Page 23 of Bean

He threw his head back and laughed, a full-out laugh that had me chuckling along with him. My belly fluttered at that beautiful sight, and quite a few heads turned in our direction. “That’s a compliment for sure,” Jarek said when he’d composed himself again. “And coincidentally, it’s also a great pickup line. If you’re still interested.”

“In dessert? Very much so. Let me text Nash.”

“Nash?”

“He’s my… He was my first sergeant, but now he’s my roommate. Or I’m his, as it’s his house we all live in.”

“You all? How many are there?”

“Four of us, so Nash and then Creek, Tameron, and me. Nash is kinda like our big brother. He looks out for us, and for me especially since my brain is so unreliable.”

I sent Nash a quick text.

Found my mystery bear. His name is Jarek. Hooking up again. Same address. See you later.

Then I put my phone and black book away and met Jarek’s eyes. “Let’s do this. Again.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

BEAN

I was starting to see why scientists were fascinated by the human brain and how our memories worked in particular. How was it possible that I hadn’t remembered this man’s name—I still couldn’t recall it, but at least I’d written it down this time—and hadn’t recognized him when we’d met again, but my body remembered how his touch had felt?

As soon as he touched me, it all came back to me. How he had kissed me. How he had played my body like a fine instrument, coaxing reactions out of me no one ever had. How I had responded to him. So eagerly, so willingly. So horny.

So. Flipping. Horny.

“If you don’t stop kissing and touching me like that, I’m gonna embarrass myself in public, and this will be over before we even reach your place.”

“Like what?” He nibbled on my neck again, that sensitive place right near my collarbone. “Like this?”

Fuuuuudge. “Yeah.”

“Or like this?” His lips sealed around my earlobe and he suckled. Who knew that was a thing? Also, I’d never realized that spot had a direct connection to my penis, but it sure did. Sparksradiated out from my ear, like ripples on a pond after throwing a pebble in.

“That too.”

He chuckled. “How about this?”

His lips found mine again in a kiss so soft and tender a thousand butterflies took flight in my belly and my body floated.

“Nngh… Mmm, yeah.” He finally let go of my lips, and I blinked. “You’re teasing me. Were you this much of a tease last time?”

“A tease? Me?” His feigned look of innocence wasn’t even remotely convincing.

“I have zero desire to get arrested for public indecency, so if we could make it over to your house, that would be amazing.”

He grinned as he took my hand and we started walking again. “I’ll take pity on you.”

One of the things I had feared most after my diagnosis was people constantly pitying me. Well, Nash and the others didn’t and never would, that much I was sure of. We were all struggling, hurt in different ways, and while we had empathy for each other—though usually masked by a healthy amount of ribbing—we didn’t do pity.

But did other people show pity? If they did or had, I didn’t remember, so maybe that was one thing to be grateful for. But was my mystery bear joking about the pity, or did he mean it? Only one way to find out.

“Pity? Are you saying this is a pity thing?”

“A pity fuck? Jesus, no.” He stopped me. “That was a joke, right? You don’t really think that?”

I shrugged. “If I was sure, I wouldn’t have asked.”