As Thorne stretched, he felt every overused muscle in his body. His ass was still sore as hell from being spanked—fucking spanked—by a sassy little shit who was trying to make him wake up far too early after fucking him two—or was it three?—times, including once in the middle of the night.

“I’m not getting up.”

“I have ways of making you get out of this bed that you won’t like.”

Thorne snarled. “Don’t even think about it.”

“It’s nine thirty, and I’m starving.”

“Nine thirty?” Thorne couldn’t remember when he’d last slept that late. “Fuck.”

“Not before breakfast. You would’ve had to wake up earlier for that.”

Thorne sighed. “It would’ve killed me, anyway.”

Dash patted his leg. “See, it’s in your best interest to go out with me and recover a bit.”

Thorne looked at Dash, his impish grin, his ruffled hair, the T-shirt that was too tight or rather just perfect to show off his body. “I’m willing to risk it.”

Dash shook his head. “Get in the shower. We’re going to breakfast and then I’m going to show you my favorite animals at the aquarium.”

Surprisingly, Thorne wanted Dash to show him around the aquarium even more than he wanted to drag Dash back to bed.

***

An hour later Thorne and Dash were seated in a vinyl booth with duct tape placed over several cracks in the seat. “Are you sure about this place?” Thorne sure as hell wasn’t.

“Relax.”

He scowled at Dash. “You say that a lot.”

“You’re tense a lot.”

Thorne looked around. The diner might look decrepit, but it was packed with a wide-range of clientele: men in business suits, women in tennis skirts, families, people of all skin colors, and only a few patrons whose appearance was as ragged as the surroundings. He and Dash had waited twenty minutes for a table.

A thin, dark-haired waitress who looked about Thorne’s age approached their table a few minutes after they were seated. “Riley,” she said, her face lighting up. “It’s been too long since I’ve seen you.”

“I’ve had a busy few weeks,” Dash/Riley said. “Sally, this is my friend Thorne.”

Sally gave Thorne an appreciative glance. “Good morning, Thorne. What can I get you?”

“Coffee, please, a lot of it.”

“Can do. Same for you, Riley?”

“Yes, and go ahead and bring us some biscuits and gravy while we decide what else we want.”

Sally grinned. “Good choice. And may I say you are looking particularly fine this morning.”

Dash blushed, actually blushed. “Thank you.”

Thorne grinned at him after she walked away. “If you ask me, you look damn fine every morning.”

“You’ve only seen me in the morning twice.”

“And both times I wanted to drag you right back to bed.”