Iflopped down on my new couch, a smile refusing to wipe off my face. Why was it so easy to be around Tanner?
A week ago, he’d been one hundred percent more excited than me about picking furniture for my apartment. He’d dragged me from store to store, helping me make decisions. He even fed me when he noticed I was about to call it a day, which had renewed my shopping tolerance level.
We texted all the time, and I even found myself making sure I took my breaks at work just so I could check my phone for new messages.
Tanner was definitely not the same eighteen-year-old I’d known. He was more confident, self-assured, not to mention flirty.
Spending a day with him would be the best way to enjoy my day off, furniture-building aside, of course. That I was not looking forward to.
I could stitch a wound and make it so perfect that anyone would be proud to show off the scars, but the tiny screws and extra pieces? That took skills my medical and military training had not prepared me for.
I checked my pantry to ensure I didn’t need a last-minute dash to the store to get coffee. Noah had warned me the only downside to living so centrally in the city was that there were no good grocery stores within walking distance, and as much as we could order everything online, it made it a challenge when all we needed was a single item.
A rhythmic set of knocks on my door pulled me out of my thoughts. It could only be one person.
“I hope you’ve got beer,” I said, opening the door.
“It’s like you don’t know me,” Noah said, raising his arm to show the six-pack and stopping beside the boxes. “Fuck, dude. What’s happening here?”
“Tanner is what’s happening here. I’m sure I don’t need a coffee tableanda table to go on the side of the couch, not to mention all the other things.”
He laughed, twisting open two bottles. “Sure you do. One’s for your feet when you’re watching TV and the other is for your beer.”
I raised my hands like everything now made sense.
“What’s new with you?”
He sighed and sat on the couch. “Nothing new. Same old nothingness.”
I raised a brow. “That doesn’t sound like the guy who dragged me into Tanner’s Bar when I was half zombie.”
“Ugh, don’t remind me of that night.”
I chuckled. “Are you ready to confess your sins?” I’d been trying to get him to tell me what happened between him and the silver fox guy for weeks, but Noah refused to kiss and tell.
“It’s all too dirty for your sensitive mind,” he said.
“My mind is anything but sensitive, but I don’t need the dirty details, thank you. Did you actually hook up with the guy?”
His look told me yes.
“Did it not work out?”
He threw his head back. “Ugh. The opposite. It was too perfect, and that’s the problem. I can’t move on. All I think about is him. Do you know how many times a day I jack off thinking about his?—”
“Don’t need to know that.”
“Anyway, it was good, but I didn’t even get a name. I’ll never see him again, so I’m going to miss out on the best sex of my life for the rest of my life.”
I laughed. “No one’s that good.”
“He was. God, Jax, he was everything I didn’t know I needed that night.” He shook his head like he was getting rid of his thoughts. “Anyway, do you need a hand with the furniture?”
“Thanks, but Tanner is coming in the morning to help.”
“Hmmm.”
I ignored the twitch of his eyebrow, finished my beer, and looked at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
