It took a few seconds for the words to register in Thorne’s brain. Dash was…hot, fucking hot. But there was something else about him, something Thorne couldn’t define, that had Thorne salivating to get him naked and in bed. If Thorne believed in anything as hokey as “auras,” he would’ve said Dash had a powerful one. Thorne pushed the thought away, disgusted. Too much work and too little sex must have fried his brain. He’d been so busy that week he hadn’t even found time to jerk off.

“I don’t need a drink, and I don’t want to talk.”

Dash grinned and propped himself against the bar in the kitchen area, cocking his hip out. The pose was obviously calculated to make Thorne appreciate his slim waist. “That eager, huh?”

“I realize some people hire escorts for companionship. They want to know someone is listening to them. I’m sick of talking: to clients, to employees, to fucking airport desk agents. I don’t need you to pretend to be my friend. I need to be fucked.”

“Sure of that, are you?” Dash asked, walking around the bar and entering the kitchen.

“Yes.”

“In my professional opinion, a bit of relaxing on the couch, talking, easing our way toward fucking would do you some good.”

What the fuck? Maybe Dash wasn’t right for Thorne after all. Thorne gave the orders here, even if he was the one with a cock up his ass. It was looking less likely that he was going to be in that position. Marc had understood that he didn’t want chitchat; that Thorne liked to get down to business right away, blow off some tension and then get back to work.

Dash began to explore Thorne’s kitchen. Thorne would have stopped anyone else, should have stopped him. What the hell gave him the right to start messing around in Thorne’s apartment? And yet, Thorne simply watched the young man. Dash wasn’t like anyone Thorne regularly interacted with. He appeared friendly and easygoing, but he obviously didn’t take no for an answer. Maybe he really was a very good switch.

Dash opened Thorne’s basically empty fridge and then a door to a closet that was supposed to be a pantry. Thorne used it to store weights and other fitness equipment. He worked out religiously, but he did it at home rather than wasting the time to go to a gym.

“You don’t have any food, like none, not even coffee?” Dash looked truly horrified.

“There are some condiments and beer in the fridge.” Why did Thorne sound apologetic? He didn’t fucking apologize to anyone. No, you don’t talk to them long enough to need to.

“That’s not food.”

“I order out. I don’t have time for cooking.”

“I’d cook for you if you actually had anything here.”