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“I haven’t. I saw a TikTok video advertising the place and thought it looked really cool.” With a soft grin, he perused his menu filled with fancy versions of Italian fare. “I’m so happy I finally got to come here.”

“Good.” We both had practice tomorrow. Should we be drinking? Maybe one. “The cocktails look pretty good.” I glanced his way. “Or maybe a glass of champagne?” This was a special occasion, after all.

“Yes, champagne. I think the only time I drink it is on New Year’s Eve.” He smirked. “But I have a morning skate, so…” He sighed.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get you home in time for a good night’s sleep.” I scraped my teeth over my lower lip. “But only after we finish what we started last night.” I arched a brow. After feeling his dick on mine, I wanted to see what he was packing.

“Agreed.” He set his menu down.

A waiter stopped at our table, and we ordered our champagne along with an appetizer.

Setting my elbows on the table, I rested my chin on my hands. In the flicker of all the candles, I enjoyed the angles of his jawline and the faint stubble. My discussion with JJ flashed through my mind. “JJ was very gracious today.”

“Yeah? How did it go down?” He unwrapped his silverware from a linen napkin and set the napkin on his lap.

“I took him to Five Guys, and we talked. He knew there was something between us.” I watched the waiter drop off our drinks and the appetizer, bacon wrapped dates.

He sipped his champagne. “You didn’t tell him about our kiss in the bathroom, did you?” He picked up a date, took a bite, and freed a soft moan.

My dick twitched. I couldn’t wait to hear more of that later. “I didn’t. It wasn’t worth mentioning.” I bit into a date, the salty bacon mixing with the sweetness of the date as I chewed. “Oh damn, these are good.”

“How did JJ know we had a connection?” He drank more champagne, his gaze fixed on mine .

With a soft snort, I said, “He commented about how we looked at each other.” Okay, maybe the truth was JJ had noticed Myles looking at me, but I knew it had gone both ways.

He nodded and ate another date. “JJ’s a good guy. He deserves to find his person.” He wiped his fingers on his napkin.

“He does.” I cleared my throat. Should I say it? Why not? “He was very concerned that I treated you right.” I reached across the table and grabbed his hand, resting next to his plate. “Myles.”

Parting his lips, his gaze snapped to mine. “Yeah?”

“I’ve never been good with relationships, but with you, I want to try.

” I swallowed hard. Had I admitted that out loud?

He was pulling shit from me while just sitting there.

“None of my past relationships went anywhere, and you know I’ve never dated a guy.

” I brushed my thumb over the back of his hand.

“I know. You left a trail of broken hearts back in high school.” With a soft wince, he dipped his gaze to our hands. “I can’t say I’m not a little nervous about this, but you seem sincere.”

“Oh, I am.” I squeezed his hand. “I don’t think anyone has ever made me jealous before.” I huffed a chuckle. “In fact, I didn’t know I could even get jealous.” And it wasn’t a good feeling.

“Really?” A soft grin graced his lips. “That means a lot to me.”

The waiter stopped at our table, and we ordered dinner with me getting the pesto pasta with chicken and him getting a salmon dish.

Myles was doing his best to keep it healthy.

“Coach ran the shit out of us today. I deserve some carbs.” I chuckled and drank my champagne.

“Sure. I don’t see you getting out of shape anytime soon.” He wagged his brows at me.

“Was that a compliment?” I eyed him. Obviously, he liked my physique, but he’d never mentioned it before .

“It was.” His eyes grew dark. “You have just the body type that gets me hot.” He bit his lower lip and released it.

“Yeah?” I lifted the edge of my mouth. “You’ve got such a sexy body, Myles.” My cock stirred, and I squirmed. “I love your thighs and your ass…” I whistled. “Damn.”

He gave me a sideways look. “So, top or?”

“Vers.” I sipped my champagne. “But I’ve only bottomed once.” Please let him be a bottom or vers too. At some point, I had to bury myself in that fine ass of his.

With a coy grin, he said, “Once, huh? I also consider myself vers.”

I nodded, my cock swelling behind my zipper. “We’re going to have the best time in bed.”

“We are.” He glanced at the waiter as he stopped at the table and dropped off our food. Leaning over his salmon, Myles said, “But I want to take things slowly.” He tensed his brows. “We live together, eh?”

“And if we started fucking tonight, we might not stop? Is that what you’re saying?” With a snicker, I twisted my fork in my pasta. “The convenience factor is pretty high.”

Shaking his head, he laughed. “Damn right it is. I’m already having a terrible time controlling myself.” He cut into his grilled salmon.

“You are, huh?” I snuck a peek at him, his cheeks reddening. Oh, he was having some dirty thoughts over there. Was he as hard as I was?

“You have no idea how many times I thought about sneaking into your room at night.” His breath caught. “Mind you, I would never have done it before breaking things off with JJ.”

“And what if I hadn’t come on to you last night?” I stuffed pasta into my mouth, the creamy pesto and garlic to die for. Dating Myles would be good for my ego. He had no filter.

“I don’t know. I would have thought about it. A lot.” He gave me a pointed look. “How’s your pasta? The menu said it was homemade.” He pointed his fork at my plate .

“It’s awesome. Want to try it?” I turned my fork in the noodles and lifted it to him. “Open up.”

Leaning over the table, he opened his mouth, his gaze locking on mine.

Holy fuck, that was how he’d look right before he sucked my dick. My balls tingled, and I slid the pasta into his mouth.

“Mmm, damn.” He held his fingers over his lips. “That’s so good. Want some salmon? This is great too.”

“Hell yes. Feed me.” I shifted to the chair next to his, sliding my plate and champagne over.

Why the hell were we sitting so far apart?

As I opened my mouth, he pushed a forkful of salmon into it.

The fish was rich and buttery, with the hint of lemon and dill.

“Holy shit, Myles. We have to come here again.”

“This could be our special place?” He sipped some champagne. “Like we could come here after we win games? The place is open until two am.”

“Yeah, I saw that.” I wiped my mouth with my napkin and focused on him. “Sure, on nights when we have home games and we both win, we’ll come here to celebrate.” I seriously wanted to give him everything he asked for. What the hell was he doing to me?

“You mean we’ll come here for our cellys? In hockey we call it a celly.” He giggled and scooped some roasted potatoes onto his fork.

“Yeah, you hockey players have your own language.” I ate more of my pasta. I’d need to brush up on it. Hell, I was living with an NHL goalie, too. “Do your other friends from the Coyotes ever come around?”

With a swift nod, he said, “They do. Periodically, we have pizza and beer parties and play video games.”

“Let me guess, NHL?” I chuckled. These guys lived and breathed their sport, maybe even more than football players.

He set his fork down and wiped his mouth with his napkin. “I want to revisit what you said. You’ve only bottomed once?” His grin waned .

Rubbing my index finger on the edge of my plate, I said, “Yeah. I wanted to try it, and this guy was game, so we did it.” Did he like to top more than bottom? I peeked at him.

“Okay, but you liked it.” A wrinkle formed between his brow and he tented his fingers over his plate. “How many guys have you been with? Didn’t you say you’d just been hooking up with guys when the chance presented itself?”

“Yeah.” I shifted in my chair. Was this some sort of problem? “I’ve taken guys back to my place after a party.” I pressed my lips together. “Okay, so like two guys.” Had I sounded more experienced with gay sex than I was? Maybe. But I didn’t want to look stupid.

He peered at me. “How many guys have you been with, do you think?” Hooking a brow, he drank some water.

I shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe five?” Where was he going with this?

With a slow nod, he said, “Did you, uh, did you use protection?” His brows lifted.

“I…did with one guy I had anal with. The other guy said he was on PrEP, so I thought nothing of it.” Wait, Myles was gay.

He knew a lot more about this shit than I did.

Was he worried I might have an STI? “I got tested for everything when I moved out here. I’m negative.

Haven’t been with anyone like that since. ”

“Okay.” With a hard swallow, he nodded. “I’m sorry, but it’s something we should talk about before we jump into bed together.

I’m pretty careful about those things.” His gaze locked on mine.

“I’m on PrEP.” The corner of his lips twitched and his gaze fell to his mostly eaten food.

“I like to be um…” He smirked. “Unencumbered when I go out to the gay bar.” He focused on me.

What the hell did that mean? My eyes grew wide. No condoms? Anal sex at a gay bar without condoms? Holy hell, my quiet and polite Myles might be a fuck boy. Okay, was …was a fu ck boy. “Myles, how many guys have you been with?” I cringed. Did I really want the answer?

“I have no idea.” With a faltering chuckle, he rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t keep count.” He drew a deep inhale.

I looked him over and wrinkled my nose. “I don’t know. You don’t seem?—”

“Like I fuck around that much? Oh, I have.” He smirked and sipped the rest of his champagne.

Glancing at his phone resting on the table, I said, “Do you use hookup apps, or just go to the gay bar you told me about?” This wasn’t where I’d thought our dinner conversation would go.

“I’ve used the apps, but mostly I find guys at the bar. Like I’ve told you, when my friends were all around, we went there for cellys after our wins at home.” Tensing his mouth, he picked up his phone. “You look bothered by all this.”

“I, I’m…” I dropped my jaw. I was. I didn’t want to think about him being with anyone else. Not ever. Damn, this was a first for me.

“Look, I’ll delete my profile and take the app off my phone.” He tapped on his phone and then held it out to me, scrolling across his apps. “Look, all gone.”

I wouldn’t know what the icon looked like. “Okay.” I fisted my hand on the table next to my plate as heat prickled through my chest.

He laid his warm hand over my fist. “I’m serious about us, Cooper. None of that other shit means anything to me.” His brows furrowed. “Are you okay? Did I wreck dinner?”

With a shake of my head, I said, “No, you didn’t wreck dinner.” My gaze shifted to his. “I just didn’t know these things about you. I mean, shit, I knew you weren’t a virgin, but I…” I should keep my mouth shut. He was with me now.

He pressed a long kiss on my cheek. “I really like you, Cooper. You’re not like the others. Maybe that’s why I want to take it slow with you. ”

Looking deeply into his big, brown eyes, I said, “Yeah?” He was doing his best to make me feel better about all of this. “You’re not like anyone I’ve dated before, either.” Which was why it meant so much to me.

Wrapping an arm around my neck, he pressed his forehead to mine. “Let’s eat and see where the rest of the night takes us.”

“I’d like that.” I leaned in and placed a hard kiss on his lips, as he lifted his head. He was surprising the hell out of me.