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Sebastian beamed at him and changed the subject. “Ready to see our new place?”

Ethan nodded. Healmost moaned at the loss when Sebastian squeezed his hand once before he let go. Sebastian opened the driver’s side door and Ethan copied the movement on his side.

“Let’s get our stuff after. I want you to see it first.” Sebastian’s excitement made Ethan smile.

Sebastian reached for Ethan’s arm and led him to the side entrance of the modern building. He shivered, surprisedwhen Sebastian kept his warm hand on his arm, underneath his gray tee, skin-on-skin.

Sebastian turned to shoot him a smile of reassurance walking backward toward the door.Ethan couldn’t help but notice how the blue of Sebastian’s tee brought out the hazel of his eyes. Thinking he might have been staring a little too long, he glanced down and back up at Sebastian, who was still smiling at him.

Reaching back to open the door, Sebastian moved his hand out of the way in time to avoid being hit when it opened from the inside. Ethan darted his gaze to the entrance and contained his groan when he spotted the blonde exiting the building.

Well, it was nice while it lasted.

She was Sebastian’s type. Blonde, slender, and wearing a tight white tank top and shorts. He knew Sebastian wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to flirt with her.

Ethan tried to pull his arm from Sebastian’s grip, wanting to avoid the inevitable, but found himself trapped when she turned and smiled at Sebastian. With a quick glance to see what Ethan was looking at, Sebastian turned back to him and raised a brow.

“Hi, I’m Sarah.”

Ethan was stunned silent when Sebastian gave her a quick nod in greeting before he dragged Ethan through the door and up the short flight of stairs. With one last glance behind him to make sure Ethan hadn’t bolted, Sebastian unlocked the door to their flat.

“What?”

“That was the first time I’ve witnessed younotflirt with a woman. And she was a blonde.”

Sebastian laughed and shook his head, opening the door. “I’m partial to dark hair and olive skin.”

“Since when?” Ethan blurted.

Sebastian’s smile grew wider. Instead of answering, he turned and walked inside the flat, leaving Ethan to follow.

As if on autopilot, Ethan walked in behind Sebastian, keeping his eyes on the wide shoulders in front of him, waiting to hear his explanation.

“After Amber, and others that came before her, I knew thatI needed time alone to think about who I want to be with. And I’ve figured out a lot of things after I quit serial dating.”

His words, while doing nothing to clear up why he hadn’t flirted with Sarah downstairs, struck him as sincere and serious. His heart beat hard and his hands went numb, unable to stop his thoughts from presuming that Sebastian felt more for him than friendship.

As quickly as they’d come, he dismissed his crazy notions that Sebastian would fall in love with him after all their years of friendship.

“I also missed spending time with you. That’s why I wanted us to live together. You can’t avoid me now.”

It wasn’t avoidance; it was self-preservation.

Shaking his head, Ethan smiled and his eyes moved from Sebastian for the first time since they ventured upstairs and entered their flat. His eyes widened as he took in the huge open space already furnished. It contained a brown leather couch, a TV that took up an entire wall, leather chairs scattered around, and two desks.

A fantasy about he and Sebastian on the couch flashed in his mind and he bit down on his bottom lip to stop the muffled moan from escaping. With a quick shake of his head, he moved away from his thoughts on sex.

“How… are we able to afford this?”

Sebastian laughed at Ethan’s reaction. “Our moms helped when I told them of my plan. They found this place. The owner is living overseas, and he wanted someone he could trust to house sit. He knew my mom when she worked with him a couple years ago. So, we have the place until we graduate. The only stipulation is we can’t throw any parties.”

“Yes, I’m sure you're worried I would invite the entire campus over.”

Sebastian ignored Ethan’s snarky comment and placed both hands on his shoulders, turning him around and steering Ethan toward the door on the left. “Wait until you see this.”

Ethan, already stunned silent by Sebastian touching him more in the last fifteen minutes than the entire year previous, reached toward the sliding barn door and opened it.

He felt his jaw drop as his eyes roamed over the ultra-modern kitchen. All the appliances looked new, including the two ovens and a colossal refrigerator. The area was tied together with a black granite island matching the countertops that wrapped around the room.