I watched Axl standing at the door, looking out of it like I was still there, then he did a head gesture I couldn’t decipher in my current panicked, anxious, scared, mildly turned-on state, and he closed the door.

Then he moved.

A lamp switched on.

In full light, him and his chest and eyes and those sleep pants…

Not to mention that line of hair.

Gah!

“Ha—” he started.

I put up a hand instantly. “No. Nope. Unh-unh. This time, I get to do the talking and you get to listen, but what you don’t get to do is interrupt.”

He did that man stance with hands on hips that I didn’t understand if its purpose was to take up as much room as manly possible or just have something to do with his hands.

But it highlighted his chest.

His awesome chest.

Focus!

I launched in.

“First, I’m sorry to wake you up. But Brett brought me here after work so I wouldn’t chicken out when you didn’t text me, and as an excuse for the inexcusable rudeness of waking you up, I was probably totally going to find some reason to chicken out. So I’m sorry, truly, but it was now or maybe not ever.”

“I do not care even a little bit that you woke me up,” he stated firmly.

Oh my.

My.

That was nice.

And Brett was right.

Moving on.

“And that’s not my way of saying I’m upset you didn’t text me. I get it.”

“I’m not sure you do since the only reason I didn’t was that I had a busy day, and I wasn’t able to get to your texts for a while. When I did, I could tell you were concerned, so it fucked with me I didn’t have a minute to text you to let you know I was cool. I didn’t get home until an hour ago, and didn’t think, after you danced, a late-night texting was gonna help us work through our shit. I was gonna connect with you first thing tomorrow. Which, strictly speaking, we’re doing, since tomorrow is now.”

Oh, well then.

That was nice too.

No, actually awesome.

And was I a freak to feel kind of warm and squishy at the words “help us work through our shit”?

I mean he thought we had shit!

I couldn’t get bogged down in that.

Onward ho!

“Okay, so, taking us back to where this all started, I can only hope you’d understand how embarrassing it was for you and Ryn to see me how I was that day in the dance studio. I think you understand I like you, and I wanted you to like me, and acting like a lunatic because I messed up a dance isn’t going to make you like me.”