Page 34 of Structure of Love

It had been an epiphany, and I was glad they both understood where I was coming from and agreed with what I’d said.

Asher pressed more. “Butwhydo you trust him so much? You don’t trust anyone this fast. Hell, you knew Cohen a good year before you were willing to hang out at his place.”

“I would like to point out that I have matured since then.”

Asher gave me a Look. Yeah, okay, fine.

“I don’t really know,” I admitted. “I think it’s a mix of things? I’ve never in my life been on a date with a man who communicates as well as he does. I’m not pulling teeth trying to get information, he’s perfectly willing to talk frankly about anything and everything. He’s not pushy about sex, he clearly wants a real relationship, which is a damn sight better than every other man I’ve met. It’s…god, I don’t know, instinct?”

My childhood friend gave me a long, searching look. “So you can’t really define why.”

“It’s not like I trust him like I trust all of you,” I pointed out reasonably. “But I do trust him enough to date him and maybe bottom for him.”

“Alright, that’s fair. Trust in progress.”

“Basically, yeah.”

I knew why Asher was challenging me because my actions were very much not like me. I didn’t trust easily. I had good cause not to trust easily. But Logan had yet to cross a boundary I’d set. Hell, he’d not even prodded at one. It let me relax around him, and I think that was the real reason, right there. I didn’t have to constantly keep my guard up around him.

Not to mention being backed up against a door and having the kiss of my life had been an eye-opening experience. I’d liked it when Logan had gone dominant. I’d never thought I’d like such aggression, but…well, I had. It was food for thought.

Part of the other reason I’d be willing to try it was I knew, one hundred percent knew, if I changed my mind, Logan would be fine with it. We’d figure out some other way to have some fun and it wouldn’t be a big deal. It took a lot of the stress out of my decision. Well, assuming Logan wanted to top, which was something of an assumption on my part. Still, I felt comfortable asking, and that was huge in and of itself.

“Well, please keep me in the loop. On second thought, not in the loop, as obviously you two should be in the loop, but loop adjacent.”

Cohen lifted a hand. “Seconded on loop adjacent.”

Asher did a little booty dance in the back seat. “I can’t wait to meet this guy.”

“I can’t wait to introduce him.” While I was thinking about it, I texted Riggs asking if I could bring Logan with me for the next one-shot and almost immediately got anOkay. Sweet, that was settled, then.

Speaking of…

I texted Logan, letting him know he was invited to play next week, and received a heart reaction. He asked a few questions, like time and place, and I answered those.

Someone poked me in the shoulder. I looked up and found we’d arrived at the house at some point.

“Work now, flirt later,” Cohen rebuked, grinning.

“Yes, Dad.”

“Ew, stop that. I am not old enough to be your father.”

“I prefer you’re not my daddy, for that matter. All right, let me suit up.”

I traveled with a protective bodysuit I could zip on, as inevitably I ended up in an attic or crawlspace. Nature of the job. I took a moment to study the house. From the outside, it looked amazing. Very much a product of its time, the house had all the staple trim, cornices, and columns I expected of this style. It desperately needed a coat of paint, which was part of the renovation order. I grabbed my trusty flashlight and stepladder, along with my iPad to take pictures and notes, then made my way to the side door. It jutted out with a small overhang, probably to help protect the door. The door looked weather beaten as hell and definitely needed replacing, as did the concrete block step. Cohen would no doubt have quite the to-do list by the time we were done inspecting. I wanted to check the foundation first, so down into the basement I went.

Up here we had something called a Michigan basement. They weren’t finished by any means, but were airtight and cool. The floor was dirt, although spots of cement were sometimes poured to support an HVAC system or a water heater. This basement was one such case, where the mechanicals had somewhere nice to sit but the rest of the basement was mostly dirt. Well, I said that, but there was a patch of cement under the stairs. Interestingly, the stairs looked strangely new, but considering how dangerous old stairs were, I was thankful for them. Ones from the 1800s, especially, were known for being narrow, uneven, and generally a fall hazard.

Cohen followed me down. “Stairs are nice,” he said in observation, “and look up to code at a glance.”

“Yeah, I hope we can keep them when things get up to…uh…” Coming around the base of the stairs, something had caught my peripheral. I took a closer look and then groaned. “Cohen. Tell me I’m not seeing what I think I’m seeing.”

Cohen moved closer, took one look, and started swearing. “What the fuck did they think they were doing? Who builds stairsright on top of the sump pump?”

“Idiots, that’s who.”

The stairs were halfway on it, to be precise, the wall literally dividing the hole in the floor. This sump pump had a see-through top, so I could look right into it and see the sump pump itself. Dry as a bone, fortunately, but with these stairs right on top of it, you couldn’t access it in case of emergency. Seriously, what the hell did the builder think they were doing?