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“You don’t drink tea.”

“I will learn.”

I bit my lip so I wouldn’t smile.

“Item two. I am unusually strong. I will not use it. If at any point I forget, and you feel my hand hold you in a way you do not like, you will say so and I will be grateful.”

“Okay.”

“Item three.” He hesitated. “I will not bite you.”

I looked at him.

“Tonight, or at any time, until you have said, clearly, in daylight, with a clear head and no wine, that you would like me to. I ask you to hold me to this. My teeth may come down. It is involuntary. It does not mean I will use them. If it frightens you, tell me and I will step back.” He took a breath. “I do not wish you to worry that I am holding a knife behind my back.”

“I’m not worried.”

“You should be, a little. It is only sensible.”

“I trust you,” I said.

He went utterly still.

“Do not say that lightly.”

“I’m not saying it lightly. I don’t say it at all.” My voice shook. “I haven’t said it to anyone since I was twelve.”

He didn’t answer. He set down his glass and folded his hands and looked at them for a moment, and I saw the muscles in his jaw work.

“Item four,” he said, hoarsely. “Condoms.”

“Uh.”

“I cannot carry or give any disease. I am, in that respect, wholly safe. But you may not know how far to trust that, and I am not the sort of creature who asks for trust when it can be replaced by evidence. There are condoms in the bag. I would be honored to use them. If you prefer not to, we may talk about it. If you prefer to, then we will.”

“I get tested every season,” I said. “Team physicals. I’m clean.”

“I believed you. But I wished you to have the choice.”

I closed my eyes for a second. “Use the condoms.”

“Very well.”

“Just this once. I want to. It’s— it’s easier to think.”

“Of course.”

“Item five?”

“There is no item five.” He looked briefly panicked. “There is item five. I lost it.”

“You lost it?”

“I had it in my head. It was a good one.” He rubbed his forehead. “It was: you may change your mind halfway through and it will not spoil anything. I forgot to say the halfway. “

That did it. I started to laugh, and I couldn’t stop, and I laughed until I had to put my hands over my face, while he watched me with an expression that got softer and softer, like a man watching snow fall on a field.

“Okay,” I said, when I could talk. “Okay. That’s item five. It’s a good one. I accept.”