I let out a long, built-up breath and scrub my hand through my hair. Now I have to wait. For him to come back out.
I’ve been waiting all fucking night.
I look back at his message, knowing that he’s in there, right now, missing me.
Me.
Before I can rethink, before I can stop myself, my thumbs are flying across the keypad.
Einstein: What if I told you my name is Seth Grant?
14
Cohen
I strip down to my boxers and am about to turn on the shower when my phone vibrates on the vanity. I tell myself not to get my hopes up that Einstein has replied, but my heart doesn’t listen. And when I peer over at the screen and see the notification from ChatUp, I scramble to pick it up.
In my haste, my slippery fingers fail to hold on to it and almost throw it into the toilet, but with lightning-fast hockey reflexes, I manage to save it just in time.
Jesus, Cohen, calm down.
I open the message with trembling hands.
What if I told you my name is Seth Grant?
I blink at the screen. And then again.
Seth Grant. As in, Foster’s twin brother, the guy I spent Thanksgiving with, the very same person who’s right outside the bathroom door …
I type back: I’d ask if this is some kind of joke because if it is, it’s mean.
Seth’s voice is muffled by the wall between us. “Not a joke. I’m … umm, him. I’m Einstein.”
My heart fills with so much joy I can barely contain it, but … what now? What am I supposed to do here?
“Please open the door,” Seth says.
I’m shaking as I do. I’m only in my boxers, and Seth’s eyes rake over me.
Then his brown eyes meet mine, and it’s as if I’m seeing him for the first time. Not Seth—Einstein.
He clears his throat. “I guess I should introduce myself properly. My name is Seth. I’m doing my master’s in science at UVM. I hate talking hockey because for my whole life I’ve been overshadowed by my twin brother, who plays for the NHL. All my friends growing up used me to get to him, and I knew a college hockey player would be all over that if I told him who I was. I want to become a professor. Up until a few months ago, I was adamant I was straight, but it was only because I was avoiding the truth. I’m demisexual and pan.”
I’m frozen, my mouth dry, and my brain runs a thousand things through my head that I can’t keep up with.
Seth holds up his phone, revealing our texts. “I went to McIntyre’s on Thanksgiving because I’d planned to surprise you by asking to meet, but I chickened out. Hence the complete and total drunkenness.”
I huff a small laugh. “We ended up spending it together anyway.”
His shoulders slump the tiniest bit. “I wish I knew. I wish it had all come out then.”
“How long have you known?”
“The pieces have been fitting together all day.”
Relief surges through my chest. If he’d known this whole time and never said anything, I’d be pissed.
“Is this real?” I ask because I can’t be sure.
“It’s real.”
Earlier, when I thought Seth had been flirting, I shamelessly checked him out. But that was as Grant’s twin brother. It was as someone I could possibly be interested in had I not been hung up on someone else. Now … My gaze rakes over him again, and I’m seeing him in a completely different light.
He’s not as short as I expected. His hair is lighter in color and longer than I was picturing, and he doesn’t wear glasses.
But Einstein is one of the most attractive men I’ve ever seen.
And he’s really standing right in front of me.
I drink in his wary brown eyes, those kissable pink lips, the way his Adam’s apple bobs under his five-o’clock shadow as he swallows.
“Please say something,” Seth says.
“I’d rather not talk at all if that’s okay with you.” It comes out raspy and not like my own voice.
Seth sucks in a sharp breath but nods. It’s only subtle, but it counts.
I’m finally looking at Einstein, and I can’t hold back anymore.
I take my opportunity to close the gap between us and kiss him hard.
My arms wrap around him, and my tongue pushes forward into his mouth.
His groan goes straight to my dick, and my hand travels down Seth’s back and grips his ass, pressing his long, lanky body against me. He’s maybe only half an inch shorter than me, and fuck, he feels so amazing, so right, I barely have time to think about Seth being a guy. I mean, it’s not my first time kissing a man, but this is so different than when I was a teenager.
It’s hot. It’s enlightening.
I roll my hips, digging my hard cock into his hip. He’s just as hard, his cock rubbing against my thigh, but it occurs to me, with the whole ace aspect, that this might be too much. Too soon.