“I don’t blame you.” He’s quick to his feet and shuts everything off.

“It’s late,” I say, resigning myself to walking back to my dorm alone in the dark. This night didn’t go exactly as I wanted, but I did have fun hanging with Tanner. Hopefully I haven’t totally ruined any chance of us doing this again by slowing things down.

He starts toward the stairs and then glances back at me. “Are you coming? You can have my bed, and I’ll take the floor.”

Fresh hope blooms, but more than anything, I’m happy to spend more time with him.

Inside his room, he takes a pillow and blanket and tosses them to the floor.

“You don’t need to do that.”

He shrugs and straightens the blanket. “It’s fine. I don’t mind.”

I sit on the edge of the bed. “Seriously, we can sleep in the same bed. Besides, I have all kinds of questions for you.”

“Like?” He scoops the pillow up off the floor and falls onto the bed. His big frame bouncing on the mattress makes me fall into the center beside him. We get comfortable laying together with our heads at the bottom of the bed.

“Did you have girlfriends in high school?” I ask.

“One.”

“Was it serious?”

“Eh, I guess. We were together for almost a year.”

“I’d say a year counts as serious. Why’d it end?”

“Over something stupid.” He adjusts the pillow under his head. “She and my sister were both running for student council president and Misty, my girlfriend at the time, lost. She was pissed, lashed out, demanded to know who I voted for and when I wouldn’t tell her, she ended it.”

“Did you vote for her?”

“A man’s vote is private and personal.” His eyes twinkle as his lips twitch with humor.

“So, you voted for your sister and your girlfriend got pissed and dumped you?”

“She assumed I voted for my sister, but yeah.”

“Rough.”

We lay there in silence for a few moments. I try to picture him in high school cheering on his sister like a good big brother.

“You’re close to your sister then?”

He smiles. “She’s a pain in the ass.”

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

He laughs. “Yeah, we’re close. She’s just a year younger than me, goes to college in Utah. Do you have any siblings?”

“No, only child. I used to wish for a sister.”

“Funny, I used to wish I was an only child. Especially when Tara was playing jokes on me or trying to tag along with my friends.”

“What’s she like? Is she into sports like you?”

“Yeah, we both played a bunch of different sports growing up. Our parents were big on getting us out of the house and active. She’s only playing soccer now, but she was pretty good at basketball too.”