“Yeah, it is. But we can go slow.” We took the stairs at a more sedate pace, and when we emerged on the fourth floor, the board game among my fellow residents was still going on.

“Hey, Jasper!” A biology major who was a senior like me, with a love of loud K-pop, looked up from the game.

“How was the ball?” Another girl spoke up, shuffling some cards. “And Prince Charming?”

“Excellent.” I inched toward my door.

“You guys want to play?” She held up the cards.

“Later.” Milo’s expression was less alarmed than earlier, more like he was vibrating with the same need to be alone as me.

“Sorry.” I wasn’t entirely sure what I was apologizing for as I closed my door behind us. We threw our coats on the chair where neither of us would be sleeping that night.

“Don’t be sorry. Kiss me.”

“That I can do.” First, however, I quickly connected my phone to my speakers, which were cheap but effective.

“What are you doing?” Milo had followed me over to my desk, a most welcome stalker. Within moments, a playlist I used sometimes for unwinding my brain for sleep filled the room. Wasn’t perfect, but I hardly had seductive music at the ready.

“Privacy. In case you wanted to make good on your earlier promise…”

“Oh, I do.”

“Excellent.” I pushed him until he was seated on the bed, sinking to my knees in front of him, but he shook his head and hauled me up next to him. “What?”

He stretched to grab his backpack from the floor next to the bed. “I…I brought stuff. If you want to…”

“Because you think I need that?” I tilted my head as I considered him. He was blushing again, but he didn’t seem anywhere near as uneasy as he had earlier. And his eyes still glowed with sexy intent.

“Because I need to. Want to, I mean. With you.” Abandoning the backpack, he gave me a slow, soft kiss.

“Okay.” Like I could have refused right then. My pulse thrummed, anticipation and nerves in equal measure. “I have supplies too, you know. Could have saved the cash.”

He offered me a crooked grin. “I figured you might, but I didn’t want to presume. Really wanted to be able to do this tonight. Together.”

“Nice.” I kissed him back, but I couldn’t let go of a rogue thought that kept making my neck prickle. “Does that bug you? That I’ve done it before?”

“Not really. I mean, like, I’m mad jealous, but also glad one of us knows what they are doing.”

“Well, I wouldn’t say that…” My laugh had a definite nervous edge to it. “Don’t want to get your expectations too high here.”

“It’s you. And you haven’t let me down yet.”