Nothing staged. Nothing polished. Just pieces of a man who didn’t care much about decorating, but cared deeply about the people in his orbit.
She felt something loosen in her chest—something warm and unsettling and full.
“Welcome to my extremely white, extremely dull apartment,” Brian said with amusement as he set the takeout bags on the counter.
But she didn’t think it was dull at all. Not even close.
“I like it,” she said honestly, drifting toward the photos on the other side of the TV. Her fingers hovered just shy of the frames. “It feels like you.”
One picture drew her in—a sun-faded snapshot of Brian in his mid-teens, all long limbs and big grin, standing between two boys who had to be his brothers. A man and woman stood behind them, arms looped around all three boys, smiling like the photographer had said something ridiculous.
His family. The people who made him.
Something in her chest tightened—not painful, just... aware. This was a piece of his world he hadn’t shown her before, even unintentionally.
Brian came up beside her, close enough that his heat seeped into her arm. “That was taken about a year before my folks died.”
“They were a good-looking couple—happy. You were cute too,” she teased, then corrected herself with a smile. “Still are.”
Color touched his cheeks, faint but real. “I was a menace at that age.”
She believed it—but there was also a brightness in the boy’s eyes, the same spark she sometimes caught in the man standing next to her.
And she liked that more than she should.
“Tess...”
The sudden seriousness in his voice had her turning around to face him.
“I don’t want to rush anything,” he said carefully. “But I—” A soft exhale. “Being with you feels... good. Right. And I’m trying really damn hard not to be terrified of that.”
Her breath caught. That was exactly how she’d been feeling lately.
She stepped closer, fingers brushing his. “You’re not the only one who’s scared.”
He searched her face—slowly, gently, like he didn’t want to miss anything she wasn’t saying aloud. “But you’re here.”
“Yeah,” she whispered. “I’m here. So are you.”
His hand found her cheek, warm and steady, thumb brushing along her skin like he’d been wanting to do it all day. “Then maybe... we try. For real. Not halfway. Not pulling back the second it feels too good.”
Her chest tightened, her emotions catching her off guard. “Brian...”
“For the first time in my life, I know what I want,” he said quietly. “Who I want—and that’s you. I just don’t want to spook you.”
“You won’t,” she said, surprised by the certainty in her own voice. “I am scared—I can’t deny that—but I don’t want to run from this. From you.”
Her voice softened. “At first, I thought the timing wasn’t right—everything with the house, Andy heading into his senior year, and my chance to go to medical school. But if I wait for the ‘right time,’ I might miss out on the best thing that’s happened to me. I don’t want to wait anymore.”
Something in him loosened—shoulders dropping, jaw unclenching. Relief and hope flared in his eyes.
He leaned in, his nose nuzzling hers. “Good. Because I’m falling for you. I don’t know when it started, but I don’t think I could stop now if I tried.”
Her legs shook. It felt like the floor shifted—equal parts terrifying and exhilarating. “You’re not the only one,” she whispered. “I’m falling too.”
His hand slid to the back of her neck, fingers threading into her hair as if pulling her to him was the most natural thing he’d ever done.
“Come here,” he murmured against her lips.
