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I
am.”
    “That being the case, I like what you are.”
    Adam’s face went warm again. “Why don’t you have a seat?” He
waved Ren toward the living room where the other man took a seat.
    Right in the middle of the couch.
    Was that an invitation? Only one way to find out. Adam took
a seat beside him.
    Ren didn’t scoot away, but didn’t move closer, either. He
didn’t move a single muscle or give any sign he did or didn’t want this. Adam
scrambled for something, anything to say. Some bit of small talk to fill the
void. But no words came and there was only awkward silence.
    “Ren, I’m feeling a bit lost right now so I need to ask you
outright. What is it you want? Are you looking for friendship or something
else?”
    “I don’t know.” The words were tight, breathless.
    Adam blew out a frustrated breath. “You’re not giving me
anything to work with here.”
    “I know, and I apologize. I’m, I believe the expression is, out
of my depth ?”
    “I’m not going to ask a lot of questions. I can tell you’re
here to satisfy curiosity. Whatever secrets you have are safe, but I need to
know one thing. Just how straight are you?”
    Renatus turned beet red and refused to look at Adam.
    Great. I just embarrassed the crap out of my date. My
seduction techniques are rustier than I thought.
    “I don’t mean to be blunt or make you uncomfortable. I can
tell this isn’t your norm and I just need to know where it’s all going. Have
you done this before? Are you just playing gay? Experimenting? What?”
    “I don’t know what to tell you. I-I’m—” Ren stuttered to a
halt, his gaze flickered over the far wall as if he hoped the right words would
be written there. In the end he simply shrugged, shaking his head helplessly
before allowing it to fall forward in defeat.
    Maybe he needed to start from the beginning. “Have you ever
kissed a man before?”
    “Yes.”
    That one word sent a surge of jealously through Adam.
Instant anger flared for the man who’d dared kiss Renatus.
    He scrubbed a hand over his face. What was he thinking? He
didn’t have the right to be jealous. This was a fling, wasn’t it? Still, his
stomach roiled with the need to mark this man, to make sure Ren could never
forget him.
    “What else?” Adam rasped, his throat tight. Did he even want
to know? He must be a glutton for punishment. “Just a chaste kiss?”
    “Just one kiss. I don’t think it could be called chaste.”
    Adam wanted to wipe that unchaste kiss, that other man, from
Ren’s memory, to insure the only kiss he ever thought about again was Adam’s.
    But then, it wasn’t only a man’s kiss he had to erase. He
doubted Ren was a virgin. The thought made guilt writhe in Adam’s stomach like
a mass of worms. Was there a woman in Ren’s life, waiting for his return? Was
he a husband, a father?
    “And now you’re here because, what? Did you like it and want
to experiment? You want to play gay for a few days before you go back home to
your wife?” The words held a rough edge Adam couldn’t hold back.
    Please, God. No wife. No lover. Please let him be free.
    Free to do what though? The lure of a weekend with this man
was undeniable. Adam couldn’t resist. But at the same time, he had the sense
that just one weekend and nothing more would shatter him. Renatus drew him in, teased
him with a promise like no other man ever had.
    “My decisions are mine alone. There is no one else.”
    Relief rippled through Adam, releasing the tension which
bound his stomach in knots. At least the title of adulterer wouldn’t be on his
list of sins.
    “Tell me why you decided to come here then. Help me make
sense of this so I know what to expect.”
    “I have a friend. Or had one. We’d been inseparable from the
beginning of time. Only the friendship changed. In our home, such things are
simply not done. I couldn’t accept what was happening so I left him. There is
no going back. The chance of what might have been is