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avoid the flips in my stomach whenever he was close.
    “Everything okay?” he asked.
    “Yeah, just thinking about things.”
    He nodded before taking another sip of wine. “Are you and Silas…a thing?” he asked without looking at me. I coughed on the liquid going down my throat.
    “Uh, no. Not ever. Never,” I laughed.
    “It seems…complicated.” 
    “It's not. He's like my brother…my family, for all intents and purposes. His family kicked him out at sixteen when he told them he was gay and he hasn’t spoken to them since. He's just always been there.” I shrugged thoughtfully.
    “You’ve known him for that long?”
    “No. We met in college. He's from Utah. His parents are pretty religious; they didn't take well to a gay son. His grandma in Raleigh took him in. He finished high school there and we met at Duke.”
    “That's good that he has some family.”
    “Had. She passed away our last year of college. She left him everything ― she'd written his parents out of the will for what they did to him. He was sole inheritor to everything she had, which was a lot, and the reason Silas can afford to…float through life, I guess you could say.”
    “He doesn't work?”
    “Sometimes. He's tried his hand at a few things, but it's never long before he moves on to the next. He's in between things at the moment, so he was eager to spend the summer on the beach with me.”
    “I'm glad he has you then. You seem inseparable.”
    “Where I go, Silas goes. He moved in with us for a while; Kyle didn't love that, but he knew better than to question it.” He didn’t question it because he was hardly around when I’d sunken into another depression and had known if Silas hadn’t been with me, I would have fallen headlong over the cliff.
    “Kyle?”
    “My boyfriend. He's back in D.C., trying for a promotion at his law firm, so he couldn't come for the summer.”
    “Ah. You’ve been together a long time?” Tristan’s eyes turned to meet mine. Butterflies raged in my stomach. Why was I hesitant to answer this question? Yes, we’ve been together a long time. I love him. I'm going to marry him. We’re going to have kids. We’ve planned it since we were fifteen.
    I didn't say any of those things though. “Yeah, since high school.”
    He only nodded in response. We walked quietly. The sun had set hours ago and only the bright light of the moon guided us along the shore.
    “Drew mentioned you were escaping some lady problems in Jacksonville.” 
    “She told you that, huh?” He ran a hand through his hair.
    “She did.” A wry smile curved my lips.
    “I was seeing someone…sort of…briefly. She wanted more and I didn’t. It didn’t go over well,” he finished. 
    My mind conjured a blonde bimbo, all long legs and platinum hair, keying his car. Whatever he'd done, I'm sure he'd deserved it. Commitment-phobes irked me. 
    We walked a while silently before we drifted closer and our shoulders grazed. Nerves tingled and goosebumps formed. My breathing hitched, my mind hazy with the energy that bounced between us. I slowed down and put my palm to my forehead.
    “Are you okay?” Tristan placed a warm hand on my forearm.
    “Yeah, the wine.” The wine plus Tristan’s nearness had my brain bubbling with arousal.
    “Do you need to sit?” Tristan placed his hand on my shoulder, prepared to catch me if I stumbled. Didn’t he know he was making it worse? His touch was the reason my head was spinning like a tilt-a-whirl.
    “No, we’re almost there. I'm fine.” I forced a small grin.
    “Okay, but if you need to stop, tell me, okay?” He ducked his head and his eyes blazed into mine. My breathing was short and erratic, but I still couldn't break his gaze. I slammed my eyes shut for a moment to shake the cobwebs from my brain.
    “Yeah, I'm fine.” We walked the remainder of the way back to the house with our shoulders lightly brushing. It was the most innocent and erotic touch of my