Thirty minutes later, I ascended the stairs. And not surprisingly, he didn’t lock his side of the door. I opened it slowly, even though I knew he wasn’t home. I stole a banana and ate it. Then I opened the fridge door and frowned at all the peanut butter he had in the door. At least four jars. He must have been scared of a shortage. On the bottom shelf, there was beer. Lots of beer.

Biting my lips together for a few seconds while tapping my nails on the door, I contemplated borrowing … taking just one beer.

One beer led to two beers, and I was buzzed. And it was good. I bobbed around his house holding my phone with music blaring while looking at photos of people I imagined were his family. Then I stumbled upon his bedroom.

“Oh, Fisher …” I giggled, swaying a bit while I sauntered into his bedroom. “You make your bed like a good boy.” I laughed some more and plopped onto my tummy, burying my nose in his pillow. “You smell sooo good.” When I was convinced I’d sucked all of his scent from his pillow, I rolled to the side and right onto the floor. “Ouch …”

More laughter.

More swaying as I lumbered to my feet and continued my self-guided tour, which led me to his bathroom. “There you are … you big, beautiful tub.”

I sighed. His bathroom was ginormous. And he had a wall of switches, at least twenty switches for all kinds of lighting around the sink, the shower, his wall of wardrobe cabinets, by my feet, even under the toilet.

“Too much.” I pushed all the bottom buttons which turned off all the lights, leaving only natural moonlight coming from the big window by the tub and the two skylights. “That’s better.” I stripped, stepped into the soaker tub, and started the water, easing onto my butt with no grace. When the water reached an inch below my neck, I shut it off. “Where’s my music?” I realized I’d left my phone on the bed or maybe on the floor, but the music had stopped anyway.

Closing my eyes, I enjoyed the silence … and my buzz. The silence was interrupted with voices. I had enough sense to kind of care, but not enough sense to get out of the tub or say anything. Instead, I held still, really still … and listened.

“It’s beautiful, Fisher. You’re incredibly talented. How long did it take you to build it?”

Teagan.

“About a year. I didn’t rush anything, and I had some other jobs I was working on too.” His voice got closer.

My senses … my fight or flight? Yeah, they had the night off.

The lights turned on. All of them. There must have been a master switch. It was a little blinding at the moment. I squinted.