didn’t have the same worries about obesity as humans. Bok wasn’t going to die of coronary disease or any related ailment. There were elves who were much fatter and less active than he was who’d lived twice as long. “This is about Tanty, isn’t it?” Bok kept his eyes on the timer in front of him. Ten minutes. “No.”
“Bok.”
“What?”
“I heard you were with her. All night.”
Bok sniffed. He wished there was something else to distract him from the discomfort, but he’d tried reading or watching movies and found the watching made him feel queasy. “That was so last week. Where have you been?”
Lon winced, his gaze dropping as he ran his fingers up over the back of Bok’s desk chair.
“I’m sorry I haven’t been around. I didn’t hear about what happened until the other day, and I thought you’d come. And when you didn’t, I had to ask around, and I wasn’t sure if you wanted to talk. I…I’m sorry.”
Bok let Lon’s stream of explanation die down before he asked, “What did you hear?”
“That you spent the night with Tanty.”
“What else?”
Lon still wouldn’t look directly at him. “There’s more?” Bok gave up and punched the buttons that would slow the treadmill to a stop. He waited until his feet could stop moving. “What did you hear?”
“Tanty said you took off when the other reindeer showed up.”
“You talked to Tanty ?” Bok had thought Lon heard from others, from people who were shocked Tanty had spent the whole night with a fatty.
Lon nodded, biting his lip. “She came to ask about you. She wanted to know if something was wrong.”
Bok wasn’t sure if he was happy or concerned by that.
Now Lon was looking at him, enormous blue eyes full of concern. “ Is something wrong?” Bok mopped his head with his towel. “No.”
“Why haven’t you talked to her?”
He sniffed. “She doesn’t want to talk to me.”
“What? But she does.”
“No.” Bok stepped off the treadmill, irritated that he had to hang on to the handlebar to keep his balance. Perhaps he was overdoing it a little. But he wanted this part of the exercise thing over already.
“Huh?”
Balance secure, Bok headed for the table. “ Look at me. If you were her, would you want me?” He snatched up a can of protein drink and popped it open.
Lon moved to his side. “But she had sex with you.”
“Right. She had sex with me and her toys.”
“What? Oh.”
Bok drank as Lon thought about that.
“But…weren’t you with her twice?”
Having downed most of the drink, Bok slowed to sips. “Yes. Well, more than that the one night.” He shook his head and looked Lon in the eye, unable to quash the wave of warmth that filled him. “The best night of my entire life.” Lon tried a tentative smile. “That’s good, though, isn’t it?”
“No. That’s bad.”
Lon’s smile fell. “Why bad?”
Bok turned and spread his arms to display his chubby, sweaty self for his friend. “Look at me.”
Lon did, then shrugged.
Bok sighed. “You don’t get it because you’re cute. Everyone thinks you’re adorable.
Everyone wanted to fuck you before you even hooked up with Wod.”
“That’s not true!”
“That is true—you were just too naive to see it. Even though I tried to tell you.” Bok crushed his empty drink can and threw it into a growing pile of empties in the corner. “But me?
No. No one wants me more than once.”
“But you just said you were with her more than once.”
“She was just being nice . She’s different than the others. She really gets into the toys, Lon.
I mean, really . I’ve never seen a woman so into it.” His gaze and mind drifted a little in fond memories. “She’s incredible.”
“You really like her.”
He snapped his attention back to Lon. “Yeah. I do.”
“But that’s great. She asked about you. She must like you too—” He broke off and mirrored Bok’s headshake. “What?”
“She wants more toys. That’s what I am to