EMERGENCY WARNING: MISTVIEW HEIGHTS.

Storm projections show increased snowfall for the next eight hours. Up to seventeen inches of snowfall overnight and wind chills as low as -10 degrees Fahrenheit. Remain inside, and do not operate vehicles of any kind.

Well, that was just peachy. I closed the weather app on my phone and began pacing around my living room.

I currently had Kade Thompson naked in my bathroom because I’d gotten him all sticky, and now it looked like he’d have to be here all night. A moment later, I got a text message from Terry, informing me that she’d spend the night at work because it was too unsafe to come home.

Okay, so I was going to be alone with Kade all night.

I paced over to the kitchen and opened the next bottle of wine. With all the food, the wine had been slow to hit my system, and I was going to need it to hit a little faster now.

I got a head start on the dishes as Kade showered, taking a sip of wine every minute. After fifteen minutes had passed, Kade appeared at the end of the hall, shirtless with a towel wrapped around his waist.

The man was going to make me lose my mind.

“Ah… got those clothes you promised me?” he asked, giving me that irresistible crooked smile.

“Right, of course,” I said, drying off my hands and tossing off my apron. I followed as Kade walked back into my bedroom. When I was behind him, I could stare without being seen, and my God, it was quite a sight to see.

I knew he had tattoos on his arms, but I had never seen his bare back before. It was well muscled, as to be expected, but he also had one lone tattoo, right between his shoulder blades. It looked like a pair of hands, wrapped around some sort of fruit.

“Ah—Kade?” I said as we reached my room. “I don’t know if you’ve seen, but they’re expecting further blizzard conditions tonight. My weather app tells me that no one should be out in the streets.”

“Shit, really?” Kade said, furrowing his brow before stepping over to the window and peering out. “It does look a lot worse than it did earlier. Fuck, this means the train is probably no longer running.”

I nodded. “I don’t think it’s safe to go back out. I’m sorry about this, but… my couch does pull out into a pretty comfortable bed—Terry has had friends stay over, and they always say it’s good.”

He turned to me. “Really, Mason? God, that would be amazing.”

“I’m sorry. I should have realized the storm was getting worse, and let you go home earlier—”

“Are you kidding? You don’t have to be sorry. I’m glad to be away from my own apartment. I’m sure your couch pull-out is ten times comfier than my real bed. I’d love to stay the night.”

Even hearing him say it made me feel a little bit fizzy inside. Kade Thompson was going to be spending the night in my apartment.

God, if I had known this a week ago when I’d nearly jerked off to his photos online, I’d have passed out.

I went to my dresser and rummaged through the drawer of neatly folded sleep shirts and sweatpants. “You’re a little taller than me, so this might be awful,” I said, pulling out one of each. “But these are the most oversized ones I’ve got.”

I handed him the clothes, trying too hard not to stare at his body as he took them from me. He got changed in the bathroom and came out looking better than I would have expected.

“Not fair,” I said. “My clothes look better on you than they do on me.”

“They sure are comfy as hell,” he said, smoothing out the shirt. It was the first time I’d seen him in something so casual, and I had a moment of feeling displaced, like this was something I shouldn’t have had the privilege to see. The look softened Kade—his usual bravado and rocker exterior nowhere to be found.

I followed suit, putting on my own pair of sweats and a cozy long-sleeve in the bathroom, and when I came back out, Kade had returned to the living room couch. He’d poured himself another glass of wine and topped mine off too.

“I’m surprised you still trust me to hold a wine glass,” I said, taking my place next to him.

“I trust you as long as you trust me to keep asking you questions. We’re still working, here.”

“Right. Of course. Keep them coming,” I said, pretending to be ready when in reality I never would be.

“The next thing I wanted to ask you about is your strengths. I know it might sound like a cheesy job interview question, but identifying what you do like about yourself can be an incredibly powerful tool. What are you good at, Mason?”

“Oh, jeez,” I said, reaching for the wine again. But as I thought, I realized that I did actually have an answer for him. “I’m good at my job. Or I try to be, at least. I’m good at keeping organized and remembering appointments and being punctual.”

“Great, that’s a fantastic start. And why do you think you’re so good at these things? Keeping appointments, being punctual?”

I shrugged. “Because it’s rude not to do those things.”

Kade lifted an eyebrow. “I see. Why’s that?”

“You really weren’t kidding about digging deep, huh?” I said. “It’s rude not to be punctual because you’re making someone else wait around. And I don’t like that feeling at all.”

“So the root of it is that you have a respect for other people that you don’t enjoy breaking.”

I nodded. “I guess so.”

“This tells me a lot. It tells me that you like being able to make sure people respect you, and you may get nervous in situations where you don’t have the ability to control people’s reaction to you. Do you hate it when people dislike you?”

“Oh my Gosh, of course,” I said. “It’s the worst thing in the world. I want people around me to be pleasant, and I want to treat them nicely.”

Kade nodded. “Of course. But there is a kernel here of trying to control everything. I have seen this a lot in people pleasers: you want everyone to like you, so you’re nervous to meet new people because you don’t know yet if they like you. And you freak out because you’re so busy trying to engineer the interaction to being a pleasant one. But you know what?”

I glanced sidelong at Kade. “What?”

“Not everyone is going to like you,” he said, staring me dead in the eye. “It’s just the way the world works. And it’s important to realize that being yourself is so much more important than trying to make everyone like you. Because then you have a chance at someone loving the real you—even if a small percentage of people hate you, too.”

I slumped back onto the couch, staring over at the wall.

“I… can’t even imagine not being a people pleaser,” I said.

“Oh, you definitely wouldn’t have to change yourself completely—I imagine you will always be someone who cares deeply about how you affect other people. But… you can begin to choose who you care about impressing and who isn’t worth the cut. And that’s very important.”

I gazed over at Kade, looking from his deep brown eyes to his shoulders and down to the dips and curves of the muscles in his arms. I couldn’t help but think that he was someone who I’d want to impress, and yet I was sitting here telling him all my flaws and hoping for the best.

“Mason? You still with me?” he said, grinning slightly. I returned my eyes to his, and I nodded.

“Yes,” I said. “Though I must admit, I am feeling this wine.”

“So I’m going to give you a little bit of homework,” he said, “and then we can be done with tonight’s session.”

“Wonderful,” I said.

“This week, I want you to strike up conversations with three to five people. They can be dates or strangers or anyone you might meet—the only rule is that they have to be brand-new people.”

Already I could feel my skin prickling at the idea, but I nodded.

“Okay, I lied,” Kade continued. “There are a couple other rules. You can’t talk about the weather or where they’re from, and if you decide you don’t like the person, you can just forget about them. Not get embarrassed, not kick yourself for it. Use your strengths—the fact that you care deeply about other people—to remember that you’re coming from a good place.”

“Sounds impossible,” I said. “But you know me too well. You know I can’t refuse homework.”

Kade grinned.

“And that I can’t stand to get anything less than an A-plus,” I said.

“I know,” he replied. “So do it. Show me your best, Mason. You’ll be helping yourself, after all.”

Something about Kade asking me to do it made it seem ten times easier.

“The snow is getting thick out there,” Kade said, looking outside. It had been a half hour since the official coaching session had ended, and we’d been drinking wine on the couch. For a split second, it actually felt like I had a real life—like I’d had dinner with a friend and was hanging out with him now, drinking and relaxing.

As long as I forgot the fact that I was paying him for his services, it all seemed perfect.

“I have an idea,” I said, standing up and crossing the room. “We should light a fire.”

Kade watched me. “Do you… actually know how to build a fire?” he asked.

I rolled my eyes. “Please. It’s a gas fireplace,” I said, reaching down and turning the knob. The sparker clicked for a few seconds, and then flames appeared, magically and easily.

Kade laughed. “I love it.”

“Still cozy, huh?” I said, returning to the couch.

“It’s never too late to learn to build a real fire, though. If you ever want to learn, I’m a good teacher,” Kade said.

“I know you are,” I replied.

I grabbed the folded-up plush blanket that was sitting on the back of the couch, and I spread it out over my legs.

“Selfish,” Kade said, stealing some of it.

“Hey, now I have a cold spot on my legs,” I said, scooting over and tugging on the blanket so that it was fully covering me again. Kade laughed in his deep, gravelly way, and I gave him a playful glare.

I realized as I’d adjusted on the couch, I’d accidentally scooted over until my leg was touching his. It was the only way to have the blanket fully cover both of us, and I hadn’t flinched away from his touch like I normally would have.

It was a lot harder to resist how much I actually enjoyed that touch, now that I was many drinks in and had spent so much time with Kade tonight. Normally I would have been worrying what Kade might think, or worrying that it was inappropriate to even have our legs touching, but I found that I’d given up on caring.

I actually felt comfortable. I was feeling comfortable with Kade a lot more than I had ever expected to.

It was also getting progressively harder to forget the fact that ten days ago, Kade had made me come harder than I maybe ever had with another man. Now that we were no longer in “work” mode, I was loosened up, and I knew it was bad, even though it felt amazing.

“God,” Kade said, sighing as he stared at the fire. “It almost fuckin’ hurts being here.”

My eyes went wide. “What?” I asked.

Shit. He had noticed the leg thing, hadn’t he? He was going to call the whole night off, was going to drop me as a client.

“I just mean… the snow, the fire, the amazing food. It’s perfect, Mason. And I don’t get a lot of perfect in my life these days.”

“Oh,” I said, feeling the wound-up tension in my chest slowly dissipate. “I’m sorry to hear that, though. How come you don’t get a lot of perfect in your life?”

He shook his head, looking down and picking at a stray thread on the blanket. “It’s a long story, really. But suffice it to say, I’ve had fewer clients this year than ever, and… it’s a struggle.”

“I’m so sorry,” I said.

“It’s no big deal,” he said, furrowing his brow, still not making eye contact. “I shouldn’t even be telling you this—it’s all off the record. This isn’t something I should share with a client, but as a friend… yeah. It’s been a hard year.”

It was one of the first times I’d ever witnessed Kade having a hard time finding his words. It made sense that a confidence coach would only tell me things he was confident about, but I’d never really stopped to wonder what Kade might be insecure about.

He was supposed to be some perfectly confident god. But he was a person, in my sweatpants, sitting on the couch with me like we were best friends.

“It’s so hard to struggle with career stuff,” I offered. “When I first got out of college, it was awful. I had to apply to eighty-six jobs before I got anything.”

Kade’s eyebrows shot up. “You’re fuckin’ shitting me.”

I shook my head. “Nope.”

“But you’re so… good at what you do,” Kade said. “I’m shocked, Mason.”

“Hard to prove I’m any good at it without on-the-job experience. That whole first year after college, I lived in an apartment with four roommates and rats in the walls. I saw one once, scurrying across the kitchen floor—I think I’m scarred forever.”

“I cannot imagine you and a rat in the same universe, let alone the same apartment,” Kade said, smiling.

“Me either,” I said. “Why do you think I’m such a clean freak now?”

Kade nodded. “Life was kind of like that for me as a kid, too. Not the best living situations, poor security, and occasional vermin.”

“Yikes.”

“Yeah. I don’t… want to go too into my upbringing, but my parents were very poor growing up. We had nothing. And then… they found God, joined a church that was more like a cult, and rejected me full force when I had my first boyfriend.”

“Oh, jeez,” I said, unsure of what else I could offer.

“Yeah. They’re not a part of my life anymore, to be honest.”

“No,” I said, my voice quiet. “That’s so sad, that you don’t get to have a connection with your family.”

Kade shrugged. “What are you gonna do?” he said. “They don’t accept me as a person, and when I used to try to spend time with them, they’d spend their every moment with me trying to convince me I was a degenerate monster. It was dehumanizing.”

I nodded. “It sounds like it’s better to have them out of your life.”

“It is,” he said. And even though I’d been so scared to have my leg touching his earlier, I moved in and placed my hand on his thigh, now. He looked like he really needed the reassurance, and I couldn’t stand to see him upset.

“I can’t imagine that,” I said. “I’m close with my family, and they’re everything to me. They live an hour north of here. I really can’t wait to see them for Christmas.”

“You’ve got you, your brother and sister, and parents?”

I nodded. “Yup. I’m the baby of the family. Micah and Jenny picked on me growing up, but we talk all the time now. And my parents… well, they’re quite something. My dad is a retired amphibian and reptile scientist, and my mom is a dog trainer.”

“Wow,” Kade said. “That’s quite a mix.”

“There were a lot of animals around the house growing up,” I said, smiling. “Still are, back at the house. It’s like a zoo. But they have a lot of land and spend all their time gardening and taking care of the pets.”

“Sounds wonderful,” Kade said, and finally his eyes looked dreamy again, not at all gloomy like before. “Y’know, I did have a good relationship with my grandmother. She was a badass—completely ahead of her time. Actually—” he said, leaning forward and hiking up his shirt to reveal his back, “this tattoo is in memorial of her. She always had some seasonal fruit in her hands—orange, apple, peach, plum. So I got my first tattoo of her hands holding an apple.”

Without even thinking, I reached out and skated my hands over Kade’s skin, between his shoulder blades. I’d been eyeing the tattoo earlier that night, but up close it was even more beautiful.

Or maybe I was just enjoying having my hand on his warm skin.

“I love it,” I said, and he let the shirt back down, turning back toward me.

“You do?” he asked. “I always would have thought you’d hate all my damn tats. You don’t strike me as the tattoo type.”

“I’m definitely not the tattoo type,” I said. “I’ll never let a tattoo needle near my body. But that doesn’t mean I don’t like looking at yours.”

Christ. I was saying one thing after another that was just bad, bad, bad.

I reached up and rubbed my shoulder, stretching my neck to the side.

“Shoulder problems? I’ve noticed you rub it a few times tonight,” Kade said.

“Bothers me sometimes,” I said. “I’m kind of a tense person, have you noticed?”

“Oh, I’ve noticed,” Kade said, nodding. “Come here.”

“What?” I asked.

“Turn around,” he said, reaching out to slide me forward a bit and then toward the window so that I was facing away from him.

And then I felt the first of the firm, incredible pressure of Kade’s fingers on the muscles of my neck.

“Holy Lord,” I said, instantly feeling like I was melting under his fingertips. “Did… did you… study massage or something?”

“Not really,” he said, his voice low and just behind my ears. “Just like making people feel better.”

“Yeah, well, you’re… you’re pretty good at it,” I said, pausing every few seconds to revel in just how good it felt. “I’ve always avoided professional massages because… they push too hard. But this is… this is heaven, Kade….”

“I won’t ever push you any further than you want to go,” he said from behind me, working his thumbs in circles from my neck to my shoulders, then on my upper arms. It felt like he’d found my reset button, like as soon as he began to work out the knots in my muscles, I instantly felt waves of tension floating away from me, receding like water at low tide.

The fire burned on ahead of us, and when I gazed out the window, I saw it was still a flurry of white. After a while with Kade’s hands working on me, I began to feel almost as if I was hypnotized.

Kade’s hands did magical things.

And so I did something stupid, again, because I seemed to always slip up around Kade.

“Why does it feel so good every single time you touch me?” I muttered softly, still entranced by the touch and the cozy night. Normally saying something like this would have freaked me out and sent me into a tizzy, but… the hypnosis was in full effect, and I could barely care enough to fret.

Everything just felt too good.

“I only ever want to make you feel good, Mason,” Kade said, running his thumbs in long, strong strokes flanking my spine.

I moaned.

I actually moaned—as in, the same moan I made during sex—just from the way his hands felt on my back. And as Kade continued, deepening his pressure, I found myself involuntarily making more noises. Moans, yes. But also sighing, humming, and anything else that seemed to escape my lips without my bidding.

And after some time had passed, I realized that I was having the only reaction I could have had to such a deeply satisfying experience: my cock was getting hard—really hard—under my sweatpants, and if Kade weren’t behind me, I was sure he’d be able to see the clear outline.

But I just let it happen. It may have been the first time in my entire life that I’d ever let anything “just happen,” but I did. As Kade massaged me, I began to feel more and more relaxed, and before long, I felt myself dozing off.

I tried to stay awake, but everything was working against me.

I just wanted to melt into his arms, forget the rest of the world, and live like this forever.