He rolls his eyes, and I want to go over to him and grab his face in my hands and then jump on him and wrap my legs around his waist. “I think I can be around you without wanting to sleep with you.” He smirks and then adds, “And I’m assuming you can control yourself.” He winks, and I glare now.

“Trust me, I can control myself. That isn’t the issue. The issue is that we were very intimate with each other, and it’s just weird after,” I tell him. I honestly don’t have an answer. I have no idea what to say. “I mean, just standing here, there is no attraction.”

“Really?” he says and then looks down and looks up. “So if I were to come to you right now and put my hands down your pants, you wouldn’t be ready for me?”

I point at him. “That is why we can’t be friends.”

“I was just pointing out as your friend that you were wrong about us not being attracted to each other.” He smirks. “Anyway, I have to run,” he says, pushing off from the counter. “And you have a date to get to.” He walks over to me, and I swear I don’t move, I don’t blink my eyes, I don’t even breathe. He comes into my space and leans down, and I can smell his musky aftershave that I know he puts on when he trims his beard. I know that he puts two drops in his hands and than slaps them together and rubs his face. And I know he does this while naked usually. He leans down, and I wait for his lips to touch mine, but they don’t. Instead, he kisses my cheek. “Have fun, Vivienne,” he whispers in my ear right before he steps away from me and walks out of the kitchen, leaving his kiss to linger on my cheek.

I wait for the door to close before I raise my hand to my cheek where he left his kiss. I walk out of the kitchen and toward my room in a daze. “What just happened?” I ask and sit on the bench in front of the bed. “What in the fuck just happened?” Rubbing my face, I then get up to get my phone beside my bed and walk back to my office.

I sit in my chair, moving the mouse on the pad and watching the computer come to life. Opening my blog page, I start writing.