“You have a lot of books,” Tex said, popping the bubble around me.

He was probably talking at regular volume, but it sounded like he held a megaphone to my ears to speak. I flinched back and recovered quickly, straightening once more. The hum of all the appliances was getting louder, buzzing in my ears, and I held my glass tighter. The coolness did nothing to help with the heat attempting to bake me alive.

“Enzo?” Tex’s face appeared before me, and I blinked slowly, but It was all too much. My mouth stayed shut as I stared at him, mentally screaming at him to shut up and sit down.

I needed everything to be turned off.

He reached for me, and I kept still, although it was the last thing I wanted. Tex’s hand stopped just short of touching me and dropped. He looked around and picked up the bag of tools.

“Uh, want to put the shelves together?” he asked.

Why isn’t he running? Now would be the perfect time while I was trapped in my head. I reached out for the tool bag, making sure not to touch him.

“I’ll start on this one,” Tex said.

I nodded. It was the most I could do as I sat back in front of the bookcase I’d been working on earlier. Reading over the steps and following them soothed me. The noise around me quieted down and to my relief, Tex said nothing else. It was as if he was a piece of furniture in my apartment, and I didn’t have to give him a second thought.

Time ticked by, and I lost myself in my movements. The fire in my brain eased, and the room came back into focus. The bookshelf was done, and I was already halfway through filling it up with books.

I glanced over at Tex. He stared at the books in his hand.

“That’s wrong.” I pointed at the books he was haphazardly putting on the shelf.

Tex sighed. “Don’t tell me you want them alphabetical?”

“No.” I moved to him and noticed how closely he was observing me. “Each author and the series by which one I enjoyed the most.”

He slowly blinked at me. “Wait, you’ve actually read all of these books?”

I nodded, grabbed the ones he had put on the shelf already, and moved them down to the bottom.

“Even the romance books?” His brows nearly kissed his hairline.

“Is that so hard to believe?”

He nodded. “You seem more like the historical fiction kind of guy.”

“I have a few.”

Tex made a face. “You know you come off nerdy and not at all dangerous, especially when you’re talking about books.”

I passed over a stack of books organized already. Our fingers brushed against each other, and tingles traveled down my arm and to my cock. “But you know that isn’t true.”

Tex stiffened as I placed the books in his waiting arms. Our eyes met, and I was no closer to making the decision I knew I needed to make. My stomach twisted in knots, making it uncomfortable to move around.