I manage to get home before I need to head over to the restaurant. The meeting with the technicians threatened to take forever. The brainy bunch have all the time in the world. Nighttime is their favorite, and they can go on arguing algorithms until dawn.

I wanted to get home to get ready for my date with Dana.

Dinner, I remind myself. A catch-up session. Not a date.

I jump into the shower. I soap up my body, and my hands slide over my cock. I’m already hard. I palm myself and slide my hand up and down a few times, but I let it go. There’s no time.

I rinse, get out, and dry off before I pull fresh clothes from my closet. Black jeans, an aqua shirt, black shoes, and the chain around my neck she bought me for Christmas. I finger comb my wet hair to the side and let it dry by itself. I run a razor over my chin, pat on aftershave that stings like a mother, and leave my apartment again.

The drive to Bestia from my apartment at South Park by Windsor is quick, and I pull into a parking spot just after seven. I’m only a couple of minutes late. I’m nervous. I’ve grown up with this girl, and she still gets me tongue-tied and hot and bothered, without doing anything at all.

When I walk up to the front door, a flash goes off in my face. Then another, and another, and I sigh. They follow me around, sometimes. I smile and pose for a photo or two. This is my life now, famous and frustrating. When I’ve done my part, I walk into the restaurant where the paparazzi isn’t allowed to follow. Thank God.

The restaurant has an industrial vibe, but it’s a cozy place. When I walk in, I see Dana sitting at a table already. I tell the hostess I’m meeting someone and walk through to her. I only have a second to study her before she looks up and sees me, and she’s breathtaking. As always. She gets up, smiling.

She’s wearing a dress that hugs her curves in just the right way. It catches her leg mid-thigh. Her legs are long and tan. I want her to wrap them around my hips. Heels made her ass look fantastic. I can’t see it then because she’s facing me, but I’ve looked at her ass enough times in my life to know this for a fact.

When she hugs me, I smell her perfume, subtle, floral. I breathe in deeply, and it drives me crazy. Her breasts push against my chest, and I’m hyper aware of them. When she sits down, her dress gapes just enough to show me the swells of her breasts. I swallow hard. My cock is rigid in my pants, pulling against my boxers. I don’t want her to see. I crash down onto the chair so my hips are below the table.

Dana laughs. The sound of her voice is like velvet on my skin.

“How are you doing?” I ask. I need conversation to distract me.

She shrugs. “I’m alright. I’ve had a rough month. How about you? I see they’re hounding you again outside.”

I nod. “They’re always like that. I hardly ever get a break.”

The waiter joins us, and I glance up at him.

“What will it be?” he asks. He’s speaking to Dana, smiling. Guys always respond well to her. I don’t blame them, but it irritates me. After we order something to drink, the waiter disappears again.

“I’m sorry about the other night,” Dana says. “I was rude.”

I shake my head. “Don’t apologize.”

“No, I want to. It was unnecessary. You’re always just looking out for me.”

I shrug. “You know I care.”

She nods. She fiddles with her fork. My eyes slide to her breasts again. When she sighs, her chest heaves, moving up and down, and I swallow hard. I look at her face when she looks up at me, so I’m not caught staring. She looks nervous, unsure. Why did she ask me out to dinner? I have a feeling there’s more to it than just catching up.

“How’s work going?” I ask.

She shrugs. “I don’t really get along with Jen.”

I nod. I’ve heard from Susan, my stepmom, that Dana has been having it hard at work for a while now.

“She’s intimidated,” I say.

Dana laughs. “Mom also said that.”

“She’s right. You’re tough to compete with. You always have been.”

She smiles and her dimples show. She tips her head to the side and runs her hand down her neck. It’s a normal gesture. I follow her hand with my eyes. I imagine her skin to be soft and delicate. I want to kiss it. Lick it. Bite it.

“And you?” she asks. I look at her again. “How’s work going for you?” She’s oblivious to my thoughts.

I shift in my chair, tugging at my buckle.

I shrug. “It’s going well. We’re expanding. Again. We can’t keep up with the number of users signing on.”

“You’re doing very well. Sociable is a hit. I don’t have any friends that aren’t already on it.”

“Well, it pays the bills,” I say dryly.

Dana laughs. I want her to keep doing that. I like it when she’s laughing, when it goes all the way up to her eyes. She hooks her hair behind her ear. She’s wearing long earrings that make her movements seem more graceful.

The waiter finally brings our drinks. I’ve asked for a soda. I don’t want to lose control tonight and say something stupid. Dana ordered alcohol. She seems nervous, and I can’t figure out why. When we order food and the waiter disappears again, I take a sip of my soda.

“Your hair looks great like that,” I say.

Dana smiles, touching her head lightly. “You noticed.”

“Of course. It suits you.”

Her dimples appear again.

We spend the night speaking about trivial things. We eat pasta, we laugh, and everything is the way it always is, light and pointless. But now, I want to know what’s bothering her.

“Are you going to tell me what’s wrong? Or are you just going to keep pretending everything is fine?”

She glances up at me. Her face is serious again, her lips slightly parted. Full lips. Delicious lips.

“I forget how well you know me,” she says.

I shrug.

She takes a deep breath and blows it out slowly.

“Well, you asked how work is going. The answer, to be honest, is terrible. I got fired.”

I widen my eyes. “What?”

She nods, looking down at her nearly empty plate. “It’s been a few weeks now, actually. I didn’t want to say anything.”

“Why not?” I frown at her.

She shrugs. “Because everyone is doing so well. You’ve got Sociable, and mom and Chris have the studio, and my friends are all successful now. I didn’t want to be the only one that’s failing. I’ve been looking for a job but nothing has gone through yet, and I’m in trouble, now.”

I reach across the table and put my hand on hers. She glances up at me.

“Tell me how I can help,” I say and let my fingers linger on her skin only a moment longer before I pull my hand back.

She looks like she might cry. She swallows hard. “I’m getting evicted now. If you could just help me out with a bit of cash, so I can find a place to stay while I sort this out, it would be a huge help. I really hate asking.”

I shake my head. “You can always ask me. I’ll do you one better, though. Why don’t you come to stay with me for a while? You don’t have to worry about cash then, and you can find a new job without all the pressure of needing to survive.”

Dana blinks at me. “I won’t impose?”

I chuckle. “We grew up together, remember? It will be like the good old days.”

She swallows again.

“I have enough money to cover your expenses for a while, and I won’t see you end up on the streets,” I say.

Finally, she nods.

“Thank you,” she says in a thin voice. “I hate that all this is happening.”

Dana has always been independent and proud. She doesn’t like taking help from others, and she’ll never ask for it. I’m glad she’s agreeing to come stay with me, though. I want to help her.

Having her in my house would be amazing.

Although, seeing her again every day might make it hard. No pun intended. She would be around all the time, and I’m struggling to contain myself as it is. But I don’t want to turn her down, and if I must be sexually frustrated for a while just to have her with me, so be it.

“When do you need to be out?” I ask.

She looks down. “Two days from now. I left it until the last second, I know. I hoped something would come through by now.”

I shake my head. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll take the day off tomorrow, and we’ll go to your place and sort it out. Okay?”

Dana nods and looks up at me.

“Thank you, Keagan. It means a lot.”

“Of course,” I say. “I already said it, but I’ll say it again. You know I care.”

When the evening comes to an end, I pay for the bill. She protests, but I don’t let her fight me on it. We get up and she steps toward me. She looks up at me. She’s almost a full head shorter than me, but with her heels on, she can almost look me straight in the eye.

“Thanks, Keagan,” she says again, and she wraps her arms around me in a hug.

I don’t hesitate to hold onto her. Her body is lithe and petite in my arms. Her breasts, her hips, I feel them all. My body responds, and I feel myself growing in my pants again. I let go of her, pushing her gently away so she won’t feel my erection.

“I’ll see you in the morning,” I say. “Go home and relax. We’ve got this covered.”

She nods, still looking at me. I glance at her lips for a second before I turn toward the door.

“Better not walk out with me if you don’t want to be swarmed with paparazzi,” I say.

She leaves first, and I wait a while before I leave, too. There are only one or two cameras outside when I walk through the door, but it’s enough for the world to know whether I left the restaurant alone or not.

When I drive home, I think about Dana. Her pride gets in the way sometimes, but there’s something to be said for her strength. It’s sexy. She’s always been independent, and there’s nothing more attractive in a woman than the ability to fend for herself. And she’s going to be in my apartment for a while.

The thought makes me hot. I’ve been biting down on my lust all evening. When I get home, I climb out of my clothes and get in bed, naked. My cock strains against the sheets, and I move, letting the friction work me up. I slide my hand over my abs and palm my cock.

God, I want her. I close my eyes and picture her, trying to imagine what she might look like naked. I want every inch of her, and I want her to beg me to take it. My hand pumps up and down, and I try to imagine that it’s her body wrapped around my cock, not my own fingers. When I come, it’s drawn out and intense, and I groan. I twitch and jerk in my hand. When it’s over, I’m not nearly as satisfied as I want to be.