Page 21 of Tall, Dark, & Ginger

He drops his hands, straightening his shoulders. “I told you last night that I’ve never had casual flings. I’ve been in one relationship after another, and I don’t regret it. It’s just the way things worked out for me, but I want to try something new. I want to have fun. I want to figure out who I am without Trent’s influence. I want to explore things.”

Okay, I think I know where he’s going with this. He’s entering his slutty era and letting me down easy. Sucks, but I’m a grown man. I can handle it.

“But I’m not a club guy. Or an app guy. I don’t even have time for stuff like that. Hanging out with you is comfortable.” His cheeks bloom from a light blush to deep crimson. “If you’re up for it, I’d really like to… um… If we could…” He blows out a breath. “This is way harder than it was in my head.”

“Sorry, man, I’m not following you at all.”

“How could you?” He laughs nervously.

“I think the best thing is to just say it. Don’t mince words. Whatever it is, I can handle it.”

Wren nods, holding my gaze. “I want to get over my past, and I wondered if you wanted to help me do that.”

“I get it. You don’t want—” My thoughts stutter. “What?”

“I know you’re not a relationship guy, and that’s the beauty of it. For once, I could just have fun without all these expectations of the future. It’s kind of weird because we already live together and you’re my boss, but we’re adults, and I trust that no matter what happens you’d be professional about it, and I know I would too. Today was a good example of that.”

Is he suggesting… “What?”

“I think you enjoyed yourself last night too,” Wren says. “Unless you’re a very good actor.”

“I did.”

“Cool. If you’d like more of that, I’m telling you I would too.”

“You want to mess around with me?”

He nods. “I do, yeah.”

“You want…” His meaning finally sinks in and a smile spreads across my lips. “Oh. Yeah. You want to shake off your past in a low commitment way that’s also safe and comfortable.”

Relief fills his face, melting away the tension that’s been there since he entered the kitchen earlier.

“If you’re down.”

If I’m down? Ongoing access to this beautiful man with no strings attached? Dude. This is my lucky fucking day.

“I’m down, Wren. I’m definitely down.”

EIGHT

WREN

I did it.I asked for it and he said yes.

Now what? Do I just pounce on him like I’ve wanted to all day long?

“I’ll unpause the movie, huh?” Ridley offers, and I nod.

“Yeah. Good.”

Movie music spills into the space and Ridley’s hand moves to my thigh. “Want to sit over here?”

“Over where?”

He pats his lap. “Right here.”

“To watch the movie?”

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