Even the bathroom had shiny white switch plates. Kyle stared at them for a moment, then looked at the tiled shower—rainfall shower head! He’d always wanted to try one.

The washcloths and towels were easily in sight on a shelf, and… was that a heated towel rail?

Kyle shook his head. It was a cozy bathroom despite being spacious and modern-feeling. He could see why it suited Nic. And, surprisingly, the place felt comfortable.

He really shouldn’t fit in here. Not only was it not his own place, but… well, it was clear Nic was wealthy.

That wasn’t a surprise, given his job, clothing, even his attitude at Target. Was it an unpleasant confirmation? Not really. Nic was more than his money. He’d shown that over and over now, in tiny ways.

And Kevin had liked him. When Kyle put him to bed, he’d said several times that he wanted to see Uncle Nic more often. His son had a good instinct for who was a nice person.

Kyle’s head was still spinning after his near-miss yesterday. It had taken him a few moments when he woke up to remember where he was, and then why, and then the next deep lungful of air had been like taking the world’s biggest hit.

He was high off being alive.

Nic had been so sweet last night. He’d been dead right—Kyle’s pride wouldn’t have let him ask Nic to come home with him, but Kyle wasn’t sure if he would have had the courage to invite Nic inside his place, either. And holing up was the wrong thing for him. Being around people was what he needed.

And the sex. Christ. Nic was the hottest guy he could remember sleeping with—not just for his body, but his attitude, his confidence, the way his shyness fell away when it came to asking for what he needed…

I could do him again and not get bored. Three times? That was a habit. That was more than a fling.

Once Kyle used the bathroom, washed up his face, and sort of finger-combed his hair, Kyle eyed the clean bathroom counter. That wasn’t much help.

Yanking open a few drawers, he found them empty, but the bottom drawer… wasn’t.

Kyle swallowed and stared at the drawer. There were only a handful of things in there, but they were unmistakable: a palette of eyeshadow, a tube of mascara, a few eyeliner pencils, and several shades of lip gloss and lipstick.

He heard stirring from the bedroom and glanced back that way, then closed the drawer and opened the cabinet.

There they were: toothbrush and toothpaste. In the cabinet, like a weirdo. Kyle squeezed some paste onto his finger and scrubbed his teeth, then followed that up with floss and mouthwash.

Nic pushed open the bathroom door as he was rinsing his mouth out, then smiled at him. He was wearing only boxers.

God, he was hot. Kyle was too busy just checking Nic out to realize he’d said good morning for a second.

“Oh. Morning.”

Nic’s cheeks were sweetly pink as he grinned. “Subtle.”

“If there’s one word that should never be applied to me…” Kyle laughed, putting the mouthwash back. “Hope you don’t mind.”

“No, go ahead.”

“I, uh, fished around your drawers first,” Kyle confessed. He wasn’t going to keep secrets. “And found…” He nudged the bottom drawer open with his toe.

Nic’s cheeks flushed, but he didn’t look down. He knew exactly what Kyle meant. His expression was carefully guarded as he nodded. “Right.”

Kyle knew that look. He wanted to hug Nic and enthuse with him about makeup, even if it wasn’t his area of expertise, exactly. But Nic wasn’t ready for that yet. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to rummage.”

“No, it’s okay. I should have put things on the counter.”

“Yeah, what’s with the cabinet, dude?” Kyle smiled, leaning on the counter while Nic approached to grab his toothbrush and paste.

Nic shrugged. “I was cleaning the counter yesterday and put them in there.” He started brushing his teeth.

“Oh. It’s not a permanent home. I thought you needed your counter clean for… reasons.” Kyle wiggled his eyebrows.

“No,” Nic laughed, blushing again. This time, Kyle caught Nic giving him a quick up-and-down glance as he brushed.

He still wants me, too. Perfect. I mean, if I’m doing this for real with him sometime. We’ve done this twice and we don’t hate each other yet…

Kyle nudged the drawer shut again and scooted to sit on the counter while Nic rinsed out his mouth. “Do you ever wear that stuff?”

There it was again—Nic looked wary. He shook his head. “Not much. I, um…” He paused, clearly selecting his words, so Kyle gave him a chance. “I don’t like being seen as… not manly enough.”

Kyle breathed out slowly, letting the words sit there for a moment as Nic avoided his gaze by looking in the mirror and running his hands through his hair. Then, he spoke up. “You know I wouldn’t think that.”

“Yeah.”

“But that doesn’t make much difference, does it? It’s more about you.”

“Yeah.”

Kyle watched the worry lines form on Nic’s forehead, then reached out to run his thumb along one of them and cup his cheek.

Startled, Nic paused, then looked up at him.

“Don’t be afraid. You know what Oscar Wilde said?”

“Be yourself, everyone else is taken? That’s so overused,” Nic grumbled, but he was smiling slightly.

Kyle winked. “Because people like a succinct truth. And it’s good for us to hear, in particular. Big, buff gym bros don’t need to hear it the same way we do.” He let go of Nic’s cheek but held his gaze. “Would you wear some for me sometime?”

A flicker of recognition went through Nic’s face, and then he nodded slowly. “We’ll see. Are you a cereal or cooked breakfast man?” He pulled away to dry his hands.

It wasn’t a refusal, just a subject change. Kyle would take it. “I can be a cooked breakfast man. I just can’t make it myself. Well, no, I can do scrambled eggs.”

“Pancakes?”

“Oh my God, you do pancakes? I knew you were perfect,” Kyle teased.

Nic opened his mouth and stood there for a second trying to form a response, blushed, and then hurried out of the bathroom at a brisk stride. “Better get them started.”

Oh, he was adorably easy to fluster. Kyle beamed after him, then hopped down from the counter and slowly wandered after Nic, pausing to take in the details of the apartment as he walked.

What a gorgeous man, in a gorgeous place. Maybe money could buy happiness.