“Well, it wasn’t—uh, yeah. Yes. What?”

“I want to go look at one more wedding venue.”

“But we picked one out.”

“I know.”

“We looked at places and we sorted places and you had that ridiculous idea about a pie chart, even though they’ve got low information density and don’t organize numbers along a visual dimension—”

“Good Lord, Ree, a chart is a chart.”

“—and we agreed on one that we both liked, and we had to go walk around and talk to that horrible woman in a hairpiece—”

“That was a man.”

“—and try the food and try the cake and then you didn’t like the cake so we had to try another one and then you weren’t sure so we had to go back the next weekend and—”

Somers’s eyes were wide and blue, and his lower lip was trembling. “Please?”

“You are a bad person,” Hazard said, stabbing a finger at him. He was vaguely aware that his being naked was undermining his moral high ground. “This is where Evie gets it from, by the way. Fine. We will go look at another venue.”

“I just love you so much and want to make you happy.”

“I assume this is why you took a day off work. You didn’t just want to tell me?”

“You’re all I think about. I just want everything to be perfect for you on our wedding day.”

“Which we’ll have to move back now because venues book up so quickly,” Hazard snapped. “And you seduced me completely wrong, by the way.”

“Wrong?” Somers said. “Hey!”

Hazard dropped to his knees, forced Somers backward until Somers was sitting against the cabinets, and straddled his legs. He yanked down Somers’s jeans and underwear; Somers was hard and wet. Hazard took him in hand. He knew what Somers liked, and he gave it to him, watching as Somers’s lips parted, as his pupils dilated, as another flush ran through his face. Hazard stopped, his grip locked tight.

“Tell me again,” Hazard said quietly.

“I just thought you’d like this place—”

“Not that.”

Somers’s eyes were glassy, and he bucked, trying to move in Hazard’s grip. Hazard held him too tightly. He caught Somers’s chin with his free hand and held his gaze. He could feel the tremors running through the blond man.

“Tell me again,” Hazard whispered.

“I love you.”

“Good,” Hazard said, still locking gazes as he began to pump his hand. When Somers tried to throw his head back, Hazard clutched his jaw and pinned him against the cabinets. “Right here,” he said. “Stay with me.”

It was intense, even for Hazard. He could imagine what it felt like for Somers—the eye contact, the stimulation.

“Tell me again,” Hazard said.

“Oh Christ, I love you so much.”

“Good boy.”

Somers whined.

“Tell me again.”

“Ree, I love you. I love you. I love you.”

“Very good boy.” Hazard’s hand was moving faster: the pressure in the right places, the tightness, the slight rotations and twists he knew worked best. “You love me?”