Another week went by, and Gavin didn’t come. Liam expected him on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday… every day of the week, but to no avail. When he locked his office on Friday, he still kept waiting for the tall man to suddenly appear out of nowhere, but it didn’t happen. Gavin hadn’t come to him for advice for the first time, and Liam couldn’t help but feel guilty.

James, being a great roommate and his best friend, noticed right away that something was wrong—especially when Liam didn't keep up their tradition of watching TV together and instead went straight to bed when he got home. He’d saved the conversation for the next day, though.

For the first time in a long while, Liam woke up at almost noon on a Saturday. Although he wasn’t exactly an early bird, he always got up no later than nine on weekends, ready to make the most of his day off.

Reluctantly, he got out of bed and shuffled slowly to the kitchen. James was already there, waiting for him, leaning his back against the cabinets, and when his blond roommate was close enough, he handed him a cup of coffee.

"Thanks," Liam murmured, taking it from him.

"You look terrible," James commented bluntly. "Did Daniel reach out to you?"

The blonde started coughing as a sudden gulp of coffee went down the wrong pipe—he hadn’t been expecting the question, and it almost made him lose his appetite as he burned his tongue on the hot liquid.

"Why the hell are you bringing up Daniel?" he asked once he finally caught his breath.

"Because the last time you looked like that was after you broke up," James replied.

Liam shook his head until his tousled strands of blond hair danced around his face, creating an even bigger mess on his head. "I haven’t heard from Daniel in weeks."

"So what’s the problem?" His roommate still wasn’t giving up, trying to find an answer to his strange behavior.

Liam sighed and took another sip of his coffee, though it didn’t taste as good on his scorched tongue, and for a while, it felt like he was just drinking warm water. Automatically, he remembered the taste of the cappuccino Gavin had brought him and mentally cringed.

"If not Daniel, then who?" His best friend continued to ask questions when he didn't get an answer right away.

The blond unconsciously considered the question as his mind kept going back to the pair of brown eyes and the man with dark hair. His tall frame, broad shoulders—Liam could picture every detail, and he couldn't just blame it on the fact that he'd known him for months.

With another deep sigh, he finally decided to voice the truth. After all, he was an expert on love, and he couldn’t fail to notice his own feelings. "I think I like one of my clients."

James shocked him even more, though, as his first reaction was, "Gavin?"

Liam straightened up quickly, his lack of energy completely forgotten for the moment. "How did you...?"

"You talk about him a lot." His roommate gave him a knowing look. "There's not a week that goes by when you don't come home and start talking about him."

"Because he gets on my nerves," the blond argued, though it was unnecessary after his confession.

"But you still like him," James pointed out. "So... what are you planning on doing about it?"

Liam’s look should have sufficiently conveyed how stupid he thought the question was, but James didn’t take his eyes off him, still waiting for an answer.

"He's a client," he reminded him of the obvious.

"So? He’s looking for love—that's the whole point. If he can go on dates with other clients, why can’t he go with you?" James had a different perspective, and he wasn't going to agree with him so easily.

"It's unprofessional," the blond argued further, though even to him it was starting to sound unconvincing.

"I know you take your job seriously, and it's admirable, but you're not a psychologist, Liam. Or a lawyer or a doctor. You don't break any oaths when you go on a date with a client." The look James gave him was probably meant to say he was an idiot if he thought otherwise—especially when he was going against himself.

"He's rude, petty, and stubborn," Liam listed all the negative qualities about the tall man that he found annoying.

"So are you," James replied without hesitation, and when his roommate gave him a critical look, he quickly added, "Stubborn, I mean. You can call it determined, but it’s still the same thing."

"In that case, I'm going to stubbornly try to make myself stop liking him," the blond assured him.

"If you think that's the right solution." James used that tone again—the one where he agreed with Liam's words but made it clear he thought otherwise.

"It's a one-sided crush. The sooner it’s gone, the better." Liam continued to remain stubborn.

But his best friend surprised him with another unexpected question: "Are you sure it’s one-sided?"

"Definitely," Liam nodded, though it wasn't entirely true. Gavin's behavior at their last meeting was still nagging at the back of his mind—not to mention what he’d learned thanks to Benny.

"You're the expert on love," James finally gave up trying to convince him and instead focused on his own cup of coffee.

Liam had a momentary feeling of victory, but it wasn't to last.

His do-nothing Saturday was over the moment his phone rang and Grace spoke from the other end. She used to be a client of Cupid, Inc., but she had quickly found her girlfriend Sarah through their app, and since then, they had both only been Liam’s friends, not clients.

"I hope you're free today. Plans we had with Sarah got cancelled, so we decided to do a game night. What do you think?" Her chipper voice hinted at the answer she was hoping for.

"I didn't plan anything today," he replied honestly. However, since he was desperate to take his mind off things, he added the question, "When should I be there?"

"Six."

And so, ten minutes before six, the blond man stood at the familiar door, a bowl of homemade salad in his hands, and knocked.

"Liam!" Sarah, a petite blonde with dreadlocks and feathers in her hair, greeted him enthusiastically. Her face was adorned with several piercings, the latest in the bridge of her nose, and when she smiled, dimples showed in her cheeks. In appearance, she was the exact opposite of Grace, but when it came to chemistry, the two were perfect for each other.

"Hi, Sarah." Liam gave her the same wide smile and handed her the bowl while she let him in.

"You're just in time. Grace is getting the living room ready," Sarah told him, so while she headed for the kitchen, Liam’s footsteps automatically moved into the living room.

"Damn. I don't remember you having so many games," was the first comment he made as he walked into the room and saw the short-haired brunette at a table with several boxes of different colors and sizes.

"Liam!" Grace greeted him just as enthusiastically as her girlfriend, but unlike her, she added a welcoming hug.

"Hi, Gracie." Liam couldn't stop smiling at the sight of his petite friend. Her short hair appeared to be freshly cut, as her mullet was the perfect length in the front and back, and the hair that ended just above her eyebrows contrasted sharply with her dark eyes.

"I was afraid I called you at the last minute, but you're here!" Her enthusiasm didn’t subside—quite the opposite. "I automatically call dibs on you being on my winning team."

The blond laughed. "I didn't expect anything else," he assured her. Though he always tried to be nice and polite, that ended at board games. He was far too competitive to let anyone win and didn’t accept any ties.

"I invited a few friends from my new job. I hope you don't mind. I think you'll get along," she continued the conversation. Most of the time, they were the same group of friends, but the last time he'd been in contact with Gracie, she'd bragged that she'd finally quit her job at the office supply company and had quickly found a new job she actually enjoyed. And with the new job came new colleagues.

"I can't wait," he replied truthfully. New people meant additional distractions. Besides, Liam had never had a problem with socializing—after all, it was in his job description.

What was also in his job description was matchmaking, so an hour later, he couldn't help but notice what his friend was up to.

The team he ended up on consisted of him, Gracie, Simon, Stella, and Jake. The latter was a tall, skinny man, a year younger than him—as he'd learned during the game—and he worked alongside Gracie. While she handled the economics, he was in charge of marketing for their company.

The information about him, however, wasn't what struck Liam most. Jake was handsome, there was no doubting that, just as there was no doubting his orientation. He laughed a little too much whenever Liam cracked a joke and made sure to brush his hand against Liam's whenever he reached for a card.

Also, the looks Sarah was sending him from across the table made it clear what she and Gracie had been trying to do when they’d invited them both over.

Jake was perfect, and any other time, he would have been exactly Liam's type. He was sweet, funny, and paid him attention without trying to mask it in any way. Moreover, when he playfully poked Liam in the shoulder a couple of times, it was quite adorable. The blond, however, couldn't look at him as more than a potential friend.

Half an hour later, Liam's mind shifted from thinking about him as a friend to making comparisons. He couldn't help it—and the fact that he was drinking wine while playing games certainly wasn't helping either. 

Jake joked along with the others, and every time they started laughing, his gaze shifted to the blond to make sure he thought it was funny too. Liam laughed as well, of course, but never as much as he did at Gavin's inappropriate remarks.

When their team started to lose, Jake just shrugged, claiming it was just a game. Liam couldn't help thinking that Gavin would’ve quickly jumped on his petty wagon and done whatever he could to reverse the score.

Then the conversation shifted to the topic of annoying customers, and while Jake tried to blame their rude behavior on the fact that they were probably just having a bad day, Liam automatically thought that Gavin would be able to list their worst qualities without a second thought.

Jake was exactly Liam's type, but for some reason, in his eyes, he couldn't hold a candle to Gavin.

It didn’t take long for Gracie to notice his disinterest—even before Jake did. Using the excuse that she needed help opening another bottle of wine, she dragged Liam into the kitchen, away from the others’ ears.

“What’s wrong with Jake?” she asked first.

The blond sighed. “Nothing’s wrong with him,” he immediately assured her.

“Then what’s the problem?” Gracie still didn’t understand and turned around for a second to take a bottle of wine out of the cabinet. “I thought he was exactly your type,” she said as she turned back toward Liam.

“He is,” he admitted.

“Are you still hung up on Daniel?” the brunette asked. “Because I have to assure you, you’re better off without him. He was never good enough for you.”

Liam frowned, his blond eyebrows furrowing. “You never said anything like that to me.”

Gracie shrugged. “You seemed happy with him. I didn’t want to mess it up for you for no reason.” Then she decided to take her honesty to an even higher level and added, “Sarah and I never liked him. Sorry, babe.”

“What didn’t you like about him?” Liam was surprised by her confession. Up until now, he hadn’t thought his friends had a problem with Daniel. They never complained about him and always invited them both to events.

“Honestly?” Gracie asked, but went on before the blond could nod. “You never laughed genuinely around him. Yes, you smiled, but that was it. You didn’t seem to be yourself around him. And let’s not forget that he never asked your opinion—he always thought he knew best, and you automatically agreed.”

Once again, Liam’s thoughts were momentarily diverted to the tall man he waited on every week, who came to him for advice because he wanted to hear his opinion.

“There’s someone else,” Gracie interpreted his expression in her own way, and the blond felt himself blush involuntarily.

“Liam!” She took an exaggerated breath and punched his shoulder with her hand. “What’s his name?” she asked him then, a wide smile spreading across her face.

“Gavin,” Liam admitted honestly, a small smile beginning to form on his lips as well at the sight of her.

“Then why didn’t you ask him to come today?” Gracie asked.

“It’s complicated,” the blond tried, but it wasn’t the right answer for the brunette.

“Nothing is complicated. As a relationship expert, you should know that. It’s just people complicating things unnecessarily,” she told him firmly.

“He’s my client,” he admitted the truth.

“So what?” She gave him a look meant to indicate that, unlike him, she saw no obstacle.

“It’s unprofessional,” he reasoned.

“Liam,” she said, but the tone Gracie used made his name sound more like an insult than anything else. “If you ask him out, he’ll have no reason to be on your app anymore. He won’t be a client anymore,” she explained to him in a tone like he was a little kid.

“What if he doesn’t like me, and then things get awkward between us?” Liam pointed out an important detail.

"Like I said, you're the love expert. If it wasn't you but someone else, and his interactions with Gavin were the same as his interactions with you, what would you think? Would he be interested?"

The blond didn’t have to think long; the answer practically offered itself to him as he remembered their last encounter.

“I’m an idiot.”