“Was there a physiological response?” she inquired.
Reese hated this part of it, the weird dance that took place to get him to put a voice to his thoughts. Because he knew they could go round and round for another session or two, and he had no intention of being here much longer, he decided to confess.
“If you mean did he make my dick hard, yeah, he did.”
She didn’t look away, didn’t seem at all bothered by his harsh statement.
“And he’s the first man you’ve had that reaction to?”
“Theonlyman,” Reese clarified. “There were none before him and none since.”
“Have you not felt an attraction to women since you met him?”
Reese recalled meeting Jessica James that night. He remembered thinking she was a beautiful woman, but he hadn’t been stirred by her the way he’d been by Brantley. Of course, he’d done his best to pretend, because it made a hell of a lot more sense than his reaction to Brantley.
“I tried to be,” he admitted. “I met JJ that night, too.”
The doctor glanced down at her notepad. “She works with you. She’s Brantley’s best friend.”
“Yes.”
“And what happened after you met her?”
“I asked her out.”
“Because you were attracted to her?”
Reese shook his head. “Because I didn’t want Brantley to know I was attracted to him.”
Staring at the television screen now, Reese remembered how he’d felt when he admitted that openly. It had been the truth. From the day he’d met Brantley, he’d felt as though he’d been sucked into the vortex of another dimension. Everything had changed for him that night. Everything.
It had taken a few more sessions to get to the heart of the matter, but that one had signaled his progression. Since then, Reese had accepted the fact that Brantley Walker was the only person in the world who could make him happy. And with Dr. Sanders’s help, he’d learned that his sexual orientation did not have to define him.
He was still the same person he’d been before Brantley came along.
The same but better, he had realized.
Because Brantley Walker made him a better person.
*
BRANTLEY DIDN’T TAKE THE LONG WAY FORtheir morning run, choosing the shorter route instead.
He told himself he was tired from a night in the truck, but that wasn’t true. He was wide-awake, his blood pumping hot, and it was all thanks to the man who was back at his house.
Figuring he’d given Reese enough time to shower—ultimately removing the temptation—Brantley returned with five and a half miles under his belt. Time-wise, it was quite possibly a personal best for him, which told him he’d amped up his game in order to get back to Reese. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that.
“One treat and water,” Brantley told Tesha when they walked into the house. “Then I’m gonna hit the shower.”
He went to the kitchen, expecting to find Reese at the stove, but he wasn’t there. He gave Tesha her bacon treat from the fridge, then refilled her water bowl from the filtered pitcher.
It wasn’t until he’d completed his task that he realized the shower was on in his bathroom.
Brantley glanced at Tesha, over at the hallway, back to Tesha.
Maybe he should take her for another few miles. He knew she certainly wouldn’t complain.
But his legs didn’t lead him to the front door. Nope, he strolled down the hallway to the bedroom, toeing off his shoes before he stepped inside. He stripped off his socks, tossed them aside. The bathroom door was ajar, so he pushed it open, walked in.
