When the door opened, Audrey blinked a few times to make sure her eyes were still in her head. Breathing wasn’t optional. Audrey felt like she had just run 20 miles. Her legs were numb and she found herself bracing her hand against the door frame to keep her from falling to the ground and praising the gorgeous man-pop who stood in front of her.

Tate stood tall, his jeans hanging low, and unbuttoned. Oh, and, he had no shirt on.

“Hey, come on in,” he said with no care in the world.

Still standing in the doorway Audrey watched as he cleaned, making his way around the living room quickly. His pants kept falling, giving her a peek of the white skin that stayed hidden in the jeans. Tate would pull his jeans up and then continue whatever he was doing, like it didn’t matter that his ass was almost on display for her.

“Your pants are undone,” Audrey said when her mouth finally started to move.

Tate looked down, and then looked up at her, smiling sheepishly, “Yeah, these pants are a little tight.”

Audrey blinked twice as he continued to move through the living room, picking up odds and ends. Her eyes did a trail down his beautifully sculpted back, before stopping on a great ass for a guy. When he turned, reaching up to put a book on a shelf, Audrey’s head tilted to the side, and her mouth fell open as she took in the beautiful view. Not only did Tate have mouthwatering abs, along with a V cut pointing to his groin, but that damn vein that drove her mad was there, pulsating, calling her name, begging to her to lick it.

Ahh! Look away Audrey!

Looking up at the ceiling, she groaned, “Isn’t there a shirt you can put on?”

***

Tate looked up at his guest and smiled. He had gotten back from the Sportsplex later than he would like. It was a long, grueling practice, (Coach Bacter wasn’t holding back) and Tate’s body was aching, but it was a needed practice. The Assassins were about to face some tough competition in the southeast. The guys needed the points, so they needed the practice. After taking a quick shower and finding the nearest jeans, he proceeded to make his condo presentable for Audrey. He was excited to have her over and nervous all in one. It was weird to feel like that, and he found that only being in goal and Audrey could do that to him.

Tate didn’t understand it, but he liked it.

Now he was standing, shirtless, in his living room with Audrey gawking at him. He didn’t know what to do. Should he play it cool, ignore her roaming eyes, or should he let his pants fall and hope for the best? The latter was a Lucas move and since Audrey was still in this ‘just friends’ thought of mind, he decided that was maybe too much.

So he only let his pants drop a little. When he heard the intake of breath, he smiled and pulled them up, slowly, before moving on to the next thing to clean. Looking over his shoulder, he saw that Audrey had finally made it inside, and was standing beside his couch.

“How’s your head?” he asked, turning to look at her.

Her eyes fell to where his hands were holding his jeans and then back up to his face. She blinked twice before swallowing loudly, “I think I might have run into another pole and not known it.”

Tate’s mouth picked up at one side as his gazed zeroed on hers, “Why’s that?”

Audrey shook her head, “No comment, anyways,” she said turning to face his couch as he chuckled softly. She wanted him, and she was fighting it. He would let her fight it, because when she finally gave up, it was going to be glorious acting on all the sexual tension that was building between them. “What the hell is this?”

“My couch,” he answered looking over at the hanging couch he had brought from home. It was a beige color and hung from four chains that were braced to the ceiling. He had four nice plush green pillows that matched the rest of the décor. The couch used to hang in his room in his parents’ house and he liked being able to put it in his own place. It reminded him of home and he missed it when he lived in Florida.

“That’s a weird couch,” she said before running her fingers along the back of it, “I’ve never seen one like this.”

“I brought it from home; it is one of my favorite pieces.”

Audrey smiled as she nodded, “That’s cool.”

“Yeah, dinner should be here soon. I ordered from SATCO, the taco place.”

Audrey nodded, “Awesome, I love tacos.”

“Me too. Oh! I got you something today,” he said, heading to the kitchen. He reached for the pink sparkly cupcake stand and turned to hand it to her. Audrey’s eyes lit up as she took the stand, examining it before flashing him a grin.

“Oh, Tate, I love it.”

Tate smiled, “Good, you said you wanted to collect stuff, I thought cake stands would work. What do you think?”

She hadn’t stopped grinning as she nodded, “I think it’s a fantastic idea.”

“And when you open your own cupcake place, I forgot what you called it,” he said, waiting for her to supply the word.

“Cupcakery,” she said with a bright smile.

“Yes, cupcakery,” he said slowly since the word was sort of hard to say, “when you open that, you can display your creations on the stands you’ve collected.”

Audrey nodded, “Thank you, Tate.”

Tate nodded, feeling good about his gift, “You are welcome. So, question,” he said moving around the kitchen, getting out two waters for them.

“Shoot,” she said as she reached for the bottle he had out for her.