“Looking very loudly,” I mumble. I’m holding my keys so hard that they bite into my palm, and I have to focus on opening my hand. When I get to my door, I unlock it slowly — mostly because I want to have enough time to thoroughly pray that all of my roommates are gone.

I push the heavy door open slowly, looking quickly around the open-plan apartment and listening for any sound that we’re not alone. I exhale and turn around, holding the door open for Darren. I beckon him inside, but he stops in front of me.

“Hey.”

I bite my lip because he’s doing that gentle voice thing that I love again. I tilt my head back, and he bends down, brushing his mouth against mine. “Not judging,” he says against my lips. “I promise.”

I wish I could stop myself from smiling and giving in to him so easily, but I cannot. “Okay,” I say and grab him by the neck so he can kiss me properly.

And if there is one thing I am obsessed with about Darren, it is that this man does not miss a moment to kiss me to within an inch of my life. Even though his hands are full of my grocery bags, and it’s not the most comfortable angle, Darren does not disappoint.

He tips his head to the side and licks into my mouth. He slides his lips against mine and pries them open, and then our tongues tangle together, and we both sigh into the cavern of our joined mouths. We could have done this for a while. In fact, I am very much into encouraging him to drop my bags and lift me into his arms so we can make out like teenagers against my open door. We probably won’t break anything, and if we did, I have faith in Darren to kiss me hard enough that I won’t care. But then his phone rings.

He pulls away from me, and I whine.

I AM DOWN BAD TODAY.

“Sorry, shit,” he says, “that’s the boys’s ringtone.”

I sigh because I can’t even be mad at that. Darren drops to the floor and carefully places my bags down, and then he stands straight and pulls his cellphone from his back pocket. “Hey, hey, I’m here. What’s wrong?”

My entire body tenses up. I…don’t even know these kids. I spent no more than twenty minutes in Nate’s presence, and yet, the worry on Darren’s face and the tension in his body is infectious. I can’t help but stand stock still in front of him with clenched fists and wait.

I don’t even realize that I’m holding my breath — because Darren is holding his — until he exhales, and I follow suit.