Page 104 of Tempting Him

“Right, but we’ve been talking on the phone for over five weeks. Every. Single. Day. Before that, we spent nearly two months together, either physically together, or again, on the phone. So it’s not just sex. I know him. He’s opened up so much to me. We developed this amazing friendship.”

“The age difference doesn’t bother you?” Ronan asks.

“No. I hardly think about it. I guess you can tell we’re not the same age, if only because he mainly dresses in suits and I’m still a jeans type of guy, but it’s not like he’s got white hair and wrinkles. He’s in his early forties, which is hardly old. Just older than us. And he’s so fucking hot it makes me sick. People will trip all over themselves to get a piece.”

They laugh at that.

“So, are you gonna tell him?” Dom asks.

“No!” I drag the word out as I arrange dishes on my kitchen counter. “No way. I’m not about to freak him out.”

A knock on the door has me scrambling around the counter, heading through the living room. My friends laugh at my excitement but I ignore them. When I turn the knob and yank the door open, my lips pull into a wide smile.

He ditched the suit and came in a pair of dark blue chinos and a white Polo shirt. His eyes sparkle when he sees me, and I can almost read the lewd thoughts behind them as he looks me up and down.

“Hey.”

My teeth sink into my lip before I respond. “Hey.”

He leans in for a kiss, his hand gripping my hip.

“Ahem,” an obnoxious Renzo says from behind.

I roll my eyes. “Brace yourself.”

After closing the door, we walk the few steps to the kitchen area where my friends congregate around the food I have out.

“This is Renzo, Ronan, Dominic, Trevor, and Dex.” I turn and glance back at my man, standing confident with an easy smile. “This is Aleksander.”

He shakes each of their hands, offering anice to meet youorhow are youto each of them.

“So, you’re the one,” Renzo says with a sly grin.

Alek drapes an arm over my shoulder, his other hand dipping into his pocket. “Which one is that?”

“The one that got our Jayden to settle down,” Zo says with a wink in my direction.

I throw him a look, but Alek chuckles, glancing at me. “Maybe I made him want to settle down, but he made me want to live. I suppose we’ve both done something for the other.” When everyone, including me, is stunned silent, Alek laughs. “I wasn’t one to want to settle down until him either. I guess it was kismet.”

I stare at him for several seconds before I plant another kiss on his lips. He’s gonna make it hard to keep those three little words from slipping.

“You see?” I say to my friends, hoping they understand why I feel the way I do.

“What?” Alek asks, a grin on his face.

“Oh, yeah,” Trevor answers, as a few of them nod along.

“I feel like I’ve been left out of something,” he muses, not offended in the slightest.

I laugh. “Don’t worry about it. Food is done, by the way. I don’t have seven seats at my dining room table, so four of us can eat there while the other three eat at this little bar.”

Dex, Dom, and Trevor sit at the bar while Ronan, Renzo, me and Alek sit at the table. Everyone is still in the same area, because it’s not like the apartment is huge.

“You made this?” Alek asks.

“Well, kind of. Ronan and Zo came over early and helped.”

“It’s good,” Alek says, taking another bite of the chicken parmesan pasta.

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