“Thirty-three,” I corrected.
“Oops, sorry.” He shot a mischievous grin my way and barked a laugh. “Don’t look so distressed. I’m an analyst and statistician. Research is my job. And I was…curious.”
“Don’t say anything.”
Cody nodded. “I won’t, but is it a big deal?”
“Probably not. No one here would care, but I’d prefer that the general public didn’t know until after we’re famous.” I rubbed my beard thoughtfully.
“Hmm. If you really wanted to go incognito, you should have changed your name entirely. Giving your nickname isn’t going to ensure anonymity for long,” he said, sounding like a real know-it-all.
I gave a half chuckle. “Any suggestions, Code-meister?”
“Tiberius,” he replied automatically.
This time, I caught on right away. “Tiberius? Wait. I know why. Captain Kirk…Star Trek fan.”
His sunshine smile warmed me from the inside out. “Exactly. Although it could also have been a reference to the Roman emperor or—oh, you should get going. Your friend is about to leave. I’ll see you Friday. You’re welcome to leave notes on my desk. How will you get my responses?”
“I’ll find you.” I leaned in and kissed his cheek.
Cody stared at me in shock. “You—that was definitely flirting.”
“Was it?”
“I don’t know, but you’re too old for me, remember?”
“Yeah, yeah. Behave, whippersnapper.”
He saluted me. “Yes, sir.”
All points to the adorable geek.
I stepped away, shaking my head in mock censure. Cody closed his car door with a frown and followed me.
“Where are you going?”
“I forgot something at my desk. See you later, old man.”
My scowl slipped neatly into a grin when his melodic laughter drifted in the air behind me as I crossed the lot to look for Johnny. I found him at the side of the building smoking with Cade and Gill.
“Hey, Johnny.”
He put out his cigarette and blew a plume of smoke from the side of his mouth before turning to me. “Yeah?”
I motioned for him to join me near the back of his truck for a bit of privacy. It wasn’t as if we were fooling anyone. Both our bands knew we hadn’t been on good terms since our tour last February. We’d been politely chilly to each other for months now. And it sucked.
I missed my guitar buddy. Hell, I missed my friend.
Johnny was a quirky, good-natured guy who lived and breathed rock and roll. His nerdy streak was strong when it came to rhythm-and-blues trivia and hair bands from the eighties. In fact, I’d been sure his dark hair, red lips, and dark guy-liner were an homage to Robert Smith, but as I got to know Johnny, I realized he just did his own thing.
He exclusively wore black because he was color-blind, and it was easy. And because he liked things to match, he dyed his hair raven too. His red, glossed lips were a nod to his inner unicorn. His words, not mine. He loved spy thrillers, Doc Martens, weak beer, cosmos, and he fucking loved music.
He loved a good dare too. And that was where we’d gone wrong.
“Do you have time to grab a beer?” I asked.
“No, I’m—I have plans.”
“Okay, um…” I raked my teeth over my bottom lip. “Will you forgive me, so we can be normal again?”
The corner of his mouth twisted, but I couldn’t tell if he was amused or annoyed. “I did that a while ago, remember? We’re cool.”
I frowned. “I think this might be opposite day. You don’t mean that, do you?”
Johnny set one hand on his slim hips and released a long stream of air. “We’re fine, Bobby. I’m not sure what you want me to say. What is ‘back to normal’? Whatever it is, I’m on board, but you have to stop giving me those awkward looks, like you’re afraid I’m going to spill secrets. I’m not, so let it go. Okay?”
“Okay.”
“See you around.”
Yep. Definitely opposite day.
I headed back to the office and made a beeline for the kitchen. I tore open a bag of potato chips and shoved a fistful in my mouth. Stress-eating might not erase my problems, but I had a tendency to eat my feelings, and chips were fuckin’ amazing. They were the kind of happy food that reminded us that bad times and difficult situations didn’t last. Think positive, be positive.
The first person who popped to mind was Cody. He was definitely positive, bright…and really fucking cute. His mischievous grin, quirky sense of humor, and mind-boggling intelligence pulled me in. It didn’t seem to matter that he was totally out of my zip code.
I hadn’t checked to see if Cody’s car was still in the lot on my way inside again. On the off chance he was still here, I grabbed a second bag of chips and wandered through the maze of empty desks to his corner cubicle.
I found him standing over his keyboard, briskly typing. Nice view. I’d always thought of khakis as “dad pants,” but they looked magnificent on Cody.
“Hey,” I said, chuckling when he fell theatrically onto his chair and set his hand over his heart.
“Jiminy Christmas, you scared the hell out of me! I thought you left.”
“I had a salt and fat craving. These are for you.” I handed him the bag of chips, then pushed aside the binder on his desk, and sat on the corner, eyeing him appreciatively.
His sunburn had faded, giving him a nice, bronzed tone that went well with his light-green button-down shirt. I almost commented on how pretty his eyes looked, but I was already in danger of coming on too strong. Rein it in, I warned myself.
Cody lowered his eyelashes as he smiled. Damn, he even had pretty eyelashes.
“Thanks, but I’ll save them for later. I need real food.”
“Suit yourself. This is my appetizer. I’m still trying to figure out what I want for dinner. What are you having?”
“Something nutritious. My meal last night was awful. Greasy chicken, lumpy potatoes, and limp green beans. The only saving grace was the bread,” he said with a laugh.
I wagged my brows and rubbed my belly. “Sounds great to me.”
“Trust me, it wasn’t. Though it probably wouldn’t have seemed so terrible if I’d liked my date more.”
I furrowed my brow. “Date? With who?”
“A man.”
“Keep talking.”
“There’s nothing to tell. His name was Roger. He’s in a polka band, loves Red Vines licorice, and talked about Dungeons and Dragons for thirty-five minutes straight. No input or interruption from me whatsoever. He claimed to be interested in role-playing on his profile, but that wasn’t what I had in mind.” Cody snorted.
My jaw dropped. “Role-playing? What the—were you on a dating app?”
“Yes. What’s wrong with that? People in your generation use them too, you know.”
“Cool it with the age jokes, young man, or I’m gonna take you over my knee,” I huffed.
Cody’s eyes brightened. “See? That’s exactly what I was hoping for!”
“Excuse me?”
“I was hoping to meet an adventurous, smart guy in a band.”
“Dungeons and Dragons and polka. Sounds like you got exactly what you were looking for,” I snarked. “Serves you right.”