Page 3 of The Year of Us: March

Morgan slung her purse over her shoulder and batted her eyelashes at me. “I have a date tonight too. In case you were wondering.”

“Who’s the lucky man tonight?” I asked, pushing her toward the door. Morgan was amazing because she was my very best friend in the world, but also because she’d never met a person she didn’t want to go on a date with. She was a slut for dates, and I admired her sense of adventure.

“Men,” she corrected, opening the door and stepping onto the walkway in front of my apartment. “Two boyfriends looking for a girlfriend.”

I sighed. “What are their names?”

“Nick and Andrew.” She smiled and waited for me to lock up, then hooked her arm through mine as we set off for the street to our cars. “Didn’t you used to date a guy named Andrew?”

“Date is a loose word for what he and I did,” I told her.

“I hope it’s a loose word for what we’re going to do too.”

Morgan pulled her keys out of her purse and unlocked her car, silently gloating over the fact she’d snagged a spot right in front of my building.

“Impressive,” I mused.

“I almost want to leave it here so when you get home later you remember how much better than you I am,” she teased.

“I’m only around the block, which is perfectly acceptable, so feel free to drive away.”

She kissed me on the cheek, then walked around to the driver’s side of her car and unlocked the doors. “Be safe tonight.”

I thought about Cory telling me he hadn’t been with anyone besides me. Thought about how he wanted to come inside of me. Thought about how…

“I’m always safe,” I assured my best friend.

“I didn’t mean condoms,” she grumbled, but was in her car with the door closed before I could argue the point with her.

I watched her drive away, then headed around the block to my car. I listened to a random punk playlist as I drove out to the valley, fighting the never-ending traffic until making a quick left and turning into the parking lot for the restaurant.

It was a small place, four tables at most and a bar that sat ten. Walking from the car to the front door, I wondered for the first time If I’d made a bad judgement call with the selection because the cramped seating screamed intimate, and I wasn’t sure if that was something Cory and I were aiming for.

I didn’t have time to think about it, though, because a car pulled up behind me, a door opened and closed, and then a now-familiar voice boldly called out my name.

CHAPTER 3

Cory

Reese’s asswas glorious in those pants, but as much as I’d have liked to stare at it all day, I tipped my Uber driver and got out of the car.

When I called his name, he turned and I got to see his expression go from wary to something that might have been happy, and then to stoic as he tried to slam the brakes on whatever mental crisis seeing me again had caused.

A month had passed and still Reese thought too much. To rectify that, I stepped into his orbit, grabbed his face, slid my thumbs over his cheekbones, and went in for the kill. The kiss. I didn’t want to go to dinner with a massive erection, or get hate-crimed or arrested for getting too steamy on the streets, so I pulled back long before I was ready to.

“I’ve been waiting all month to do that,” I told him. “You look good.”

I let my hands drop from his face.

“Hello to you too.” Reese found his smile and he gifted it to me. “Are you ready to have the best sushi of your life?”

“I’m trying to go into this with an open mind.”

“Don’t worry, if you don’t like it, I’ll happily eat your share so nothing goes to waste,” Reese quipped as we made our way into the restaurant.

“How generous of you.”

“What can I say? I’m a giver.” Reese turned his attention to the hostess. “Table for two. The reservation is under Rollins.”