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That had always particularly hurt in the past—when the men I’d dated had actually said something nice, something sweet, something that had made it seem like they were interested in more with me, and then they’d still left before I’d even fully recovered from the sex and never called again.

Brian would never do that. I already knew that for certain. But bodies and brains held on to bad memories, and nervous systems took a while to recalibrate. Logically, I knew Brian was different, but maybe a couple more dates to let my whole being fully realise it and build that trust wasn’t such a bad thing.

Ugh. I hated when I had these brief instances of being an intelligent, rational adult who made good life decisions that my future self would thank me for. It was way less fun in the moment.

He stroked my cheek with his thumb, and I leaned into the touch with the desperate eagerness of a touch-starved puppy.

“That’s really sweet, Klaus,” he said in response to my suggestion. “Thank you. But…” He made a face, expression growing a little sheepish. “I think we both know what would happen if we just, you know, stayed in…”

I heaved out a great, long-suffering sigh with an extra-dramatic flair just to make him huff in amusement. “That’s true. I am irresistible,” I teased, but Brian’s eyes gleamed as he shot me that sweet, wolfy grin.

“You are,” he said earnestly, which made me want to preen. “So, um, when are you free…?”

“Anytime.” Like I’d said, fuck being coy. “Whenever. Seriously. I just want to see you again,” I added a little shyly, lifting one shoulder in a shrug.

Brian’s expression seemed to melt. “Me too,” he croaked, slipping his hands back onto my waist and stroking my ribs through my thin shirt. “I mean, uh… it might be creepy and too eager to suggest, but tomorrow night?”

My heart fluttered. He wanted to see me tomorrow. He didn’t even want to wait a couple of days. I was so happy that it was almost making me flustered.

“I-I wish we could, but I have work tomorrow night,” I told him ruefully, realising I’d been a bit too quick to answer with that ‘anytime’ when I did, in fact, have a stupid job and stupid responsibilities.

For a split second, I genuinely considered just quitting my job. But that would be one of those other kinds of life choices—the bad kind—that I knew my future self would definitely not thank me for. So, ugh, fine, I guessed I wouldn’t quit my stupid job just so I’d be free for another date with Brian.

“How about Wednesday?” I asked. “I have work again that night, but we could do something during the day. Breakfast?”

He grinned and nodded. “Sure, breakfast would be nice.”

“I actually know a really nice little breakfast spot.” I wanted to bounce on my toes in excitement now that we were planning our second date. “It never gets busy and it serves the best honey lattes.”

His grin widened. “That sounds great.”

“Okay.” I grinned back at him, still playing with his hair. “Thank you again for tonight. It was so lovely. I had such a nice time.”

“Me too.” His gaze dropped to my lips. I decided to take it as an invitation, so I leaned in a little and sighed in pleasure when he immediately met me halfway, his lips warm and firm but soft against mine.

The front door creaked loudly as it was opened, then banged closed again a second later, and I jumped and broke the kiss to look back. One of my roommates, Simon, was shrugging on his jacket and shoving his phone into his pocket. He stilled when he saw us.

“Oh. Hey.” He barely bothered to look at me, his eyes alighting on Brian with that rivalrous interest a lot of guys seemed to get around other, bigger guys. “Damn, you’re a big one,” he commented as he passed us on the steps, proving my point. “You should’ve seen the last guy Klaus brought back. And the guy before that. And the guy before that…”

“Okay, Simon,” I cut in sardonically, shooting him a weak glare. “Thanks.”

He smirked and shrugged. “Just warning your new friend here about what he’s getting into.”

“Grow the fuck up, asshole.”

Startled, I turned to stare at Brian as he frowned at Simon. Simon froze and slowly turned around to stare at him too, incredulous that he’d been spoken to that way. He was an asshole, and a bit of a bully, so it rarely if ever happened.

“What the fuck did you say?”

“I said grow the fuck up,” Brian repeated calmly. “You sound like a teenage boy, trying to shame someone for their sex life just because you can’t find anyone who’s willing to fuck you.”

Simon’s face turned purple. He squared his shoulders and puffed up his chest, and I had to purse my lips together to suppress a little snort at how ridiculous he looked facing off against Brian. Especially when Brian looked so calm and relaxed. He wasn’t tensing in anticipation of a punch or anything. He wasn’t remotely worried about anything Simon might try to do to him, because, come on, it wasn’t like Simon would be able to cause any damage.

Simon seemed to realise this himself after a few seconds, because he deflated and glared up at Brian even harder. “Man, if you weren’t a fucking giant I’d fuck you up.”

Brian snorted and turned back to me, dismissing him. “Sure, man.”

Simon floundered for a second or two, clearly trying to weigh up whether or not it was worth picking a fight with Brian. It definitely wasn’t. I’d seen him in a damn cage fight. But I wasn’t going to tell Simon that. Finally, he let out a very unconvincing scoff and slunk off without another word.