Page 8 of Touch In Excess

Skye: You don’t have to drink sweetheart. I don’t plan to. They have really good appetizers. If you’re having second thoughts, though, I understand. Just let me know.

Rami: I want to go. I just don’t like being embarrassed when I get stuff wrong.

Skye: Neither do I. I’m going to put on my favorite sweatpants and I’ll see you in half an hour. Oh, my friend is going to be driving since I can’t right now. I hope that’s okay. I have a bike, and I could put you on the handlebars, but I thought that wasn’t a good idea for a first date.

The image immediately burned itself into Rami’s brain, and he burst into laughter. No one had ever made him feel like this before. No one. Skye wasn’t making fun of him. He was the one worried that Rami might change his mind, which was…weird.

But in the best way.

Rami: Is your friend nice?

Skye: Very.

Rami: Then I’m okay with it.

Skye: Wonderful. See you soon.

See him soon. Skye would see him soon, and they’d go have lunch, and maybe—if he was very, very lucky—they’d hold hands. Kissing him was technically on the table since Rami had kissed before, but he didn’t know if he should. He didn’t know if that would be unfair or not.

All he knew was what he wanted. That wasn’t the complicated part. The worst of it was knowing he couldn’t have it, while Skye seemed to offer it with open hands and a willing smile. How was he supposed to say no?

How was he supposed to risk losing what might be the best thing that ever happened to him in order to save his very quiet, very lonely life?

Three

“Stop smiling at your phone,it’s disgusting. I wanted you to cheer up, not meet a man and turn into all the other obnoxious saps living at the Tower.”

Skye rolled his eyes and glanced over at Avan. “Sorry, what was that?”

“Iknowyou heard me. I’m sitting directly next to you. What’s the deal with you and this guy, anyway? Why are you acting like you’ve never been on a date?”

Biting his lip, Skye glanced up the road. They were on Artist’s Hill now, several houses away from Skye’s but close enough that his heart started doing high kicks in his chest. “Because I haven’t been on a date in so long it’s starting to feel like never.”

“You know how to seduce a guy,” Avan said flatly.

“Yes, thank you. But I’d really like this to be about anything other than sex for a while, and there’s a ninety-eight percent chance this dude is going to throw his drink in my face when he finds out what I do for a living.”

Avan said nothing. There was nothingtosay, and they both knew it. The lovers that their brothers had all found were theexceptions to the rule. Most of the Sins had tried to date in the past, after taking their job, and it always blew up in their faces.

He hadn’t lost hope he’d find his unicorn in the herd of wild horses, but he knew that statistically—being that he, Avan, and Mauro were the last of the bunch to find someone—the pool of people willing to put up with the fact that they fucked for a living and not consider it cheating was a little too small.

“Maybe don’t tell him,” Avan suggested as the GPS told him the house was coming up.

Skye closed his eyes. “That would be the safest bet for me, but it would be a lie, and I hate the idea of not telling him the truth.”

“You’re way too good to be a fucking Sin, man.”

Skye laughed, but the sound of it died in the back of his throat as Avan pulled into the driveway and saw Rami waiting out front. He was pacing back and forth in a small line in front of the stoop, his hands twitching at his sides, his eyes wide and a little panicked.

He went still when Avan put the car in park, and he looked like he didn’t know what to do.

“Fuck. He is hot.”

“Eyes to yourself, dickhead,” Skye muttered, and then he opened the door and stepped out. When it shut, Rami startled, then walked up to him. He raised his arms, then dropped them, then stuck out his hand like he was going in for a shake.

Skye did everything he could not to laugh. He was officially obsessed with his adorably awkward uncertainty. “How about a hug?” he offered.

Rami’s shoulders sagged. “That’s what I wanted, but I didn’t know if it was appropriate.”

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