“Wes calls me Henny, but only when he’s trying to be a twit.”
I chuckled, hating it. “Well, I won’t ever call you that, don’t worry.”
He shrugged.
“How old is your brother?” I asked.
“He’s a twenty year-old afterthought.”
“You never struck me as the type to be so cruel,” I teased, laughing as the waiter returned with water and our wine. He poured a splatter into my glass and I tried it, giving him the okay to pour both glasses, which he did before leaving us alone again at the table.
“It’s in jest. My brother is younger and also my complete opposite.”
I wanted to meet this brother. Wait. What?
I wanted to meet his brother?
Fuck.
I settled with giving Hendrix an affirmative noise in response instead of any of those words.
Again, I didn’t want to scare him off or fuck it up yet.
“Do you have siblings?” he asked, reaching for his wine.
“Just me.” I raised my glass to cheers him. He clinked the edge of his glass against mine and we both drank, eyes locked across the table.
“What’s the deal with your roommate?” he asked.
“Grayson? He’s my best friend.”
“Have you had bad sex with him too?” Hendrix laughed quietly and set his wine down.
“Nah. Grayson and I had some phenomenal sex, if we’re still being honest, but he’s a bit too demanding for my tastes.”
The pink on Hendrix’s cheeks darkened, spreading down his throat toward the collar of his shirt. I wanted to kiss him there. Pop the top button and suck a bruise into his skin that would last for days.
“Sounds like you’re a hard one to please,” he mused. “Too complicit, too pushy.”
“And yet here you are.” I gave him a casual shrug, which was anything but. “Pleasing me.”
The noise that left Hendrix’s mouth at that comment went straight to my dick. I fanned my napkin out over my lap to shield the bulge, just as the waiter approached with our appetizer, some kind of fancy stuffed dumplings that sounded good and didn’t have cilantro in them.
“How did you end up in California?” I scooped one of the dumplings onto my plate. “You’re not from here.”
“Work,” he answered. “I was headhunted by another company and they made me a great offer.”
“Great enough to uproot your life?”
“There wasn’t anything keeping me back home.” Hendrix looked down at his plate, a small frown pulling at his mouth. “When they made me the first offer, things were already a little rocky with the man I was involved with—”
“Tell me about him.”
“Most people try to avoid this line of conversation, especially on a first date.” He shoved one of the dumplings into his mouth, like chewing would absolve him from answering the question.
I leaned over the table, lowering my voice. “I’m not scared of a little history. I’m not threatened by a man whose days of seeing what your face looks like when you come on his cock are numbered.”
“Jesus.” Hendrix scrubbed a hand down his face and took a substantial drink of his wine.
