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"Fine Thank you" I gestured toward the stove "You’rereal cocoa? I’m impressed"

I bitas the expected faint pink stain spread over his cheekbones The poor guy had the bad luck to be so bashful and yet so fair-skinned He kept his attention on the pot he was stirring as he said, "Gloria does not believe in shortcuts of any kind Besides, I didn’t have any s, then opened a cabinet over the stove and took out a bottle, froave a stir "I thought we could probably both use a dras over to the table, his cat following hi from him We both sat at the table, and I suddenly felt self-conscious around hiainst thepunctuated the silence between us I hoped the memory of that kiss faded quickly, for it would be hard to stay just friends with him when all I could think of when I looked at hih, I never wanted to forget such a perfect kiss

"Sorry about, um, earlier," he said

"It’s okay It wasn’t your fault" I pondered whether or not I should tell him I’d actually kind of enjoyed it, but decided that would probably send hie "And, uh, you weren’t the only one affected tonight"

"Is that what you were running from?"

I nodded and took a sip of cocoa Whatever he’d added to it was pretty strong It seehoutanother sip of cocoa to steel ht"

His eyes widened "You did?"

"It wasn’t a romantic date He made that clear up front I think hewith Ethan, and I’ll admit that was the main reason I accepted He asked Trix out"

"Rod?"

"No, Ethan Sorry But anyway, Rod said he wanted to talk about so on, and that e did talk about at dinner It was nice And then he suggested we go to his place for dessert"

He shook his head with a susted at the same time "Bad idea when you’re with Rod"

"No, it was okay I didn’t get the slightest idea that he had any ulterioron the sleaze But once we got to his place, it was like soot out of hand, and then I realized where it was going and tried to stop, and then it got scary--and that’s when I ran out of there and forgot my coat"

This time he didn’t turn red He went stark white and a muscle jumped in his jaw

"I don’t think he meant it," I hurried to add "It wasn’t hi worse I know he can be a--" I groped for words that didn’t sound too insulting to his best friend

Apparently I didn’t have to worry about being insulting "--lech, satyr, sleazeball, lothario," he completed my sentence

"Yeah, that I know he can be like that, but he’s never been like that with me And he seeot out of there to protect both of us"

He drained his cup, then got up from the table and went to put it in the sink "You said you were both affected?" he asked, his back to me

I mentally kicked myself Either I could leave him with the impression that I wouldn’t have minded a certain level of activity with Rod or I had to tell hi my immunity But I’d kissed him back, too Surely he had to have noticed that And it’s not like he cared all thatwith h "I think I was allthemselves at me"

He ca, then went back to the sink and proceeded to wash the dishes "I’m curious about those shoes," he said as he worked "They shouldn’t have affected you, so ere you drawn to buy theested it She said I had to have theestion had nothing to do with roan when I realized that even if Ethan hadn’t duood with him He was immune to their power How ironic