“That was my fight or flight reflex.”
“Which… which one of those was it?”
Dante was silent for a moment as he pinned the edge of the bandage in place with the elastic clasps it’d come with.
“So anyway,” Dante said, changing the subject with all the grace and dignity of a giraffe falling down a flight of stairs. “We were actually talking about the dick you did or did not get last night.”
“Did not get,” I said. “This story is entirely G-rated. Harvey freaked out and slept on the couch. I slept in the bed with Theo. When I woke up this morning, he was gone.”
“Like, gone-gone?”
“He left a note,” I clarified, digging into my pocket to get it and passing it to Dante for assessment.
Dante’s lips and eyebrows moved equal amounts as he deciphered Harvey’s ridiculously loopy cursive. I’d never really learned to write like that—I still printed everything in barely-legible scrawl—but Harvey’s handwriting was beautiful.
Difficult to read, but beautiful all the same.
“Okay so. This is adorable,” Dante said, still peering at the note. “He likes you so much.”
“We… well, you know how close we were.”
“I do,” Dante agreed. “Nine out of ten of your childhood stories are about Harvey.”
The tips of my ears were getting hot, but luckily, my hair was long enough and tied back loosely enough to cover them.
I knew growing it out was a good call. The fact that Liam had always hated the idea had seemed like confirmation enough when I’d made the decision, but since then it’d turned out to be very practical.
“I know,” I said. “I don’t wanna screw this up.”
“But you do wanna climb back on that dating horse and ride it off into the sunset,” Dante said.
“Maybe not… dating, exactly. Harvey’s only in town for Seth’s wedding.”
Dante’s eyes lit up. “Perfect. You already know him, he’s hot, youdefinitelywanna ride him off into the sunset, and he’s not gonna have enough time to break your heart. He’s theidealwarm-up for jumping back into the dating pool.”
“You got any more romantic mixed metaphors you wanna use?” I teased.
“Who said anything about romance?” Dante asked. “Well, I mean, maybe let him spoil you a little. But this is about sex.”
“Everything is about sex to you,” I said. “Not, I mean… not that there’s anythingwrongwith that, but… I don’t know if…”
“If…?” Dante prompted.
“If casual sex is for me?”
Did that sound ridiculous? It probably sounded ridiculous.
“Then this is the perfect time to find out with someone you already trust. You do trust him, right?”
“With my life,” I said.
My heart was a different matter, but… Dante was right. He wasn’t going to be around long enough to break it.
“There you go!” Dante beamed as he put the first aid kit away again.
“Were you not listening when I said he freaked out when I kissed him and ran the hell away?”
I thought the bell ringing over the shop door might save me, but Dante didn’t even glance at it.
