“Sounds like Ryan.”
Cason nodded. “I hate keeping this from him. You and me.”
Guilt snaked through me too. “I know. I feel the same.”
The last secret I’d kept from Ryan had nearly destroyed our relationship when he finally found out. What would happen this time when the truth came to light?
Cason’s phone buzzed and he grinned as he read the message.
Having the urge to pry but knowing I shouldn’t, I walked away from the table and grabbed pork chops from the refrigerator to start dinner.
“Oh, I forgot to tell you,” Cason said. “Remember Faith? The girl I’ve been talking to?”
“The artsy one, right?” I grabbed a skillet and placed it on the stove, flipping on the burner.
“Yeah. Well, she, uh…” He paused, and I looked at him over my shoulder, seeing his brows pulled together. “She knows I’m gay.”
“You told her?”
Did he have a bad experience? My protectiveness over him kicked in.
“Not exactly,” he said, averting his eyes. “She kinda guessed.” When he smiled, I relaxed. “If I had known she was intoyaoi,I probably would’ve told her sooner. She just sent me a pic of hot anime guys getting it on.”
“What’syaoi?”
“Boy Love manga stories,” Cason explained. “They focus on gay relationships, usually extremely sexually explicit.”
“Have you read them?” I asked, smiling. The thought of him getting off on it was pretty damn hot.
“A little,” he answered, blushing. “I found some sites online and skimmed some of them.”
“Skimmed the raunchy parts, you mean.”
“Cook dinner,” he said. “I’m trying to read.”
“Are you readingyaoimanga and sporting a hard-on at the dinner table?”
Cason choked out a laugh and laid his head on his textbook. “I hate you.”
“You hate me, huh?” I drizzled olive oil in the skillet once it was hot enough and dropped the pork chops on top. “And here I was going to treat you to a nice dessert after we ate.”
“What kind of dessert?”
I shrugged and seasoned the meat.
“Emery.”
I pretended to ignore him as I grabbed the sweet potatoes, washed them in the sink, and started to peel them. He stood from the table and came over, placing one hand on each side of me on the counter and pressing his semi against my ass.
“I don’t take bribes.”
Cason laughed and put his arms around me.
Crazy how normal having him around had become. It was mid-July, and I felt like I’d been with him for years—not months. We not only had incredible sex, but we also moved so easily around each other. It was what a relationshipshouldbe. Intimacy, communication, and trust.
I’d never had any of those things with Amber.
“Need help with the potatoes?” he asked against my back.