A smile teased my mouth. “I want to believe there’s a compliment in there for me.”
Even with the heavy conversation, Luke grinned. “There is.” He licked his lips, and we both scooted closer at the same time. His knee brushed mine, but that hardly mattered now. “Iwas actually quite perplexed over how much I liked you. You, as Ashley.” Luke glanced around again. We weren’t alone out here, but I didn’t think anyone was prying. Then again, I wasn’t closeted. Maybe this was really uncomfortable for him.
“You wanna go somewhere else and talk?”
Luke took a deep breath and nodded once. “Here.” He handed me his keys. “I’ll settle the check. Will you wait for me? We can talk in the car.”
I nodded and took the keys. While Luke disappeared inside, I went to his Range Rover, feeling very out of place with it. These were expensive. I didn’t know how much, but I was sure they cost more than anything I’d sat in before.
The doors unlocked with a click, and I oo’d and awe’d without anyone to see as I inspected the interior. Black on black, which was very striking, and tidy as fuck. I wouldn’t find any french fries under the seats, that was for damned sure. He probably didn’t even have random napkins from fast-food joints in the glove box.
I’d only just climbed onto the passenger seat when he opened the driver’s side and held out a to-go coffee to me.
“Oh, thanks.” I sat it in one of the cup holders, then did the same to the second one so he could settle in. “You’re rather trusting, you know? I could’ve stolen this.”
“Ah, but then I’d take your Civic.”
“Far from a fair trade.”
Luke cracked the windows enough it wouldn’t get stuffy but didn’t start the car. Rather, he jumped right back into the heavier conversation we’d paused.
“I’ve been on dates with women,” he said.
I nodded encouragingly and patiently waited for him to go on. This couldn’t be easy to discuss. I wanted to hold him, soothe him through the confession, but I remained in my seat.
“Talking with you, even when I thought you were a woman, was much easier than it had been before. Mother is so fucking adamant about me finding a wife, and in the back of my mind, I wondered if I could do it.” He glanced at me. “Could I marry a woman and keep pretending?”
I didn’t expect he wanted an answer, so I said nothing.
“Then with you, as Ashley, I really thought I might be able to. I’m …” He shook his head. “It had me fucked-up. I kissed you from a place of such awkward confusion, and then … I freaked.”
“I noticed.”
Luke chuckled. “I’d never kissed a guy, Asher.”
“And then I unknowingly forced you into it.”
“No.” He shook his head and held his hand up as if to stop me. “No, I’m telling you, I’m thirty-four, and I’ve never been with a man, not so much as kissed a man.”
I stared, missing something because lines weren’t connecting on whatever he was trying to get me to understand.
“I’m, fuck,” he groaned and swiped his hand down his face. “I’ve never let myself be with a man, and beyond a simple kiss, I’ve never gotten close to being with a woman. Nor have I wanted to.”
Wait, so …
Was he trying to tell me he was a virgin?
What.
The.
Fuck.
ThisrandomSundayinearly December became something monumental. The people who knew about my two biggest secrets doubled, becoming two, and it wasn’t as hard as I thought it’d be. Sure, I might have almost fainted when I came out to Asher, but we just clicked stupidly easy.
I wasn’t a thirty-four-year-old professional, and he wasn’t a nineteen-year-old college student. We were just two guys. Asher made me comfortable in ways I’d never known before. He got me to open up about things that had seemed too daunting to try before.
Chemistry.
