Turns out, Liam was right again. Although he still wasn’t a psychologist, he was slowly becoming an expert on Gavin’s behavior. 

The same couldn’t be said for Gavin, however, as he couldn’t even remember Liam’s office hours.

"I was just on my way out," the blond announced the moment he opened the front door of his agency. He was wearing a windbreaker and holding his keys, about to lock up and head home.

Gavin frowned and shifted his gaze to the door, where Liam had just flipped the "open" sign to the other side moments before he started to make his exit.

"And I feared for my life because of your app," the tanned man argued.

"What?" Liam was sure Gavin was exaggerating, as usual, but he wasn’t about to bet the reputation of Cupid, Inc. on it.

"You got time?" The other man’s gaze moved over Liam’s shoulder and into the darkened areas of the building, clearly indicating that today’s shift was long over.

The blond hesitated for a moment before nodding. "Fine." He stepped away from the door to let Gavin enter.

With a sigh, he hung his windbreaker back on the coat rack, put his keys in his pocket, and turned the light back on. The tall man was waiting for him in the hallway, looking at the LED board as if waiting for it to light up again so he could laugh at today’s quote.

It didn’t.

Liam stepped closer and said, "You know where my office is." And despite his words, he waved his hand in the right direction.

Gavin didn’t answer. Instead, he headed straight to their usual spot to deal with his dating problems, with Liam close on his heels, hoping to resolve the situation as soon as possible.

Thankfully, one thing Gavin still upheld—even if it wasn’t Liam’s opening hours—was getting straight to the point.

"You sent me on a date with a criminal," he said, and the blond just stared at him in shock.

"Excuse me?" he asked after a few seconds, as if he wanted to make sure he'd heard right.

Gavin nodded. "Sweet Troy ended up not being sweet at all. The whole time we were texting, he didn’t even think to mention that he got arrested for arson and now he's on probation."

"How did you find out?" Liam asked automatically, his lingering shock not helping him come up with a better question.

"It was hard not to notice the ankle monitor on his leg when his pants rolled up," Gavin replied.

"Shit." Liam blamed the lateness of the hour for his inadequate response, as he'd suppressed his professionalism into the corner of his mind the moment his shift ended and somehow failed to recover it in a hurry.

"I take it you didn’t know," Gavin commented. Unlike their last encounter, when the swearing from Liam's lips had amused him, this time it was obvious he wasn't taking the encounter with this Troy lightly, and it was a real problem.

"Of course not," the blond replied without hesitation. "We don't want our agency associated with any crimes. I'll look into it to make sure it doesn't happen again." He was actually trying to reassure himself more than Gavin, already certain that his trip home would be postponed even further, since there was no way he’d leave his office until the problem was resolved.

But while Liam was lost in his own misery, working out in his head the best plan to sort it all out, Gavin quickly grew tired of the silence that lingered between them. "So, you're not going to ask me how I'm feeling after my date?"

The blond looked up at him in surprise, as if he wasn't sure whether Gavin was serious or just teasing. After all, his feelings were clear even without the question.

"No?" The word slipped out before he could stop it.

Gavin raised an eyebrow. "I thought you were supposed to help me."

"I do want to help you," Liam immediately assured him. "But I don't think your feelings are important in this situation." He frowned at how that came out and quickly corrected himself. "Your feelings are important, but affection isn't. Unless you're attracted to criminals."

"Do I look like Britney Spears?" Gavin finally sounded amused.

His question was so unexpected that it managed to make Liam laugh despite the seriousness of the situation. And just like before, this time the tall man seemed extremely pleased with the reaction he got from him too.

"Do you have a Britney Spears quote on your LED board?" Gavin asked, his curiosity clear.

"We used to," Liam admitted, a subtle smile still playing on his face.

Gavin raised an eyebrow in silent question and waited.

The blond sighed, but not because his curiosity was bothering him. He simply didn't dare get along so easily with his most annoying customer. "We had one. We didn't leave it on the board all day, though, as my aunt and I kept stopping by it and wondering if it was too much, until we decided to replace it."

"What did it say?"

"Love is a thirsting, lingering on my mind," Liam replied automatically.

The tanned man frowned, his brown eyes narrowing. "I don't know any Britney songs like that."

"Are you a Britney fan?" Liam asked, a little amused and a little shocked.

"What if I am?" Gavin gave him a challenge of his own.

Their gazes met for a moment, blue bleeding into brown, and neither was about to give up this silent fight.

"Love is a thirsting, lingering on my mind. From tomorrow until the end of time," Liam finally said, still not breaking eye contact, though it wasn't as intense. "That's what the whole lyric sounds like. It's from the song The Beat Goes On."

"I've never heard of it," Gavin immediately assured him. "Is there more about thirsty love?" His lips curled into an amused, or perhaps slightly mischievous, smile.

"And that's exactly why we took it down," Liam replied. Then, deciding to amuse Gavin this time instead of the other way around, he added, "I googled the lyrics later, you know. Turns out my aunt found the wrong version. It's actually 'Love is the first and last thing on our minds.'"

He had succeeded.

He never imagined it would bring him any pleasure to hear the laughter of a tanned man. Or that he would find some sort of satisfaction in the tiny wrinkles forming around his eyes as he laughed.

Liam had to admit that seeing him like this almost made him forget he’d been stuck here after his shift and that he’d have been home a long time ago if he hadn’t stopped by.

Almost.

“Do you know who you’re planning to look for next?” Liam asked, shifting the conversation back to business.

Gavin seemed taken aback for a second by the sudden change but answered anyway. "I don’t know. I didn’t see your quote today, so I couldn’t get inspired."

"You already did," the blond said as soon as he realized which words were lit up in the hallway today.

"What do you mean?"

"It was 'Love is friendship set on fire.'," Liam revealed, despite the fact that he had an inkling of what was to come.

He could see with exact precision how the corners of Gavin's mouth flicked upwards before he broke into laughter again, revealing his perfect set of teeth.

He was almost attractive when he looked like that.

Liam was horrified as soon as the thought crossed his mind and quickly decided to forget about it and pretend that nothing like that had ever occurred to him.

The shock didn't fade from his face fast enough though, as Gavin noticed and stopped laughing, studying his face instead.

The blond cleared his throat quickly and decided to redirect Gavin's attention to his words. "If you want to be guided by quotes about love, I can give you a better one."

"What's your personal favorite?"

"My personal favorite?" Liam repeated, as he hadn't expected it.

The tall man nodded. "Your personal favorite."

Liam didn't have to think long. "There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness."

"Who said that?" Gavin asked and seemed genuinely interested.

"Friedrich Nietzsche," Liam replied.

"Was that quote also on the LED board at some point?"

"No." This time it was the blond who surprised the other man with his answer. Before Gavin could ask the reason, however, Liam quickly cut in ahead of him. "I don't think you should take inspiration from the quotes, though."

"Why not?" His head tilted slightly to the side as he was confused and reminded Liam of a puppy.

"You should follow your heart," Liam advised him.

Several emotions crossed the tanned man's face. First, his expression turned to disbelief, then mild amusement, and finally, he shook his head. "Of course. I don't know what else I expected."

"You wanted my advice," the blond reminded him.

"I wanted good advice," Gavin corrected him, returning to his usual annoying self.

"It's the best advice I can give," Liam assured him.

"I liked the previous ones better," the tall man protested.

Liam almost replied that it was because he hadn't listened to them properly, but refrained from making that remark. Instead, he said, "You know what's best for you."

"I chose the arsonist," Gavin reminded him, and the corners of Liam's mouth twitched in a quick upward flick. He bit his lip to keep from smiling. It wasn't funny, but it sounded like an admission of a mistake, and he was sure Gavin didn’t do that often.

"You're laughing now..." Apparently, he hadn't managed to disguise his smile well enough. "But wait until he finds out you're planning to kick him off the app. He knows where your office is."

"He wouldn't burn down my office," Liam replied automatically—then quickly realized he wasn't so sure about that.

"I'm sure his ex was saying the same thing about his garden before he broke up with him," Gavin added.

"He set his ex's garden on fire?" The blond was shocked—and it was definitely justified.

"He set his clothes on fire in his ex’s garden," the tanned man clarified.

"Shit." Liam didn’t have a better response.

"Luckily, I only had one date with him," Gavin said with an amused smile.

"Alright then." Liam leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table in front of him. "Humor me. What caught your eye about his profile?"

"He was sexy," Gavin answered without hesitation. "Sexy as hell, who knows why." He waited for Liam's reaction, and the blond rolled his eyes, though he mirrored Gavin’s amused grin.

"And?" Liam encouraged him to keep going.

"He sounded interesting. He wrote that he liked animals, that he was into sports, and that he tried to balance his studies with time for himself. Nothing screamed red flag," he explained. "Then we started texting and he was like, 'What are your three worst qualities so we can get it off our chests.' A man who has no problem admitting his worst qualities sounded like a good choice."

"What did you say were yours?" Liam asked before realizing his question was out of line.

Gavin raised an eyebrow, equally surprised by what Liam had let slip. "I'll tell you if you tell me yours."

It was too late to take back his words, so Liam nodded. "Deal."

"I'm stubborn, I prioritize my own comfort over others, and I believe I can handle everything on my own," Gavin listed without hesitation. "Your turn."

Liam had a choice. He could keep it simple, list the general things people normally said, and avoid any real vulnerability. Or he could be honest in front of someone he didn't completely trust.

"I trust too easily," he started with something personal. "I tend to have trouble saying no to people I care about." He clarified, letting Gavin know that didn’t apply to him. Then he paused.

"And?" The tanned man had no patience.

"I shut down when I feel bad," he finally said, simplifying his answer. He didn’t want to admit that he would, in fact, shut down completely—lying in bed for days whenever someone broke his heart. And it didn’t have to be romantic.

"So you're a people pleaser," Gavin concluded.

"Sometimes." Liam shrugged, as if he hadn't just revealed something personal to someone who was only supposed to be his client. An annoying client at that. Besides, if he'd actually said what he wanted, he'd have called the man across from him picky.

"So," he quickly steered the conversation back to a professional level, "next time you won't choose someone who's too honest? Sounds like he told you this on purpose so it wouldn't seem like he was hiding something as big as an ankle monitor."

"I've learned my lesson." Gavin nodded. "Next time I'd rather pick someone boring."

Spoiler – he won’t.