Page 95 of Back to You

Ethan felt his cheeks heat. “Well I thought you were terrifying.”

Brandon barked out another laugh. “Nice.”

“I’m serious! You were big and gorgeous and grumpy, and you had asked me to dinner. I just didn’t know what to make of you at all.”

“I always wondered why you were acting so squirrelly all night. I figured it was just the lack of sleep.”

“That too, but you have to understand, I had been on maybe two dates my entire life before you.”

“Two?! Were people blind?”

Ethan chuckled. “No, but thank you. I got hit on a decent amount, but I never got asked out much. Probably because I was also the janitor instead of just a student.”

“Well that just goes to show how stupid people at your school were,” Brandon said loyally.

“What made you ask me out that day? I thought you were so annoyed with me when I first walked in the door.”

“You were so beautiful, it was like … I don’t want to say it was like staring at the sun, because that’s cheesy as hell. You get the idea, though. And I was already annoyed because I was dealing with customers. And for some reason, you being so hot was just, like, the last straw on my day. I just couldn’t deal anymore. I wasn’t much for asking people out then, but I knew I had to say something to you. Then I walked out and you were dead asleep. I just left you there because I knew you probably needed it.”

“I really did.”

“And then you woke up talking about my sexy arms, and I realized I might have a shot.”

Ethan groaned and covered his face with his hands. “Will that story ever not be embarrassing?”

“I love that story. You were so real, it was perfect.”

Ethan just shook his head fondly.

“Why did you say yes if I was so terrifying?”

“Because you were incredibly hot, and you made me laugh.”

“I’ll take that.”

They continued their trip down memory lane, remembering the first time meeting friends and family — “I thought Michelle was going to shank me.” — and when Ethan passed the bar on his first try.

“I have never seen anyone that drunk, before or since.”

“It was just such a relief. And my alcohol tolerance was pretty much nonexistent at that point.”

“To be fair, it’s still pretty weak.”

They moved on to more current affairs. Brandon had Ethan in stitches with his description of Rhonda and the book club and his impromptu fashion show.

“Seriously, those are some scary ladies. And not a one of them comes higher than here,” he said, placing his hand at chest level. “They look so small and sweet, but then bam, Rhonda’s yelling across the cafe about how Raoul fucked Mercedes behind the church at midnight.”

“She didn’t say it like that!”

“The hell she didn’t! Woman swears worse than I do!”

Ethan shared what he could about some of the cases he was working on. Attorney-client privilege said he couldn’t share too much, but he was able to get his point across. Brandon waited to see if he would feel that tug of resentment hearing Ethan talking about work, but he never did.

“Cartwright came into my office before I left today,” Ethan said, swirling the last of his wine in his glass as they finished dinner.

“Uh oh.”

“Yeah. He asked me to stay for a meeting. I said no. I told him I’d been burning out, that I was trying to create a good work-life balance.”

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