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As the boisterous conversation turned predictably toward lewd references and tall bedroo to hts like this I could take How many more years like this I could take There came a point where I needed to admit defeat At this rate, Christopher Edward Banks III was never going to beas I was a boring virgin with no experience and he was still trying his hardest to be the good little straight boy his parents thought he was

I thought back to the night of our high school graduation e’d been in Veronica Monteserra’s enorrass looking up at the stars He’d held h it had been ten years, I could still feel the soft caress of his thumb as it moved back and forth across my skin

Chris met my eyes across the sticky barroo forward so we could hear each other better His forehead crinkled in concern, and my heart did its usual silly flutter

I sed and nodded before trying to reassure hi day at work, that’s all”

His frown deepened “Have you thought aboutabout you in that place It’s depressing”

“Your great-aunt lives there,” I reainst me to place the pitcher of beer in the center of the table “It’s one of the nicest senior care facilities in the city Your grandfather told me he’d ratherhim around the office all the time”

Chris’s blue eyes flicked up at the server and narrowed for a split second before he looked back at me

“It’s the waiting room they put you in before your appointment with the Grim Reaper,” he muttered “You deserve better You’re talented, Teo And no one recognizes it there”

“I love what I do I love taking care of people”

Chris’s face softened “I know You take care of me, remember?”

I tried not to give hirin It was true I cooked for him when he worked late, and sometimes I ran little errands for hiroceries It was exactly the kind of thing I enjoyed doing for the people I cared about Grandpa Banks always teased ender “You’d have made someone a nice housewife back in the days when that was an acceptable thing to be,” he’d said on more than one occasion