Page 20 of Roar for Me
“Can’t say that I did.”
“Duncan, we’re friends, right?”
“Sure, man.”
“You spent an awful lot of time looking at her in that hot tub. You’re not still married, are you?”
“No, I haven’t been married in years.”
“Okay, good.” Mike released a breath he’d been holding. “Aurora’s always been a sweetheart, so I can’t blame you for being attracted to her.”
“You think I’m attracted to her?”
“Duncan, I know when a man is watching a woman’s ass. And I saw you put your towel over your crotch when she changed clothes.”
Duncan tapped his fist against the window. “Fuck.”
“Hey, it’s not like we can control it. Don’t feel bad.”
Duncan shook his head. “That’s not why I said it. On the first day of sixth grade, we got seated next to each other in homeroom. And then we had science the next period. In the same classroom. With the same seats.”
“Okay?”
“We had a lot of classes together that year, and she just—I don’t know, man. I was a kid. I screwed it up. She hated me most of the year.”
“But what about high school?”
“I never had the courage to talk to her. We didn’t have a ton of classes together. She does something to my brain. It stops working.”
Mike tried to stifle his laughter. It came out as wheezing. “I’m sorry. That’s just hilarious. I had no idea you felt like that.”
“That’s why I swore. I’ve managed to hide the attraction since I was twelve.”
“That is so—holy shit.”
“Please don’t say anything.”
Mike’s eyes grew wide, and his mouth dropped open as an idea struck him. “Duncan, what if … Hear me out, now.”
Duncan raised an eyebrow.
“What if the reason she didn’t want to say who she sent the green candy cane to last night, was because she was your ‘secret admirer’?”
Duncan shook his head. “No way, she didn’t have any idea I even got one. Remember?”
“We were all actors in high school. You don’t think she could pull that off?”
“Roar? Not on your life. Her face always tells the truth.”
“I don’t know, Dunc. She was a pretty sassy tree.”
“A sexy, sassy tree,” Duncan murmured.
“Ha!”
“Come on, you saw those dresses. Thank goodness for that Tin Man suit.” Mike was still howling in the driver’s seat when they pulled up to the airport drop off point.
“Thanks for the ride, man,” Duncan said.
