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The buzzer rang for my apartment, forcing me to roll over and check what time it was.

Who was tracking me down at eight in the morning? I sighed and climbed out of bed, grabbing my robe to head for my door. When I pushed the button to see who was at the front door, I was startled when someone knocked on my door. It meant someone had let whoever it was into the building. That was perhaps a downside to such a small town. Everyone really did know everyone and had no problem giving people access to restricted spaces.

I looked in the mirror, quickly adjusted my hair. The nice thing about a fresh blowout meant it wasn’t too much of a mess, but I couldn’t let anyone see me be anything but perfect. There was no telling who was on the other side of that door.

My body instantly relaxed to see the tall, muscular man standing there with a bouquet of gerbera daisies.

“I’m not sure what your favorite flower is, but with the way you seemed taken with a certain dog, I figured daisies were a good place to start.”

I took the proffered flowers pulling them in close, lowering my nose into the blooms, taking a whiff. They didn’t have too much of a smell, but that wasn’t a deal-breaker. They were gorgeous, and it was the first time in my twenty-three years that someone had done something like that for me.

“These are amazing. Thank you so much, Truman.”

That shy smile was back, it made my toes curl. I’d never understood the term “He could melt your panties with that smile” until now. Maybe it took the matching personality to finally get it.

I ushered Truman inside, shutting the door behind him. He whistled as he took in my place. “You know, I knew about these apartments when they first put them in, but I’ve never been inside.”

It made me giggle. “It’s not that bad. Nowhere near as big as my place back in New York, but I was fine with a downgrade.”

His eyes opened wide. “Smaller? This is bigger than the entire shelter.”

I looked around my studio apartment, frowning. He wasn’t wrong. Did one person really need all that space? I’d been so spoiled for so long. I could just picture the dogs in their undersized kennels while I had room to stretch out every night.

God, I probably still looked like a mess. Not that it was what I should have been focused on, but it was better than standing there feeling guilty. I pulled my robe around me tighter before making my way over to the kitchen to find a vase. There was a crystal one that my mom had given me on my eighteenth birthday from Tiffany’s. I didn’t want to think about how expensive the thing was, but it was the strangest gift at the time. Now it seemed like the perfect place to put the gorgeous flowers that Truman gifted me.

“I’m sorry that I’m such a mess. I was still sleeping when you showed up.”

He laughed, joining me in the kitchen, taking the vase from my hands and finishing the setup. I watched as he found a pair of scissors to trim the stems before placing them in water.

He arranged the flowers so that no two colors were touching. It was a perfect display, enough to make me wonder if Truman had been a florist in another life, or maybe he just cared that much about all living things. He just wanted things to look their best. I had to think back to the shelter, how everything was so organized, set in its perfect place.

“You’re good at that,” I said, leaning against the counter to watch him move.

Truman chuckled. “Thanks? My mom always liked flowers and would have them on the table all the time. I think I just got used to seeing how she arranged them.”

It was a sweet thing to tell me about, maybe one of the first times I heard him mention anything about his family.

“What was your family like?”

And that seemed to be the wrong question. Truman stood upright, forgetting about the flowers before he turned to face me. “May I use your restroom?”

It was so abrupt that it took me off guard, but I knew not to push too hard. There were many reasons someone didn’t want to open up about things like that. It wasn’t my place to push, and if he wanted to open up to me about it, he would.

Chapter 10

Truman

Fuck, I was such a chickenshit. It was such a simple question, if I was really letting Allie in, I should be able to tell her about my family. That the reason I related to abandoned dogs so much was because I’d been an outsider looking in for the majority of my life. It was as if my parents didn’t even know I existed half the time. They weren’t wealthy, but it still felt like having me was some sort of status symbol. Like what they were supposed to do.

Maybe that was why when Allie told me about her aversion to sex, it didn’t bother me so much. There was a lot that was placed on people as a social expectation, and a lot of it was bullshit. Did I like sex? Obviously. I’d gone home the night before and jerked off to the fantasy of the blonde bombshell kneeling in front of me, worshiping my cock again. I was a man, and that was only normal. But what really was normal?

If I was learning anything during my time with Allie, normal was a bullshit idea that society tossed at us. It made people who didn’t meet the standard expectations feel less than. It wasn’t fair when there was nothing wrong with them to begin with.

If anything, Allie lived up to her rich, spoiled city-girl persona. I’d never hung around waiting so long for someone to get ready before. Getting there at eight in the morning, I figured we could be somewhere for breakfast by nine. I didn’t think we wouldn’t be leaving her place until almost eleven. Every time I thought she was just about ready to go, there was something else to do. She changed her outfit six different times. In the past, something like that would have driven me crazy, but for some reason, it only made me smile when it came to her.

“I know I work with dogs, but there’s this cat cafe in town. I figured you might want to take a look at that.”

Allie squealed as she adjusted her camera around her neck. At first, I wasn’t thrilled about her dragging it along, but it was her job, I had to relent at some point. She needed to be able to work. It wasn’t fair of me to ask her to set that aside just because I didn’t like being in the spotlight. She agreed that she would keep me out of things, that eased my discomfort with the situation.