A knock at the door nearly frightened me out of my skin. I had spaced out trying to calm myself down. I was a bit too aware of how hard my heart was beating against my chest. This panicky feeling always happened whenever I started overthinking things, but I couldn’t help but overthink in this situation. I didn’t want to be a burden, but if they really wanted me around, I didn’t want to decline.

“Come in,” I answered.

Aubyn entered the bedroom and closed the door behind him. “I thought you wanted to stay for a few days. Why have you changed your mind? Did I make you uncomfortable with my remark? That was out of line. I apologize.”

“Uhm…” I was so confused about what to do or say. Could I tell him that I really did want to stay? I rubbed my sweaty hands on my pants. “I can’t… I dunno.”

Aubyn’s brows drew together, and he slowly started to approach me with his arms outstretched. “How about we work on getting you calmed down first? You look like you are about to have an anxiety attack.”

“I’m not,” I argued, letting him take hold of my clammy hands that were tense at my side. His longer fingers made my hands look small in comparison to his.

“I said you look the part, not that you are.” He led me over to the bed and got on it until he was sitting in the middle with his legs crossed. “Come closer. I want to try something with you that I hope will help calm you down. Do you mind if I touch you?”

That was something I had never been asked before. “I don’t mind,” I told him, getting on the bed and mimicking his sitting position. I placed one of my hands in his when he held his hand out for mine.

Aubyn slowly started to massage my hand, pressing his thumbs into my palm and rubbing in slow, firm circles. He bent my fingers back and forth, then continued massaging my palm again. He then moved further up my arm, using his palm to stroke my forearm from wrist to elbow, and back again.

I didn’t know when my brain stopped being a confusing mess and was taken over by the tingly sensation from the massage, but I was grateful. “Feels nice,” I said to stop myself from making any indecent noises. “Does Sang want me gone today?”

Aubyn shook his head at me. “He does not want you gone. He wanted to know if you still planned on sticking around to study because he wants to stay home today to care for Milan and he is not sure if you will be comfortable without me here.”

“Why wouldn’t I be comfortable?”

“Because I brought you here. I have interacted with you more than they have. You are primarily my responsibility in their eyes. He did not want you to be uncomfortable with him in the house without me here.”

Sang was trying to be considerate? If I wasn’t trained to be so defensive and cautious, I probably would have seen it. But then again, when had anyone ever been considerate towards me? Maybe I wouldn’t have recognized something so foreign to me regardless of the situation.

“I don’t mind being here without you,” I answered, my voice coming out small. “So, they don’t mind me staying here for a few days?”

“No, they do not. It was Milan’s idea even though he also thinks you are dangerous.”

“I’m harmless.”

“Not to him. Look at me.” He took both my hands in his and held them together as my eyes found his. “Stop thinking so much. I will ask Sang to be more direct in his way of speaking to you so that you will be more at ease here.”

“No, no, no,” I said quickly. “I was the one overthinking and jumping to conclusions.” Aubyn wanted me to be honest, and Sang wanted me to be vulnerable, but it wasn’t going to be easy for me to do so. Although, if it meant they could help me, then I could try. “Being around you guys is strange. I’m not used to this.”

“This?”

“Being treated nicely,” I said, though it came out as more of a question. It was sad, but there was no way to put it that didn’t sound sad. “I’m not used to people genuinely wanting to help me, giving up their beds for me, teaching me how to cook, or being considerate. It makes me uncomfortable.”

“You are going to have to get used to it.” He gave my hand a gentle squeeze. “Now, on to today’s matters. Please study at the dining table or the coffee table and make sure to eat something. We do not have much, but I will order groceries and have them sent here so think about what you would like to have and text it to me as soon as you can.”

I could only stare at him as he spoke. “What are you getting out of this?”

“What I am getting out of helping you?” he asked. I nodded. “The satisfaction of helping you. That is it.”

“Bull…” My curse died in my throat when he looked at me. I took it as a warning to dial back on my cursing. “No, really. You’re offering me, a stranger, temporary room and board. I have a hard time believing you’re helping me out of the goodness of your heart. What are you getting out of this?” I asked again.

Aubyn who looked like he was trying to fight a smile, crossed his arms over his chest and looked away briefly. “It matters not to me if you believe me. I already said what I would be getting out of helping you.”

“Allow me to add a perk to benefit you then,” I offered, shifting closer to him.

He narrowed his eyes at me suspiciously. “If you are going to bring up that thing again…”

“Have sex with me.”

“No,” he said quickly and with finality in his tone.

However, I wasn’t done. “If you think I’m gonna take your help and then be indebted to you, you’re wrong. Make an exception for me. Just this once.”

“No.”

“Do you find me attractive or not?” I asked, running out of patience.

“Your face is nice.”

“Then, if I was willing to enter into a strictly sexual relationship with you, would you consider having sex with me?”

“No.”

I threw my hands up. Truly, I had no intention of playing by his rules. Once I got what I wanted, I’d simply tell him that I couldn’t be monogamous after all. But he still turned me down before I could get half that far.

“What’s the issue now?” I demanded to know. “I just agreed to your preference and you can’t even meet me in the middle?”

“You do not know me, and I do not know you.”

“Which is why I’m here. We could get to know each other as much as you want, and then we can meet in the middle. A good compromise leaves both parties dissatisfied.”

“I am spoiled. I will not settle for dissatisfaction and I have a lot of nonnegotiable rules.”

“No shit.” I looked down at my lap before our gaze could meet. I was starting to realize he didn’t quite like my smart mouth, especially the cursing. Each intense stare was like a warning. “I’ll consider all your rules then,” I told him.

Aubyn rubbed his face and pushed some of his hair back. “I do get rough.”

“You better.”

I wasn’t agreeing to it because I thought he’d be gentle with me. If that was the case, I would have not even considered this. Although, I hadn’t thought it all the way through. I didn’t have the slightest clue what being in bed with this guy would be like, and sometimes reality didn’t live up to my expectations.

“Things I want to do might be uncomfortable or hurt more than you can handle,” he warned.

“Might,” I pointed out, taking note of his word choice. “I like a little pain.”

Aubyn took a steadying breath and leaned forward slightly. “I hate hearing ‘no’ and ‘stop’. You would need to come up with another way to tell me so without actually telling me so.”

“Like a safe word? I can think of something.”

“I will punish you if you do something I do not like, like misbehave, or like your constant exposition of how much of a potty mouth you have.”

I swallowed hard. Punishment? “Then I would have deserved it.”

“Kuro, Zedikai,” Aubyn said through clenched teeth. “I bite. Hard.”

I smiled at him sweetly. I liked the way he said my name with clear frustration. It was so obvious that he was trying to get me to change my mind, but that only made me want to be more stubborn. “So do I. I scratch too.” My heart was pounding again, but this time it was because of the excitement looking into his eyes evoked.

Aubyn sighed and ran his fingers through his hair again. “What happened to you thinking I could have kidnapped a little human boy? You still do not know anything about me.”

I shrugged. Not knowing the person I was sleeping with had never stopped me from doing the deed before. As Sang had mentioned, I didn’t have much care for my own safety, especially when it came to something like this. It wouldn’t be the first time I had sex with someone I barely knew. And if I were to think about it, he was the most decent guy I had ever wanted so bad. Usually, the guys who attracted me were assholes that I only liked being around because they got me excited.

“Well, Milan seems too fond of you to be held against his will,” I noted. “And you’re nice so…” I shrugged.

“You really have no sense of self-safety, do you?”