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“I was in a weird mood last night,” I admitted. “If you were the one who had been here, instead of him? I’d probably have ended up in this bed anyway.”
“Unlucky me,” Preston chuckled.
“Uh huh. I hope a night of Magic the Gathering was worth it.” While he was still turned around, I kissed him on the cheek. “Now be a doll and check the dryer? I should have a shirt in there.”
It took a minute, but Preston eventually returned with my blouse. He began breaking down the bed. Gathering the sheets, the blankets, the pillowcases.
I felt so guilty, I actually started helping him.
“Again, I’m sorry,” I apologized. “After being out all night I’m sure you’re exhausted. The last thing you want to do right now is strip your bed and do laundry.”
“Pretty much,” he smirked. “But screw it, another couple of hours won’t kill me. I’ve got code to write anyway.”
“Don’t we all,” I agreed.
The parts of my body that remembered his touch began sizing him up all over again. I’d nearly forgotten how sexy he was, with that flawless mocha skin and thick, dark hair. I’d spent hours running my fingers through that hair on the night we hooked up. He’d looked so beautiful and exotic, compared to the rest of the speed dating pool. Actually, with his five-in-the-morning stubble, he looked pretty fucking fantastic right now.
“So what happened?” he asked abruptly.
“Last night? I told you—”
“No,” said Preston. “With us.”
It was the question I’d been dreading. But of course I owed him an answer.
“I know I blew you off with all the wrong contact info,” I admitted. “But believe me, it wasn’t because I didn’t want to see you again. It was because I did want to see you, actually. I wanted to see you too much.”
He stopped in the middle of taking his pillowcase off. “Too much?”
“Yes.”
“That’s a new one. You’re going to have to enlighten me, here.”
I bit my lip. “It’s just that I was busy,” I explained. “Overwhelmed. I convinced myself I didn’t have time for a boyfriend, and so…”
“You ditched.”
“Yeah.”
He paused, shrugged, and went back to gathering up the dirty sheets.
“Look, it totally wasn’t you. I just wasn’t looking for anything serious at the time.” I dropped the sheets to the bed and sighed. “See, I’m working on this thing—”
“Your haptic software,” he jumped in.
“And hardware,” I added mechanically. I looked up at him, suddenly wide-eyed. “Wow, you remember?”
“Of course I remember! You had some great fucking ideas.”
Preston’s chocolate brown eyes met mine, and I fought back a swell of pride. Why the hell did I not call this guy, again?
“So did you ever get it going?” he asked.
“Yes! I’m in the thick of it, actually.”
“Prototype?”
I nodded eagerly. “Two.”
