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“Cindy was a total bust,” Rian said, sounding like I’d personally set him up for failure. Despite his grumpy attitude, I didn’t take it personally. A lifetime around West had inoculated me against omegas whose default personality was “cranky” around outsiders.

“How did she not like you two? You’re sexy and smart, and smell amazing.”

Ben looked pleased. “You think so?”

“Focus.” Rian nudged Ben but also sort of looked pleased. At least, less sullen. “Cindy seemed okay, but before we could really get to know her, she asked a bunch of dumb questions about Ben being blind.”

“Oh, damn.” I sighed. “I’m so sorry. I’d hoped talking to Cindy directly would have been enough.”

“It was like she was reading off a top ten list of what not to ask a blind person. The only thing she didn’t do was offer to pray for Ben, or suggest he see her optometrist.” Rian crossed hisarms over his chest. His very nicely toned forearms, which I was definitely not supposed to be noticing.

“She might have.” Ben snickered. “It’s fine, seriously.” He looked delicious, his blonde hair still tousled, and he wore a light blue Henley that brought the blue of his eyes out along with khakis.

I wanted to curl up next to him and shove my face directly over his scent gland. Even Rian’s scowl didn’t deter my libido. His curly brown hair was in a man bun again, and he had a frayed T-shirt on over a pair of jeans with a hole in the knee. I got a glimpse of pale skin with dark brown hair poking through, and I had to resist the urge to touch his bare skin.

“I would have hoped she went down the YouTube rabbit hole. At least done a quick Google.” I tucked my feet under me. “It’s not okay. No one likes to be grilled on a date, especially about that.” I touched my forearm, remembering the endless barrage of questions I’d gotten about my scars when they were fresh.

Rian gave me a quizzical look.

“If you’re comfortable with me stepping in, when I match you up…” It was harder to get those words out than it should have been. “I’ll go over a basic list of information so they can ask me their questions.”

Ben frowned. “I don’t mind but it’s not really your job.”

“It actually is my job. And it’s not definitely not yours.” I shook my head. “YouTube and Google are free. It took me five minutes to answer most of my own stupid questions.”

“Really?” Ben perked up. “And what did you find out?”

It was impossible to hide my blush. “I’m of course not an expert, and if there’s something you want me to specifically answer, I can. But I started with, like, the listicle Top Ten Things Not to Ask, and then from there I went down the rabbit hole of guide dog versus cane, different accessibility devices for the home, and O&M training.”

Rian looked impressed. “You looked that up?”

“I figured you were sick of the same five questions over and over.” I made it sound like I was trying to be polite, but I was sure Ben was tired of it. I certainly would be.

“Were there any questions you couldn’t find an answer to? I don’t mind teaching you.” Ben cocked his head and my stomach swooped. It sounded a lot dirtier than he probably meant.

“I can’t think of anything.” My brain went immediately blank. All of my questions were more specific to Ben’s life, like how did he get used to being in a strange place?

I got lost in San Francisco and I could see. How did he go grocery shopping? I was curious about Ben’s specific diagnosis because apparently people could lose their sight in many different ways, but I wasn’t about to pry for private medical information. I wouldn’t ask him that any more than I wanted a stranger to ask me about my years of physical therapy.

“You’re free to ask,” Ben said. “Especially since you did your research, so you’ve got a leg up on most people who offer to let me use their glasses.”

I snorted. “So other than her questions, is there anything else I should look out for?”

Rian played with the hole in the knee of his pants. “I don’t know.”

My playlist switched over to Evermore West, and Rian frowned. “You like Evermore West?”

“‘Like’ is the understatement of the year. Like. I like macadamia nuts, the month of May, and getting out of work early. Evermore West made a map to places in my soul I didn’t know existed.” I tried to keep my voice even, but it was hard when talking about music.

Rian blinked and I worried I’d said too much, shown too much of myself. But then he nodded. “Yeah, that’s about what it feels like.”

“The lyrics alone would send me. ‘The midnight road was calling, but I took the water’s way. Let the river pull me under, wash my sins away’?” I quoted one of my favorite songs. “But then his voice is haunting and husky, with the guitar and the eerie instruments.”

The voice reminded me of what Ben and Rian smelled like.

“’But the past runs deeper than the waters I wade, and the river don’t forget the choices I made,’” Rian said, almost whispering. “I heard that part of the song and it felt like I’d died a little.”

“I love that Evermore West does concept albums,” Ben said. “If you’re going to show me part of my soul, I want a map.”