Page 46 of Stay in Your Lane!

“I don’t go over to a lot of people’s houses, actually.”

“Not the point, Everett.”

Oh, right.

“Right. Well…I just…”

Would really, really like to actually be able to call you my boyfriend and there’s no time like the present and who cares that we only ever see each other in the dark of night?

“I think you’re an awesome guy, and you have awesome pets, and I would at the very least like to keep dating you until you feel like calling yourself my boyfriend. If that’s cool. And,” I added as the thought came to me, “if you’re thinking about saying no because you’re worried about some murderer coming after me because they see that we’re close or something like that, you don’t have to worry, because anyone who saw you at Decadence the other night definitely saw me too, so I’m already a target.”

Kyle swallowed. “That really doesn’t make me feel better. Actually, maybe weshouldstay apart for a while. Do our research independently. If we’re not seen together maybe there’s less of a chance that they’ll worry about us working on Ricky’s stuff.”

“Or maybe they’ll feel emboldened and still follow us around and I won’t even get to hang out with you,” I countered.

“You just like my cats.” He sounded like he was joking, but maybe also like there was a part of him that was definitelynotjoking.

“Don’t forget your fish. And no, honestly, I like you so much,” I said, because when everything else failed I could always fall back on awkwardly earnest to set the record straight. Then again, most people didn’t like it when I was really honest, but Kyle deserved to know how I felt about him. “I think you’re great. You’re super hot and a hard worker and successful and you live by yourself without needing any roommates—other than the cats and the fish—and I’m pretty sure you’re way too put-together for me, but I want to date you. I want to watch moviesand play with your pets and take you to late dinners at Waffles? and maybe try a nicer restaurant sometime too.”

Kyle licked his lips nervously. “What about…kissing me? Is that something you’d like to do?”

How was that even a question? Or, fine, it wasaquestion, but it wasn’tthequestion.Thequestion was, “Can I?”

“Yes.”

That was all I needed to hear. It was kind of awkward going for a kiss when it took a few steps to even get close enough for it, but if there was one thing I was good at, it was ignoring being awkward. I touched his arms first, running my hands from his wrists to his shoulders. He exhaled heavily and reached for my hands, holding my wrists tight but not pulling them away. He pressed my hands down harder instead. “I’m ticklish,” he said.

“Got it.” If he didn’t hate being tickled, that was something we might have fun with later, but in the meantime…

I wasn’t much little taller than him, but enough that it still felt nice to watch his chin tip up and his lips part. I couldn’t see anything else after that because I was kissing him, and he felt so soft and tasted so sweet—not literally, but my brain wouldn’t let me go down a rabbit hole of comparison because for once, I could only think about one thing. Kyle, and kissing him, making sure he felt as good as I did, because I felt amazing, like I was on top of the world, like I’d just won some incredible prize because how else could I experience something like this?

Kyle was warm and pliant and I tilted my head and deepened the kiss, hard enough to make him let go of my wrists and wrap his arms around my shoulders instead. We kissed and kissed, started and stopped long enough to catch a slip of breath before beginning again, and by the time I pulled back I wasonmy back, on the sofa, and Kyle was straddling my lap and his hands had found my hair and he was pulling just the way I liked, and?—

“I should go,” I blurted.

“Um.” Kyle’s glasses were slightly fogged. He took them off and stared at me like he wasn’t sure what to do with that, which—fair. “Why?”

“Because all I want to do right now is ask if I can get you off, but I definitely won’t want to leave if we do that, and if I fall asleep I’ll never get to work on time tomorrow, and then my dad will kill me.”

Kyle sighed, but he smiled at the same time, so at least I knew he wasn’t pissed that I was calling an end to the fun before it really got going. “Okay, go.”

“But I’ll see you again soon,” I clarified, because that was important, damn it.

He paused, then said, “Yeah. I’d like that.”

The relief was almost as heady as the kiss.Way to not fuck it up, Everett!“Me too.” I leaned in and kissed him one more time, because how could I not, and maybe I stroked one hand up into his hair to help me tilt him a little bit to the right, and maybe I bit and sucked on his lower lip until it looked like he’d been punched by my mouth and liked it, and maybe I could take afewmore minutes and?—

My phone went off. I recognized that alarm. That was mythis-is-your-last-chance-not-to-fuck-things-upalarm, and it only went off when I was almost beyond hope in the sleep department on a day I was expected to work. It was an important alarm. “I’m sorry, I have to go,” I said, finally pulling back again. “I’ll call you and come see you when you’re free, okay?”

“Mmm.” Kyle seemed blissed out, which was awesome, and I wanted more than anything to join him again, but if I wanted to land a responsible guy, I needed tobea responsible guy. “Yeah. I’ll do some work on the pictures of the shoe impression you took, see if I can pull some more identifying marks and match them to anything in the other photos.”

“Ooh, save some for me,” I said, because that sounded fun, and I was going to need some fun to look forward to tomorrow. Today. When the sun was up.

“I will.”

Was there anyone else in the world who would humor my interests like this, or had I just gotten incredibly lucky and found the one guy in the world who understood how fascinating this stuff really was? “Okay.” I kissed him again—his cheek, then the side of his neck—then pulled back and forced myself to say goodbye. I included the cats and the fish in my farewell, and with a parting shot of “Don’t be too much of an asshole, Steve” that got me a laugh from Kyle, I wandered out the door and finally pulled away. I glanced at the clock on the dash and groaned. I was going to pay for this late night.

Worth it.

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