Next morning my stomach growls, while Leo continues to pop donut holes into his mouth. Where does the man put it all?

“I think you should eat.” He turns around, holding a delicious-looking chocolate-glazed cake pop in his hand. My mind wanders to thoughts of letting him feed it to me and then licking the sugary glaze left on his fingertips.

“No, I’m fine.” I tap my toes, anxious to get this show on the road—literally.

He shrugs and pops it into his mouth, swallowing it down with a gulp of water.

The state of my life right now is less than ideal. I’m falling for an unavailable man. Regardless of our conversation last night, I still feel the pull toward him. Yeah, he doesn’t understand my reasoning for attempting to wedge some distance between us. Doesn’t know that it’s because I want him to sink his teeth into me.

“You okay?” he asks from the chair across from me.

Since the conversation last night, he’s kept a physical distance between us at all times. In the limo, he sat on the bench across from me. Walking down the hall, he let me go first instead of side by side. Our hands haven’t brushed and not once have I caught his eyes lingering on me. All confirming I’ve let him off the hook.

“I’m good.”

“Your mind is like a cyclone, isn’t it?”

“No.” I smile, uncrossing and crossing my legs again.

“I think I’m the one who should be nervous here.” He leans back, an easy grin on his face.

“You’ll do great.” I pick at the fabric on the couch.

“As long as I can get the company’s name out there, maybe a major brand will take notice.”

The door opens and I’m thankful that it’s his turn to get on air. I have one more night to sleep on the other side of the wall from him, letting my imagination run wild, and then I can get home and get some actual sleep.

“Leo Vaughn?” a guy’s voice says. A guy’s voice I’m way too familiar with.

I whip my head up and, sure as shit, the voice belongs to exactly who I thought it did.

“Teegan?” Mike asks.

My mouth hangs open. “Hi,” I say, my voice mousy and unsure.

“What are you doing here?” He glances to Leo, whose eyes are shifting back and forth between us.

“I’m with Leo. I mean he’s my client. I’m his PR rep. We’re not like together together. Not like boyfriend and girlfriend.”

Leo chuckles across from me. “I think he gets it.”

I focus on him and he’s smiling, his head tilting as though non-verbally asking me if I’m okay. I tighten my hands in my lap.

Leo notices I’m not going to introduce him, so he stands up and approaches Mike.

“You’ve silenced her. That’s a hard accomplishment.” Leo’s joking, and Mike laughs, his same throaty chuckle it took me forever to realize was fake as shit.

The two of them shake hands and then face me.

“Mike and I were friends in college,” I offer.

“Friends?” Mike questions, rocking back on his heels, his hand on that black box mechanism on his hip. He holds his finger up in the air then speaks into his headset. “I’m getting him ready now.” He pulls a microphone out of his back pocket and hands it over to Leo. “We can chat later, but I need to get you mic’d or I’ll lose my job.”

Mike hooks the mic on Leo and for the first time all day Leo’s face pales.

“Let’s head backstage. They have you scheduled for a five-minute segment.”

“What about my setup?” Leo asks.

“It’s all set. You can check it out right now and then we’ll wait for your time on side stage.”

The two go about business like it’s every day that I get stuck in a room with a guy who once broke my heart and another who is in the process of doing it, unaware or not.

“You’re welcome to come with us, Teeny,” Mike says and the audacity of him using that damn nickname weakens my knees.

“I think I will.” I check my phone as I follow the two of them out of the room.

I bite down my smile to not alert Leo to the surprise I have for him. Oscar was thrilled when I told him to catch a red-eye to New York last night. It’s a risk, but I know Leo would say no if I asked. The best promo for Leo is to let some of his personal life out there and since his partnership with Oscar also extends to his business it’s win-win.

Leo walks over to his newest line of clothes for dogs and he bends down, petting each dog in a child safety pen who will be modeling the clothes. “Man, I’m still amazed at the job that Oscar did on this one.” He touches one of the appliqués.

“Who’s Oscar?” Mike asks and I eye Leo before asking Mike to the side.

Leo continues to play with the dogs while we talk.

“Oscar is his partner,” I say in a hushed voice. “I told Serena that Oscar is coming to surprise him. He’s in the building, I believe.”

Mike’s eyes bulge out. “He’s gay?” he whispers.

“Yeah.”

“Shit. I must be working a lot of hours, I didn’t get that vibe from him at all.”

I crinkle my eyes. The guy was always so involved in his work that he’d probably struggle to notice if I dropped to my knees and sucked him off right here. Okay, that might be an exaggeration, but the man fell asleep while we were having sex once. Not exactly an ego-booster. “You were always one to miss the small details.”

He rolls his deep brown eyes I used to lose myself in. “I’m not sure sexual orientation is a small detail, but whatever.”

My gaze moves to Leo, who is still enjoying the dogs. “Anyway, it’s a surprise, but see if you can get the host to ask him some personal questions.”

“It’s clearly marked here to ask him no personal questions.” He’s looking down at his clipboard.

Damn him and all his by-the-book shit.

“Well, I’m his PR rep and he needs to loosen up a bit on his personal life. I’m not asking for the host to dig into the childhood traumas, just introduce Oscar and see where it goes.”

Mike blows out a breath. “Are you sure you’re not stepping over boundaries here, Teeny?”

“No, Mike, I’m not. Unlike you, some men don’t mind talking about their feelings.”

He shakes his head. “And to think my dick twitched when I first saw you. My balls had it right. They screamed, ‘Stay the fuck away, she’ll bust us to pieces.’”

I roll my eyes. “Just do your job, Mike, and I’ll do mine.”

He pretends to salute, and heads to someone else with a mic backstage.

Leo walks over from where he was playing with the dogs. “Ex, I presume?” He stands close to me for the first time today and per usual, his smell intoxicates me.

“Yeah, can you smell the animosity in the air?”

He knocks shoulders with me. “You can do better.” His voice has a hard edge to it.

I wave him off. “It was college. We tried long-distance, but…”

“Yeah, those never do work as well as you think.” He focuses on the stage in front of us. “Don’t get too upset, your prince will show up one day.”

Mike waves Leo over and he steps away to head on stage.

A bustle of activity happens on the set and before I can snap my fingers, Leo is out on stage, shaking hands with the hosts.

Mike comes to stand beside me and presses his hand to his ear set. “Get him mic’d and here in one minute or it’s over.” He glances to me at his side. “I hope you’re not committing career suicide here.” His eyebrows rise and I want to pour wax on them, ripping each hair out as slowly and painfully as I can.

Leo’s smiling with the hosts, making them laugh, sitting on a stool in his usual easy manner when Oscar appears beside me.

“Hey,” I say.

He’s dressed to the nines in a paisley shirt, maroon suit. So opposite to Leo’s casual jeans and button-down shirt, untucked with the sleeves rolled up.

“I’m just glad I made it.” He looks on set, sees Leo and his lips widen like they should when you’re looking at the one you love.

A woman comes over and rushes to mic him and then the segment starts. My stomach topples and turns as if I’m sitting on a rollercoaster and I step to the edge of the backstage to get an up-close view.

“Our next guest styles dog clothes for the rich and famous in L.A. His store Canine Couture is the go-to for many of Hollywood A-listers and their fur babies,” the pregnant host says.

“I caught a glimpse of him backstage,” the other host says. “If you didn’t know better you’d think he was a model or actor himself.” The two hosts share a laugh.

Leo is shaking his head and then the female host holds her hand out. “Welcome, Leo Vaughn.”

The camera zooms in on him and his smile and I’m completely captivated.

“Tell us, Leo, how did you start making doggy clothes?”

Leo tells the story about his mother the seamstress, endearing both hosts to him immediately, and I second-guess having Oscar join him on stage. Don’t get me wrong, if Leo weren’t openly gay I would never have even considered asking Oscar to be here. I just thought it might add to his likeability factor. But maybe the public doesn’t need a glimpse into Leo’s personal life to gain traction with the public. He’s already likeable.

“I think I’d love to meet your mother one day,” the pregnant host says.

“I just got word that we have a surprise guest here. Leo’s partner for many years is backstage. Do we want to meet the man behind the man?” the blonde host says, and someone walks in front of the live audience, raising their hands for them to clap.

The audience hollers and claps while Leo tries to see backstage, but my guess is the lights are making it difficult.

“Come on out, Oscar Reyes,” the one host says and Oscar’s hand rises in the air as he beelines for Leo.

“From the look on his face, I’d say you made the wrong decision.” Mike leans in close, ridiculing me once more.

The problem is, he’s right. Leo’s smile has turned tight and forced. Oscar sits down next to Leo and puts his arm on the back of the couch.

“So how long have you guys been together?”

“Six years, right?” Oscar says, leaning in closer to Leo.

“We’ve been working partners for six, yes, but—”

“And Oscar makes the appliqués, right? Let’s see some of your styles.” The red-haired host waves her hand to start the dog parade.

Each dog comes out and Leo plays along, explaining what each style is and the perfect dog it fits. Oscar busies himself talking to the other host, the two laughing to one another.

The lights shift and Leo’s gaze shoots to mine, a scowl on his face right before he smiles when the host says goodbye. He shakes hands with each host but doesn’t wait for Oscar before he stomps off stage straight to me.

“Why is he here?” His voice is so cold and distant that I know I’ve made a huge mistake.

“I thought it would be good to get a glimpse into your personal life and—”

“Oscar isn’t my personal life. Where…” His fingers thread through his hair. “Fuck, are you kidding me? You too?”

My eyes widen. “Me what?”

People backstage are starting to watch and Leo notices it, so he grabs my hand, leading me down the hall. The room we were in earlier is vacant, so he walks us in and then slams the door, letting go of me. “You believe the rumors? The bullshit that people throw out there?”

“What are you talking about? I thought you were with Oscar.”

He steps closer to me. “How could I be with Oscar when I’m not fucking gay?”

Tears prick the corners of my eyes and it takes me a moment to respond, everything from the past several weeks whirling through my mind at once. “But the article…?”

He lets go of another huge breath. “The bullshit article where I was just taking a friend home? Oscar’s always handsy when he drinks and we’re friends, so I tolerate it. He loves that a lot of people assume I’m gay and that the joke is at my expense, so he does whatever he can to exacerbate the situation.”

“What about your ex Alex? And the package delivered to your house? Or the guy on the beach who knew you? John’s comments after the article?” I’m thinking out loud, but when my gaze floats up to meet his, the weight of what I did hits me with a crushing blow.

He’s straight and I’m a fucking idiot.

I let all the rumors cloud what I saw and it led me to misinterpret everything.

“Let me ask you a question. Does this have anything to do with why you told me you wanted to put more space between us last night?” he asks, stepping close.

“I’m working for you. It’s not right,” I say in a small voice.

“Not because you made the very wrong assumption that I was gay?” He stands almost chest-to-chest with me.

My nipples pebble, my breath comes in short, shallow spurts.

“I didn’t want to keep wanting you,” I almost whisper.

His lips crush mine, his arm sliding around my waist while he spins me until my back hits the door. Our hands are frantic, our mouths devouring one another and I raise my leg, wrapping it around his thick thigh while my arms entwine around his neck, holding him to me.

He pulls away. “I’m still fucking pissed, but I’m glad I got that out of my system.” He slides me to the side of the door, grabs the doorknob and leaves.

I let my head fall back against the wall, my eyes shut, my hands covering my face.

“Told you he’s straight,” Mike chimes in from the hallway and I kick the door shut.