He turned to leave, but I couldn’t let him go without a tiny reprimand. Yes, he was right about my lack of dedication lately, but that didn’t give him a free pass to be a nudist in Kiera’s apartment. I really didn’t care if it was half Anna’s place too, that shit needed to stop. Knowing Kiera was going to hate me for calling attention to her while Griffin was naked, I gently said, “Hey, Griff? You mind not walking around my girlfriend’s place buck naked? I’d really prefer her only staring at my junk, if you don’t mind.”

Griffin being Griffin, he, of course, immediately started fondling himself. With a smirk, he said, “Dude, if she’s peeking at another man’s schlong, then that’s between the two of you. The Hulk needs to breathe.”

The Hulk? Oh God…no, he did not just say that. I was gonna lose it. Kiera did. She had to slap her hand over her mouth to stop the giggles. Griffin glared at both of us, then retreated back to Anna’s room.

We had a pretty good laugh about that once Griffin was out of sight. Then, in the parking lot, Kiera asked me what my nickname was. I’d never named a body part, but not wanting to miss an opportunity to make her face change color, I spouted something ridiculous and dirty to her—The Oh-God-Yes-Harder-Faster-Don’t-You-Dare-Stop-Yes-Fuck-Me-Now-You’re-Freaking-Amazing Machine. Her reaction was priceless—the perfect mix of annoyance, amusement, and embarrassment.

The levity was much needed, and I was smiling the entire time I took her to class.

After dropping Kiera off, I sat in my car in the parking lot and pulled out my new cell phone. Might as well start learning how to use it. Browsing through the contacts, I saw that Kiera had already programmed some numbers into it for me. I wasn’t sure if that was out of thoughtfulness, or if she was just sure I wouldn’t bother doing it on my own. Either way, it amused me.

Stopping on her number, I debated texting her. Surely it wasn’t too early to start the sexy talk. I was just about to do it when another name caught my eye. Denny. She’d programmed her ex’s number for me. That was a little surreal. But not in a bad way—Denny was someone I still wanted to keep in contact with. Even after…everything.

I hit an icon that I was pretty sure would connect the call, and sure enough, the screen told me it was dialing. See Kiera, I can do this. As I brought the phone to my ear, I wondered what time it was in Denny’s world. Hopefully it wasn’t too early. Or too late? Fuck if I knew.

A couple of rings later, a confused voice met my ear. “Hello?”