CASSIAN
The question pulled me back from the ledge of my own thoughts. "What?"
Noah was looking at me, his face already beginning to fall into that self-effacing logic he used as a shield.
"You've been quiet. Your mind is obviously somewhere else. You're thinking about work. You only came because of me, and I'm fine now. We can leave. I don't want to be a bother."
The default assumption: I am an inconvenience. It was a sentence he had likely lived inside for many years.
"Where did you get all that from?" I asked.
"You look like you're thinking about work."
I looked at him, the decision to tease forming before I could stop it. I liked his face when he was flustered; it was the only time he stopped shrinking. "I was thinking about the different ways I could bend you over that fountain over there."
Noah paused. His entire face went scarlet. He turned away immediately. "You're a sex addict."
"I can't help it," I said, following him. "You've been seducing me nonstop."
