I had not felt like this in years. He was so right. Things were much less complicated before I knew what he looked like. I’d told myself nothing could happen between Ryder and me “in real life.” Now my attraction to him made what once felt difficult feel impossible.

“Now it makes sense,” I finally said.

“She speaks!” he joked. “What do you mean?”

“You mentioned once that you never have a problem getting women, that your problem is connecting with them. You could have any woman you want. I see that now. They must be falling at your feet.”

“Ah, yes. So it would make perfect sense then that the one girl I’m into right now won’t even tell me where she lives.” He winked. “Yup, I’ve got it made. So made.”

I probably should have laughed at that, but I didn’t. It made me sad.

There were some days I wished I could tell him everything there was to know about my life. He knew so much already, just not the most important thing. I didn’t know everything about him either, but I knew enough to realize our actual lives were so very different, and we could never work outside of this platform. But that didn’t mean I wasn’t yearning for more, especially now.

“So…is this the part where I dance?” he asked.

That made me burst into laughter.

“Dance?”

“Yeah, you know, now that you can see me, I can entertain you. We can finally have a fully mutually beneficial relationship.”

“Entertain me, huh? Are you hiding any special talents up your sleeve?” God, everything sounded suggestive now. It was hard not to flirt with him.

“Well, none that I can demonstrate from here.” He wriggled his brows.

See? He was totally picking up on it.

My cheeks felt hot. The dynamic between us was definitely different now. I was blatantly flirting with him and embarrassed at the same time. It was an awkward mix. In a matter of minutes, I’d developed a massive crush on this man. It felt like I was just meeting him for the first time and had forgotten how to speak.

“Actually, I do have one talent I can demonstrate,” he said.

“What is it?”

He leaned in. “Listen closely, okay?”

I giggled in anticipation. “Okay.”

Suddenly, I could hear…crickets. Not figurative ones, literal ones. Did he have bugs in his room?

“Crickets! Where are they coming from?”

He didn’t answer as the sound continued. Then I saw his lips were moving—barely. It was so subtle that I hadn’t noticed, never considering that it was Ryder making the sound.

“You’re doing that? It sounds exactly like crickets!”

He stopped and burst out laughing.

“It’s frighteningly accurate,” I said, giggling into my hand. “That’s a pretty cool special talent. How did you even figure out you could do it?”

“One night when I was a kid, I was listening to some crickets outside my bedroom window, and I started mimicking the sound. With practice, I perfected it. On the rare occasion that my father took time off, we’d go camping up in Big Bear, and the crickets would come out at night. I used to get my mother pretty good with it. She could never tell if it was me or them.”

My cheeks hurt from smiling. “That’s so cute.”

“Uh-oh. Cute? That wasn’t what I was going for. Maybe I shouldn’t have admitted this.”

“It is. So cute and innocent.”

“I may be cute, but I’m definitely not innocent, Eden. Not in any way, shape, or form.

A chill ran down my spine. Now that I knew what he looked like, I knew that had to be true. He was more of a bad boy, which was ironic because he had inherently good parts.

A funny thought occurred to me. “You know what? Between your looks and your weird talent, you could totally be a cam dude. You would be so popular. Women would be emptying their pockets. Men, too.”

“Yeah, but then I’d have to whip out my dick. So there’s that.”

I burst into laughter. “It would be the opposite of the problem I have.”

He held out his hands. “Not that I would be ashamed to whip out my dick. I just want to clarify that.”

“Of course. I’m sure it’s the most beautiful dick I’ve ever seen,” I teased, offering the line we’d previously joked about.

“Aw, shucks…bet you say that to all the guys.”

After our laughter dissipated, I resumed staring at him, and he seemed to take notice.

“Hi.” He smiled.

I nearly melted. “Hi.”

“You want me to let you go to sleep?” he asked.

“I don’t think I’m going to be able to sleep now. I’ll be thinking of your face. It’s gonna keep me up.”

He grinned. “A nightmare? Or…”

“No. Far from it.”

“Now you know how I feel. Every night. I go to sleep thinking of your face…and your voice. Sometimes other things. But mainly how you make me feel.”

Feeling giddy, I was sure I was blushing. I needed to bow out tonight before I made a fool of myself. I needed to go splash some cold water on my face. Actually, make that an ice-cold shower.