Some Like It Hot

  Copyright © 2020 J.D. Light

  Edited by Ann Attwood Editing and Proofreading Services

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter One

  JULY

  Why did I always do this? I blamed the fact that I had far too much time on my hands… and despite the fact that I could be pretty confident in most cases, that did not translate to my conversations with Grant Foster. Those usually ended with me saying something horribly embarrassing, and him just grunting back at me. I still wasn't sure if he was making fun of me when he did that, or if he was just doing it to get me to shut up.

  Unfortunately, regardless of how poised and confident I could be on camera, and how funny I could be online, or even usually in real life, the alpha that lived a door down from mine, who always looked at me like I spoke a completely different language than he did, and who was sexy as fuck, even as he seemed to do everything in his power to seem unappealing, made me unbelievably, embarrassingly incapable of doing things like a normal human being.

  Which was why I found myself standing in front of his door, hesitating only a moment, before reaching up to knock on the white wood, hating myself just a little for it, and wondering when the man was finally going to get sick of my bullshit, and tell me to stop bothering him.

  "Hi," I said brightly, clutching my bowl to my chest, while smiling widely. "Do you have a cup of sugar I could borrow?"

  I groaned internally. I'd meant to switch it up this time. Maybe ask for some flour or butter, or anything but sugar, since that had been the excuse I'd used the last five times, but apparently, I'd somehow developed the easiest habit imaginable, because instead of saying anything else, I'd opened my mouth and let sugar fall right on out.

  The man probably thought I sat around and ate spoonfuls of free sugar all the time. I was sure by the sheer amount of take-out to show up at my house, he knew that my culinary skills were lacking considerably, so he had to know I wasn't using the stuff for baking.

  He grunted, nodding slightly like he always did, while stepping back to let me pass.

  I raked my gaze over his delicious form, noting how his thin, gray T-shirt molded to the curve of his pec, and down over his chiseled torso. The material was thin enough to easily make out the shape of his nipple, and the slight roughness that indicated he was fairly hairy under there, and I growled slightly, covering it with a cough when I imagined dark, nearly black hair spread across his chest and abs, and disappearing down into his dark jeans.

  "You can come in," he grumbled after a moment, raising an eyebrow at me. "I won't bite."

  What if I asked nicely?

  He raised a second eyebrow, blinking, and I had a slight moment of panic as I worried I might have said that out loud, but when all he did was give me a small nod in the direction of the interior of the house, I felt pretty confident that he was just waiting on my stupid ass to move.

  Once inside with the door shut, I turned to him, and he came up short, frowning slightly as he looked down at me, and I did my best not to look like I was completely smitten as I gave him a small smile, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible as I took a long deep breath, pulling as much of his scent into my lungs as possible.

  The man always smelled so damn delicious. Rich and almost nutty. Bitter-sweet. It made me think of mornings spent on the front porch when I still lived at home, a huge cup of coffee clasped happily in between both hands, while I listened to the birds greet the sun.

  I was more than a little infatuated with his scent, and I knew it, but I couldn't seem to help it.

  He reached out toward me, and I gasped slightly, looking up at his handsome face and then back down at his hand, not entirely sure what to think. In all the time that I’d known the man, he'd never even insinuated that he wanted to touch me, so for him to reach for me was surprising, but if he wanted to touch me now, I sure as hell wasn't going to fight him on it.

  I swallowed hard, looking up at his pretty green eyes, before stepping even closer, almost moaning as his morning coffee smell grew bolder, sexier. He frowned slightly, but brought his hand a little closer and I bit my lip, happy tingles going straight to my gut.

  I wasn't sure what I wanted him to touch more. My face? My neck? My dick? I was pretty sure he could put the tip of his index finger against the center of my forehead, and I'd be fucking delirious with happiness… but he stopped completely, his hand just kind of hanging there in the middle of the air as he seemed to be waiting for something.

  "Uh, do you want me to take that, so I can put some sugar in it?" he asked gruffly, the crease between his brows growing deeper.

  I started, suddenly realizing what a fucking idiot I was as I shook out of my Grant-induced moment of complete stupidity, and held out the fucking bowl. I nearly whimpered in dismay, as he seemed to make it a point not to touch me as he carefully took the bowl from me, and slowly turned away, taking off to the kitchen.

  I groaned when he was no longer in sight, closing my eyes and letting my head drop forward in shame. While I'd been fantasizing about our long, happy life together, the two, possibly three kids we'd have together––depending on how terrible pregnancy really was––and our cute little cottage house on the edge of town, with a big ol' Great Dane who smothered us with affection, and accidentally knocked our kids over when they were all playing outside… he'd been fantasizing about getting me some fucking sugar, and getting me the hell out of his house.

  I was truly pathetic.

  Sighing, I turned to inspect my surroundings, like I always did when he stupidly left me in his living room alone, noticing he'd rearranged the things on his bookshelf, finally making that damn picture visible I'd always been curious about, but wasn't able to see, because of the challenges in my life––I'm fucking short––and like an annoying June Bug that was just trying to live his life, but was actually terrifying people and making them cringe away from my sticky legs, I headed toward the light, and probably got stuck in Grant's hair as I hovered near his things, while he came out with that sugar.

  "Is this your family?" I asked in awe as I took in the ten men and a baby standing in the normal, slightly awkward family pose. The two older men––one alpha, one omega––stood front and center while eight others––definitely alpha––stood around them, touching their shoulders. The baby was turned around backward on the hip of one of the men out to the side, sucking on his fist.

  It was actually a bit ridiculous as photos went, but somehow seemed kinda quirky.

  Grant grunted, and I glanced at him, fighting back a smile.

  Was that a yes?

  "You have a beautiful… and giant family." And I meant that in the way that the numbers were definitely up there, and that they would weigh a hell of a lot if someone put them on a scale.

  Grant and some blond guy with a shy smile were by far the largest of the group, but the poor omega in the front looked dwarfed completely by the men standing around him.

  "That's not even all of them. These four have omegas now," he said, pointing to the big blond in back, a darker-skinned man, who looked to be of Latin origins, a black man who looked like a mixture of the older couple in the middle, and the man holding the baby. "And Ricki just turned two in May. I hadn't mentioned it yet, but I also think Riley, Cole's boyfriend––" He once again pointed at the black man who looked like the older couple. "––is pregnant. He doesn’t drink, and he occasionally touches his stomach all sweetly."

  I was probably looking at him like he suddenly sprouted wings and turned into a flying pig, but that was the most I'd heard him talk ever,
and apparently, he wasn't done.

  "That picture is absolutely horrible, but Da thought it would be funny, and nobody really likes to tell him no… except Riley. Riley seems to enjoy it a lot."

  He chuckled softly, and I 'bout had an orgasm… and seriously considered checking for seams behind his ears, because I was pretty sure this man had been possessed by aliens… or whatever.

  I stood there for a while, just staring at him, and wondering how the hell I was supposed to be normal after this experience, and he turned to look at me while his mouth was still doing that smiling thing… and I panicked.

  "Do you have sex?"

  What?

  "Huh?"

  "With people!" I said quickly. You know… to clarify.

  It doesn't seem to be working, Bates. You know better than to try to have a conversation with Grant.

  "Fuck!" I yelled loudly, making him pull back slightly. I sighed, closing my eyes. "I meant do you have an omega? But halfway through the sentence, I wanted to make sure that I didn't just assume that you only date omegas, and my mouth outran my brain. I'm pretty sure you don't have sex with animals, though I guess one never really knows that stuff. I'm pretty sure there have been several serial rapists, whose families had no idea they were into taking people against their will."

  It took him a moment, and I was sure that had to do with the fact that he'd just gone through a kind of traumatic experience, and then an even more traumatic explanation, but eventually, he grunted at me, shrugging.

  "I've dated both, but I'm single right now."

  Duh, Bates! It wasn't like I didn't know that, since my apartment was closer to the stairs than his was, and I'd never seen him with anyone else, and you better believe, I'd definitely looked.

  "Great!" I said, too loudly again, cringing when I realized how rude that sounded. "I mean, I think it's great. Not that I would judge you if you wanted a boyfriend… or even a girlfriend. Nobody should be judged about how they relationship. I haven't had a relationship in three years, and I want one."

  Stop fucking talking! You're going to end up proposing marriage to him or something.

  Grant must have been worried about the same thing, because he frowned slightly, before nodding toward the door, and ushering me in that direction.

  Fuck. Shockingly, another failed attempt at having a normal conversation with Grant. And he'd been so open about his family. He'd even smiled and laughed. Why was I like this?

  He probably felt trapped in his own house. I would bet once he got me on the other side of his door, he'd never answer the damn thing again.

  "The only time you should feel trapped is if you’ve consented to being cuffed, or something," I said, once again trying to fix things.

  He paused on his trek to the door, turning slightly to give me another confused grunt.

  Wait. Am I starting to understand Gruntonese? Or would it be Gruntican? Gruntish? All I knew was that if I was suddenly able to differentiate the dialect, I might have a new career to consider when this one dried up.

  "I'll go," I said, sighing. "I have sugar to… use. Thanks for always having sugar."

  He nodded, but I felt more than a little responsible for the future wrinkles he was going to have between his eyes. I'd definitely contributed to about five years of aging today alone.

  "I'll be sure to pick you some up the next time I'm at the store," he said after a moment, reaching for the doorknob. "That way you don't have to stop what you're doing to come get some."

  "You don't have to do that," I said forlornly as he pulled the door open, wishing I could take back most of the last five minutes, with the exception of that smile, and the small length of time he'd talked about his family, the rest had pretty much been a shit show, and I was fully to blame for it.

  Please, don't do that. I need this.

  "Granty-Poo!" someone said excitedly behind me, nearly making me sling the sugar I'd just gotten for absolutely no reason, all over the damn place.

  I spun to find a handsome man a bit taller than me with golden-brown hair, and a giant, mischievous smile, looking back and forth between Grant and me.

  "No," Grant growled, making me gasp when he reached out and grabbed my shoulders, keeping me between him and the guy. "Nope. I told you, no."

  "Grant!" an absolutely adorable omega, with the brightest smile I'd probably ever seen, and a pretty purple birthmark on his face slid in around me, and Grant sighed, his arms dropping away from my shoulders.

  Damn it! I'd been too damn shocked to even enjoy it properly.

  "Hi, Hinton," Grant grumbled, and I turned in time to see an almost smile on his face as he awkwardly put his arms around the man who was wrapped around him from the side, giving him what looked like a pretty amazing hug.

  I tried not to frown as I watched, while jealousy burned in my stomach. Who were these two and why were they so familiar with my alpha?

  Down boy. He isn't your alpha.

  "Kent and Jennings are just behind us," the guy not hugging Grant said, giving me a smiling once-over when I turned back to look at him. "I'm pretty sure they both snuck out."

  Snuck out? How young are these people?

  "We're here," someone else said from the hallway, and I leaned out of the door slightly, to see another man walking toward the door, lacing his fingers together before popping them. "You ready for this, big guy? We're going to work you over real good."

  What the fuck?

  The man who apparently had those working fingers, glanced away from them and up toward the door as he walked, finding me leaning around the corner staring at him, and his eyes widened, before a slow smile spread on his face. "Why, hello there."

  "Uh, hi." The man's smile was… not necessarily seductive, but there was definitely something there that was making me a little uneasy. I glanced at Grant, whose eyes were narrowed on the guy, who was looking at me like I was some kind of strange present.

  "Here," the man said, slapping his phone against one of the other guys' chest. "Take our picture."

  "Are you forgetting Wagoner, Jennings?" Grant growled, looking irritated as the guy moved up next to me, putting his arm around me.

  "Who do you think the picture is for?" Jennings asked, smirking at Grant who was still being hugged by the cute little omega he'd smiled at. "He deserves it for all the shit he's put me through."

  Were those two together? The little guy was definitely cute enough.

  "Smile," Jennings said brightly as the one that had come in with him––Kent, maybe––pointed the camera at us and took a picture.

  I somehow managed to draw my attention away from Grant and his little omega, giving the camera a smile, just as I heard the click of the phone.

  "Come on," Riley said on a sigh. "I'm ready to get started. Da will be hunting me down soon anyway.

  Grant's eyes widened, and he tried to extricate himself as gently as he could from Hinton, who was still hugging him, but the man just seemed to hold on even tighter as Riley marched through the door, grabbing the back of Grant's shirt and pulling him along… I wasn't really sure where he was planning on taking him, and I definitely didn't know what all four of them were planning to do with him when they got him there, but if he had all these attractive omegas in his life, he definitely didn't need the inarticulate idiot, who'd basically accused him of bestiality.

  "Come on!" Riley growled, giving his shirt a hard jerk, making Grant stumble a bit, nearly falling over and taking his human attachment with him.

  Grant groaned, but allowed himself to be pulled along, while everyone followed after, and I was left standing in his doorway, with a bowl of sugar I didn't need, and all the regret in the world.

  Chapter Two

  JULY

  "You know when you do something and you know it's stupid, and you don't even really know the purpose of it, but you do it anyway because you're an idiot? Well, that is like my entire life. Like, why do I still try to date, when I know for a fact that I'm not the type of person who is just not goi
ng to tell them what I do for a living? Why try to flirt with the hot neighbor, when I know that nothing can even come from it?"

  I sighed, letting my head fall back on my shoulders. I didn't necessarily want to tell everyone about the day I'd had, but that was the whole point of this live vlog. The Personal Life of a Camboy wasn't necessarily a big moneymaker, but the interaction was a lot nicer than when I was actually streaming a scene, and I needed to talk to people who knew what I did, and simply wanted to hear about how I managed that with my personal life, and to occasionally just talk about stuff and listen to me whine about how I was never going to be able to find someone.

  "Even if I wasn't a camboy, and could therefore tell my significant other about my job, without worrying that they were going to break up with me, the man I have a giant, stupid, over-the-top crush on… might be the hardest man on the planet to actually have a conversation with."

  "I don't mean that he is unpleasant or unkind. He's definitely not. The Lord knows, the man has supplied me with enough sugar to build a gingerbread house that would cause a cannibal to orgasm." Frowning, I shook my head. "You know what I mean. The kids in the woods with the witch. They eat her house and she tries to eat them? Someone knows what the hell I'm talking about." I waved my hand in the air toward my camera. "I mean that I, as in me, this guy right here, has the hardest time talking to the man. He's just so big and sexy… Did I tell you about––"

  I cut off at the large bang coming from the hallway outside the door to my apartment, and I whipped my head around at the sound of Grant's deep voice, probably cussing the interior decorator of our building right into a coma.

  "Hold on," I said slowly, rising from where I'd been kneeling on the floor in front of my coffee table, to get up and walk over the peephole on my door, peering through as more banging started up.

  Was he out there fucking one of those gorgeous omegas in the hallway? Up against the wall, right outside my apartment? I didn't really have the right to be a little pissy about the idea, but there I was, glaring through the peephole all offended like.