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touching. It pissed Dean off to hear how sad she sounded about it.
    “He’s a fucking moron,” Dean said flatly. “A foron. Really, babe.”
    Katie’s sigh was shaky as she put her glass on the table. “I should just forget him.”
    To his alarm, because Katie wasn’t a wilting flower at all, Dean saw she was on the verge of tears. “Hey. C’mere.”
    He pulled her close so she could snuggle in at his side, her cheek to his chest. She fit just right in the curve of his arm, his chin against her hair. She sighed heavily again and put her arms around him.
    “I’ll be fine,” she assured him, voice muffled.
    He stroked a hand down her hair and they sat that way in silence for a few minutes. The words that came out of him next surprised him, quiet though he said them.
    “He wants to be in a real relationship with me.”
    “Of course he does,” Katie said, brushing her cheek against his chest again.
    “You’re fabulous.”
    “…no. I mean…yes,” Dean said. “But that’s not what I mean.” More silence.
    “You’re afraid,” Katie said softly. “I get it. I know about you and Ethan, remember?”
    For the first time in a long time, Dean didn’t stiffen at the other man’s name. For the first time, Ethan’s face had faded enough another face could replace it. “I don’t want to be like him, Katie, and that’s what Jacob said I was like.”
    She looked up at him, her eyes wet though her cheeks were dry. “He said that?”
    “Not exactly,” Dean admitted. “I mean, fuck, he doesn’t know about Ethan. Not like you do. But he said he wasn’t going to wait around while I just keep walking away.”
    “Ah.” She didn’t move away from him. “Well, sweetie, maybe he has a point, you know?”
    “I don’t want him to have a point,” Dean said.
    She smiled sadly, her mouth quivering. “We’re a pair, aren’t we? You’ve got someone you’re not sure you want, I have someone who doesn’t seem to want me.”
    To her chagrin, because Dean didn’t want to be the reason Katie cried, her tears spilled over her lower lids and traced their way down her face.
    “Hey,” he said. “Don’t, okay?”
    He swiped the tear with the pad of his thumb and Katie shuddered, turning her face to press her mouth to his palm, holding his hand close to her face for a moment before looking up at him with still-sad eyes. A lot of women had cried on Dean’sshoulder over the years, but Katie never had. Looking at her now, all he could think was how good a friend she’d always been, and how much he didn’t want her to be unhappy.
    She murmured against his mouth when he kissed her but made no protest. Her mouth opened. She tasted sweet, the way she had the other day. His hand went naturally around the back of her neck to cup it, her hair a soft, thick weight on his fingers. Somehow she ended up on his lap, straddling him, their kisses turning from soft and slow to hard and demanding.
    She’d tricked him before, with the blindfold, but he didn’t need it this time. His mind put together the taste and smell of her with the memory of pleasure, and his cock responded. He pulled her closer, kissed her deeper, put a hand on the small of her back to grind her down a little harder against his dick.
    “Dean,” she murmured into his mouth, but his kiss stopped her.
    Dean favored men close to his size and build. Compared to that, Katie was so much smaller and softer, he had no trouble putting his hands under her ass and lifting her. She let out a small, strangled gasp but didn’t stop kissing him. Their tongues twisted, tangling, and fuck, it felt good. Really good.
    He didn’t try to make it to the stairs, much less up them. Her rug was soft and thick and deep, and he laid her down on it, settling between her thighs as he closed his eyes and sank into the sensations. The semi-desperate surge of pleasure coiling in his gut surprised him, making him think his cock really did have a mind of its own.
    Somehow she got him