Page 47 of The Allure of Ruins

“Well, nothing you’ve ever done has made me think, huh, he’s strange.”

“What about weird?”

“Not even weird. Ever since you told me all those years ago that I had to make intuitive leaps and think faster, I’ve been doing that.”

He had, that was true. Now he could basically read my expressions.

“It’s not great for learning other people, like what makes them tick. It doesn’t leave room to get to know others because I just want it to work the same.”

“I know what Dr. Butler would say.”

“What would he say?”

“He’d say that codependence is bad, and that you need to have someone else work for you. We should stay friends, but I shouldn’t work for you. It’s too much time spent together.”

“What do you think?”

“It shouldn’t matter what I think, only what you think.”

“That’s crap. Tell me what you think?”

“I think it’s far too early in the morning to be having such a serious conversation. We both need to go to bed.”

“Okay.”

I turned to go.

“Will you come lie down?”

I looked at him over my shoulder. “What are you talking about?”

“I think you want to sleep next to me, and I want to sleep next to you, so let’s do that and see if it’s all right.”

“You’re straight,” I reminded him.

“Which has what to do with what I’m asking?”

I sighed and crossed my arms. “You’re a smart man. You know precisely what it has to do with what you’re asking.”

He was quiet a moment. “I don’t want any other guy to get in my bed with me,” he said softly. “But I don’t want a woman in here either.”

I had to grab hold of the doorframe so I wouldn’t sink to the floor. “That’s new, isn’t it?” I barely got out. My breath kept catching.

“Not that new.”

Oh.

“It’s been like this for a while for me,” he confessed. “But because you were so hurt, I didn’t want to…scare you off.”

“That could never happen,” I promised him. “Not with you.”

He stared at me, searching my face, and I was drawn farther into the room by the warmth in his eyes.

“Colton?”

He cleared his throat. “See, I think we’re both unsure what to do because neither of us wants to mess up and lose the other person. I know not having you here would be the worst thing I could think of.”

“Yes. Same.”