His bicep starts to steal my breath away. My heart hammers against my ribs as I watch him in the mirror. He’s behind me, pressing his bare body against me.
“Fine. Surprise me.”
He smiles, lowering his head. “I’m full of surprises.”
I watch his naked body in the mirror as he drops his towel and picks up his clothes. He’s built. He has incredible genes. So beautiful that I hate myself. I turn around when he’s fully clothed and look at the bed. I need to put those blankets and sheets in the washer the moment he leaves.
“I’ll be back,” he says, leaving my bedroom. And when I hear the front door shut, I blink in the mirror at myself. I thought I’d feel better if he left, but suddenly my apartment is too quiet. I feel alone. With Dylan here, there’s a warmth.
I try to shake off the feeling as I put my blankets in the washing machine, and then I reach for my laptop and bury myself in homework.
I find myself checking the time, then scrolling through my phone.
When there’s a knock at my front door, I open it.
“I come with food,” Dylan says, stepping inside. And I hate myself for how happy I am to see his face. He sets up the table, naming everything he got from a few different food trucks.
I put my laptop away and sit across from him. “Thank you.”
He nods, handing me a plastic bag. “I feel like a dick that you have to take that.”
“Don’t. It’s just an extra precaution. I’m already on birth control, but we had sex three times––”
“Three times,” he echoes.
I wince. “Yeah. That’s––”
“A lot.”
I nod. “I can’t believe it.”
“Me too,” he says, taking a bite of sushi.
“Can I have some of that?” I ask.
He slides it over and leans back in the chair. “You can’t do that to me again, Ce.”
I slide a piece of sushi into my mouth and ask, “Do what?”
He leans forward now. “You started crying, and then you got awkward. Did I do something?”
I shake my head. “No.”
He glares at me in confusion.
“The orgasm made me cry, and now I feel wide awake. I don’t know, but don’t take it so personally, Dilly. I’m okay now. I think.”
“Okay,” he says, plucking a sushi and eating it. “So, we’re good?”
I nod. “Of course.”
I eat most of the sushi while he pulls out a box of noodles and eats it with chopsticks.
“I have a lot of homework,” Dylan says, picking out a piece of cabbage and eating it.
“How much homework?”
“Too much, so if I disappear for a minute, just know I’m playing catch-up.”
