I look at him with my mouth open. “I’m very smooth,” I say slowly.

He laughs. “As butter,” he says mockingly. “Now, what job should I have?” He clicks his fingers. “I know. I’ll be an architect.”

I blink. “Do you actually know anything about architecture?”

He grins. “I know buildings have roofs and doors and windows. And I was fucking brilliant with Lego when I was little.”

I groan. “This is going to be a disaster.”

He laughs. “Lighten up.” He leans forward, his face alight with enjoyment. “It’s a game,” he says in a low, teasing voice that goes straight to my cock. “We’re who we want to be and there’s fun in that.”

“Fun?” I echo, and he nods.

“Fun.” His face becomes businesslike. “Okay, we’ve mentioned that we like eighties music, so that’s covered. What books do you like?”

“Crime thrillers and mysteries. What about you?”

“Gay romance.” I blink and he smiles. “Really. There are some brilliant books around. I’ll lend you one. I’ve got a couple in my case.”

I stare at him. “I never imagined you–”

He looks at me wryly. “Did you think I couldn’t read?”

“No, of course not.” My words are fast and embarrassed. “I just thought you’d be too busy.”

“Shagging?” He bursts into laughter at my undoubtedly horrified look. “I’m kidding.” He pauses. “Well, not about the shagging. I love that.”

“Of course you do,” I say faintly.

He smiles. “But I like reading too.” He sits back as the waitress hands us our plates and cutlery and I watch as he charms her. It isn’t a false charm. Patrick could be very charming when he wanted to, but a lot of it was only surface deep. Even while he was doing it, I’d see the thinness to the veneer covering him. Jesse doesn’t have that because his charm is true. He genuinely likes people and his interest in them seems to make them come alive under those warm, twinkly eyes.

He turns back to me when the waitress disappears and unfurls his napkin with a flourish. “Okay,” he says, a businesslike tone to his voice now. “Likes and dislikes?”

And so for the next hour that’s what we do. We sit in the sunny pub garden working our way through a laundry list of our likes and dislikes, and I’m alarmed to find how many we have in common. Alarmed and enthralled. I sigh. That about sums up my attitude towards Jesse Reed.

Chapter Three

Jesse

I continue questioning him when we get back in the car.

“This is like Mastermind,” he grumbles, starting the engine.