I scoffed at that. “Then you’re clearly bringing the wrong guys home.” I meant it as an off the cuff remark, but it made me wonder. “Did Eli like them?”
    “Yeah. But I think he was kind of glad they were hidden. Like I said, no one’s seen these.”
    “Well, I am impressed.” I looked them over again. “Which is your favourite?”
    His face lit up. “This one.” He pointed to a full colour one of Marty, the zebra with a rainbow coloured afro from Madagascar . “He was fun to draw. Which one do you like?”
    I pointed to one in particular of the two main characters from Kung Fu Panda. “The way it’s just half an outline, with general body shapes. We can see who they are, but…”
    “But what?”
    “I like how it’s open for interpretation. It could be them with their backs to us, walking off as a goodbye, or it could be them coming to life. You know, just the beginning.”
    When he didn’t answer, I looked at him to find he was staring at me. He opened his mouth but then shook his head and decided not to say whatever it was he was struggling to say.
    “Does that make sense?” I asked. “Or did I get it wrong?”
    He swallowed hard, his eyes never left mine, and his voice was just a whisper. “Perfect sense. Thank you.”
    Suddenly the air in that walk-in closet was static. I wanted to reach out and touch him, to kiss him. God, I wanted to taste his mouth. But that’s not what this was. I was here to help him get his ex back. Thankful for the reminder of what I was actually doing there, I looked up at the window and saw the colour of the sky. “It’s uh—” I took a breath to collect myself. “it’s getting late. We should eat before we go out, yeah?”
    He took a step back and breathed out slowly. Which told me I wasn’t imagining the electricity between us. “Uh yeah.”
    I turned around to face the clothes side of his wardrobe. “You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more neatly organised closet.” Even the folded clothes were done to perfection.
    He touched a random hanging shirt. “It’s not like I haven’t had a lot of spare time lately.”
    Oh right. Eli . And again, it came back to him. I was starting to hate the guy, and I’d never even laid eyes on him. “Are any of these clothes his?”
    Andrew’s eyes narrowed a fraction. “No.”
    “That’s a shame. I was hoping he might have left a shirt behind or something?”
    “Why?”
    “So I can wear it,” I told him. “Just something else he might notice. We want to get a reaction from him, right?”
    “I guess,” he answered. Then he picked out a knitted vest, in the same argyle pattern as the sweater he was wearing, only it was blue and grey not blue and red. He held it up on the hanger. “He bought me this.”
    “Even better,” I said with a smile. “Can I wear it?”
    He blinked in surprise. “Okay.”
    I held it up to my shirt. “Does it match?”
    “Um, not really.”
    He was right. It was a different shade of blue. I pulled a white long-sleeved, button-down shirt out by the hanger. “This’ll fit me.”
    We were roughly the same height, but completely different builds. I was lean, he was solid, and from what I felt of his abs earlier, I’d say he was pretty damn fit. It was a shame he chose to cover it up with