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“Okay,” I said, pouring two shots of dark rum. “We’re each going to take a shot first to get us warmed up. Then we’re going to take turns asking questions. For every question you refuse to answer, you take another shot.”
“Why would I refuse to answer?” he asked, reaching for one of the tiny glasses and throwing it back.
“What do you think is the real reason Chris won’t come out?”
Teo choked and sputtered on the rum, shoving the empty shot glass back at me. He fanned his face with his hands as he struggled to swallow. By the time he got himself under control, his moist eyes were shooting daggers at me.
“Give me another shot,” he said.
I did as he asked. Once he swallowed that one and handed the glass back, he met my eyes. “My turn.”
The warm spice of the rum still lingered on my tongue from the first shot. “Go ahead. I’m an open book, sweetheart.”
We’d moved over to the sofa by the window. I dragged one of the blankets off the extra bed and tossed it to him. As soon as he’d wrapped himself in it, he studied me for a minute.
“Why aren’t you in a relationship?”
“I travel too much,” I said. “When you and I first met, I was a commercial pilot for United out of Newark.”
“Why’d you change jobs?”
I leaned back and put my feet up on the low coffee table. “I grew up in La Porte, Indiana, and my family is still there, including my sister, Millie, and her husband. She’s been nagging me for a while to get a job with better hours so I could have a life outside of work. When she told me they were pregnant… well, I decided it was time to move closer.”
“So, you can have a relationship now?” he asked.
I held up a hand. “Slow down, Agent Parisi. My turn.” I thought for a minute. “How does Chris handle you hooking up with other guys?”
Teo’s cheeks turned pink, and he reached out a hand for a shot. I pulled the bottle back toward me. “No way, Tee. At this rate, you’ll be shitfaced by the top of the hour.”
He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, leaving one bit sticking up in the most adorably imperfect way. “I… I mean… I don’t. Hook up with other guys. He thinks I do, I guess. But I’d never really confirmed it until I was with you.”
“What do you mean, you don’t hook up with other guys? You hooked up with me.”
His blush deepened. “Can we change the subject? I think it’s my turn anyway.”
I realized what he was trying not to admit, and my stomach plummeted. I reached for his hand. “Teo, how old are you?”
The blanket wrapped around him must have been fascinating, because his eyes were glued to it.
“Tee,” I said softly. “It’s okay. This is a judgment-free zone.”
“How could it possibly be judgment-free? You can’t help but have opinions about things.”
“Well, no, but I care about you. And I don’t want you to be upset.” I squeezed his hand. “But you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”
“Twenty-six,” he admitted softly.
I wasn’t sure how to ask the next part. “And…”
He finally glanced back up and met my eyes. “And you were the first person I ever had sex with.”
My heart suddenly felt too big for my chest. “C’mere,” I murmured, pulling the entire Teo burrito over into my lap. “Do you have any idea how incredible that makes me feel? That I was the one who got to experience that with you?”
He narrowed his eyes at me. “Don’t be an asshole.”
I pulled his hand up to kiss it. “I’m being serious, even though I want to kick your ass for trusting a stranger not to hurt you. Was it okay? Did I hurt you? Did we do anything that you—”
His slender hand covered my mouth. “It was amazing. I couldn’t have asked for better.”
So many things began to click into place then. The way he wanted to be treated like he mattered. Wanting to pretend it was special. Wanting to spend the entire night together.
He’d wanted it to be with Chris. And he hadn’t wanted some random stranger’s small talk to burst the fantasy he’d tried so hard to create.
The knowledge I’d only been a stand-in for the ungrateful Chris Banks stung like a bitch.
“Did Chris know you were waiting for him?” I asked.
He shook his head. “He would have thought I was a total loser. When I finally figured that out, I realized I needed to go out and get some experience.”
“And that’s when you placed the ad.”
Teo nodded and smiled. “And that’s when I hit the fucking V-card lottery.” Then he quietly added, “I’m so glad it was you.”
I realized however Teo’s plan started, Chris had been nowhere in the room with us that night. What had happened between the two of us would always remain between the two of us. It was something special that had nothing to do with Chris Banks.
