Page 3 of Love and History

He’d given me quite a start the first time I’d bumped into him guzzling juice in his boxers with a tie draped around his neck. I hadn’t been sure what to think of him. I’d never met anyone so unabashedly uninhibited. It was…different.

I suppose I should have been thrilled he wore a T-shirt this morning. A very snug light-blue tee that hugged his prominent abs and pecs and—

“Text me a list of whatever you need,” Ezra said, interrupting my R-rated reverie. “I’ll swing by the market on my way home from work.”

I huffed. “Don’t act like you’re doing me a favor. You shouldn’t have taken anything that didn’t belong to you in the first place.”

“Quit bustin’ my balls, dude. I’ll make it right.”

“Mmhmm.” I pulled my phone out and scrolled through messages, intending to ignore him. His absent stare made it difficult to concentrate. I narrowed my eyes, which only made him smile. And that was the other problem with Ezra. He was annoyingly…friendly.Ignore, ignore, ignore.“Why are you working on a Saturday?”

“I’m paying my dues. We’re in the middle of a big case, and my boss is leading the prosecution. Endless fucking research for me.” He sighed and took another swig of coffee.

My ears perked up. “Research? I love research. What are you investigating?”

Ezra quirked a grin. “It’s classified info. If I told you, I’d have to kill you.”

“Ah. Well, have fun.”

“It won’t be terrible. At least I don’t have to wear a polo shirt today. And if I can avoid personal conversations with my boss, it’ll be easy. Did I tell you he’s trying to set me up with his daughter?”

A sharp stab of something that felt vaguely like jealousy caught me off guard. Why the heck would I care if Ezra dated his boss’s daughter? We weren’t buddies and his sexual conquests were of no concern to me. I’d had my hands full worrying about ending my own sexual conquest at the moment. Thank you very much.

Okay, Marlon wasn’t exactly a conquest. He was a perfectly estimable gentleman with a talented mouth who knew how to give a nice hand job. I didn’t enjoy talking to him, which probably wasn’t a great sign, but…back to Ezra.

“And you’re opposed to a liaison with your boss’s daughter?”

He nodded. “Of course, I am. I barely know her. But that’s beside the point. Everyone knows you don’t shit where you work. It feels like a setup. Like he’s testing me.”

“To what end?”

“No idea. To test my character or something? I don’t get it. I’m gonna keep my head down, study for the bar, and get my résumé buffed and ready to roll. I don’t know if they’re planning on offering me a spot in the fall. I hope so, but I can’t be worried about professional and personal crossover. It’ll make me crazy. I don’t know how you do it,” he commented wryly, draining the contents of his mug.

I frowned. “Do what?”

“The dude you’re boffing. The one with the coke-bottle glasses and the turtleneck fetish.”

“Boffing?”

“Yeah, you know…”

He made a rude finger-in-hole gesture and topped it off by grabbing his junk. I didn’t realize it was possible to be furious and maddeningly turned-on at the same time. See, this was why Ezra and I would never in a million gazillion years become actual friends. My hackles rose with my blood pressure and the hair on the back of my neck.

I stood abruptly and pointed at him with my teeth clenched. “You…you…saucy lackey! You are not permitted to offer commentary on my extracurricular affairs.”

Ezra rolled his eyes. “Oh, c’mon. Lighten up, snowflake. Hey, if you’re getting some, good on you. Maybe I’m jealous. I’m working my right hand silly lately. I could use an extracurricular affair. Just not with the boss’s daughter. And not with a weirdo who keeps his neck covered when it’s eighty degrees outside. Is he hiding hickeys or something? Geez, Holden, are you a vampire?”

My jaw was on the floor. It took precious time for me to gather my wits and remind myself that strangling my roommate was a federal offense.

“First of all, I would never give a partner a hickey. That’s a gross adolescent mating ritual. Second, Marlon isn’t a weirdo. He—”

“He quoted the entire opening verse ofStar Warsthe last time he was here. Don’t tell me that’s not weird.”

“You made him nervous.”

“Oh, yeah? Well, he made me itchy,” Ezra retorted, pulling a phantom collar as he stood. “I scratch my neck like a sweaty dog every time I see him.”

“You’ve met him once!”