“That’s why these guys—” I waved to the Soup Crew who were listening intently to every word. “—thought meeting at a restaurant or café would be less pressure on you than being at my place.”

Mrs Petrovski patted Hennessy on the shoulder. “We got you. Mutual ground is best for these things.”

Hennessy’s eyes went wide and he laughed. “Ah, thanks?”

I chuckled and nudged his shoulder with mine. “Embrace the weirdness.”

His whole face was smiling. “I’m trying.”

I nodded pointedly to his messenger bag. “Working from home again tonight?”

“Yep. Mostly coding stuff.” He glanced up the front of the bus, seeing we were nearly at his stop. “But I’ll call you?”

“Yes, please.”

“And I’ll tell Michael he’ll be meeting you next week, probably. When we’re not so busy with work and we can have a relaxing dinner that doesn’t involve talk of network security fundamentals, digital forensics, and intrusion detection.”

Now it was my turn to make the adorable face like I was freaking out. He laughed and stood up. “I’ll call you later.”

“Okay,” I said.

He took a few steps toward the door when Mrs Petrovski called out. “Wait, stop!” He stopped, a little scared. Every person on the back half of the bus watched and waited. “You not kiss him today?”

“Oh,” he mumbled, blushing every shade of red known to man. He took a few quick steps toward me, leaned in to kiss my cheek. Everyone cheered, and my whole face burned so hot I’m surprised I didn’t catch fire, and he grinned and ran off the bus.

Mrs Petrovski patted my shoulder. “I got you too.”

Oh God.

I really had to find me a better bloody word than motherfucker.

It rained on Wednesday, which usually meant the bus would be full, and even though I had held out hope there’d be a spare seat, I wasn’t exactly surprised to see it was standing room only. Not surprised, but disappointed.

I found a handrail to hold on to and gave Hennessy a frowny-smile and he gave me one right back, but like he did before, he stood up and made his way through the standing passengers to me. He just kind of slotted himself in right next to me, up close, our bodies bumping and swaying with the beat of the bus.

“Hey,” he said.

“Oh, hey,” I said. His face was right there, so close. “I’m kinda not sorry there were no seats.”

He grinned that spectacular Hennessy Lang grin. “Me either, to be honest.” The bus braked for traffic and he pushed right up close and our noses were barely an inch apart. “I really do like your face.”

That made me laugh. “Um, thanks? I’m kinda glad, I guess, because it’s the only one I have.”

He chuckled. “What part of the face is your favourite?”

Random, but okay. “Mine or yours?”