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Ryan’s gaze raked over my body, and he drew that lip between his teeth again. My cock punched against my pajamas. I squirmed, bunching my jeans up in my lap to hide my growing erection.

“You get the jeans on,” he told me, voice thick with desire. “I’ll button them.”

When he stepped into the hall to give me some privacy, I was almost… disappointed. I shook it off and changed into my jeans as quick as I could, joining him outside the bedroom.

“Don’t worry, I won’t look.” And he meant it. Ryan kept his eyes locked on mine while he buttoned and zipped my jeans. “Besides, I felt it last night while we were making out.”

Heat rushed to my face. A wicked grin, and Ryan was gone.

“Wha-no you didn’t!”

As we drove out of Hazelbrush, Ryan and I didn’t dare touch each other. Instead, we settled for stolen glances and hidden smiles but when we passed city limits, we both exhaled deep sighs of relief and our hands found each other like magnets. Feeling his soft skin against my calloused palm, I gasped.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “Are my fingers cold?”

“N-n-no,” I stuttered. “I uh… I wasn’t expecting your skin to be so soft.”

Ryan laughed. “Well, we can’t all be rough and tough country boys, can we?”

“No, that would not make for anything fun.”

“I work with kids for a living,” he clarified. “All the washes and the lotions and the damn diaper creams… I might as well have the skin of a newborn.”

“What did you do before that? In Miami?”

“Pretty much the same. There’s a gap between me and my siblings, so I helped out where I could. I felt guilty for leaving, but Mom encouraged me to do it.”

Happily, I sat back and let Ryan tell me about growing up in Miami with his seven siblings until we pulled into the Whole Foods parking lot. Longingly, his attention dropped to our entwined fingers. “You said they know you here; does that mean no PDA?”

I hadn’t really thought about that but truthfully, if they did, they weren’t the kind of people I wanted to associate with.

“There is a cashier here who has a crush on me,” I finally said, and the tension melted from Ryan’s body. “You might break her heart.”

“You’re not interested?” he asked, letting me help him to the ground. I had to admit I was sort of hoping for another spider monkey leap that would put him right in my arms.

“No. I’m not interested,” I said matter-of-factly.

Normally scanning the shelves by myself, I was content to sit back and watch Ryan. I couldn’t help but smile as he practically danced around the store, throwing things I’d never even heard of into the cart.

“What are we making?” I finally asked.

Without missing a beat he said, “Empanadillas. They’re like a deep-fried turnover. You’re okay with fried foods, right?”

Stunned, I could only nod.

At my silence, Ryan chuckled. “Are you okay?”

“You speak Spanish?”

“Most Puerto Ricans do.” At my astonishment, he continued. “My mom’s from San Juan. Unfortunately, I take after my dad. We can’t all look like Ricky Martin.”

As we stood in line, I risked putting an arm around him. Ryan accepted the invitation, sidling close to my side. I glanced around us, but no one seemed to be interested in us. He put his arm around my waist, and everything around me disappeared. Forgetting myself, I leaned down and pressed a quick kiss to his lips.

What do you know? The world didn’t implode.

Olivia was just as quiet as we checked out and as we walked away with our bags—when she assumed we were out of earshot—she groaned. “The hot ones are always gay.”

Ryan winked at me, lacing his fingers through mine.