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While Ravi sulked the sulk of righteous indignation, Major discovered that Shawna was up for in-person sexting … and more. It cramped his style a little not to have the house to themselves, and he thought he could hear the annoyed huffs as his roommate started clearing up Fort Lust even a floor away, but he managed to perform to mutual satisfaction despite the challenges. The sign of a true master, he thought happily, lying in bed taking a breather while Shawna rummaged in the kitchen for a snack.

She came back with a pint of ice cream. "Met your roommate downstairs. He ravished me with his eyes."

Given that she was eating Ravi's ice cream, Major thought she might be off a bit on her interpretation of what his roommate's eyes had been saying.

"I'm going to need you to kick his ass."

With her half-naked body back in close proximity to his Major had returned to thinking with his testosterone. He could totally take Ravi. "Can do."

"I'm really excited that you're taking me dancing," Shawna said, leaning in close while she ate a spoonful of ice cream.

Major was the first to acknowledge that he'd been a little sex-fogged, but he was pretty sure he would have remembered that agreement. "Who said I was taking you dancing?"

"I did. Just now. I'm meeting my friends at Club Brush with Death for Disco Nigh; I want you to come."

It was a sweet offer. And he kind of longed for a normal life where going clubbing was still on the table … but he couldn't forget Rachel's reaction to seeing him here in his own home last night. "Yeah … I'm not so into going out these days, in public. Like, ever. I mentioned how Ravi's lady friend ran away at the sight of me, right?"

"Only five or six times." Shawna put the ice cream away and moved to embrace him. "Who cares what she thinks?"

"It's not so much her as the three and a half million other people in the greater Seattle metro area, who feel roughly the same way about me." He put his hands on her hips as she settled on top of him.

"Do they get to dictate how you live your life?" She leaned down toward him. "I'm not getting off until you say yes."

Since this particular position was rather delightful, it wasn't much of a threat. "Aw, I don't think you understand how ultimatums work."

Shawna laughed. "Okay, smartass. You're not getting off until you say yes." She began to rock back and forth.

Major was pretty sure she wouldn't go through with the threat, but … well, maybe she was right. Maybe he should stop living in fear. He knew what he had and hadn't done, and who cared what the greater Seattle metropolitan area thought they knew? He laced his fingers together with Shawna's and nodded. "All right. I'll give it a shot." She laughed again, triumphant in her victory, and Major added, "Now, I believe we had a deal?"

"Hold that thought," she whispered, stroking his chest and his abs, but stopping just short of things getting more interesting. "I need to immortalize this moment." She leaned over and grabbed her phone.

"A selfie stick?" Major asked in disbelief as she lengthened the stick and curled up next to him. He grimaced. "I knew you were too good to be true. What else are you hiding?"

"A lady never tells." Shawna gave him a secretive smile and set her head next to his, looking up at the phone. Major dutifully smiled, but he had to admit he'd been a lot happier ten seconds ago before the phone appeared.

He wasn't overly unhappy to say goodbye to her the next morning, and he was afraid his responses to her excited texts about dancing were a little tepid. He liked Shawna … but he wondered if maybe she was a bit much. Could a guy get tired of meaningless sex? He was pretty sure he had read in the manual that this was the dream, and he was living it, and yet it seemed a little less perfect than it had over the weekend.

"Your little friend go home?" Ravi asked snidely when he came into the kitchen for a cup of coffee.

"She has."

"Only to return again tonight so the two of you can ruin my sleep with your endless yowling?"

"Jealous?" Major snapped, and immediately felt guilty. "Sorry. Sorry, I thought we were being quiet. We'll keep it down."

"You might. I'm less convinced you have that much control over your groupie."

"Ravi."

"What?"

"I'm sorry I didn't know you were being held prisoner by the truthers," Major told him, hoping that was the real source of his roommate's irritation.

Ravi sighed. "No, that's all right. I didn't try to send you a coded message or anything. I probably should have. I was operating on pure adrenaline by that point. I'm amazed I was able to put together a coherent sentence." He opened the dishwasher and put a few things in before looking up at Major again. "I'm glad you found someone. Really, I am. But …"

"But what?" Major was genuinely interested.

"Be careful."

"Of course! Always."

"I don't just mean condoms."

"What could go wrong? It's just sex. I mean, a lot of sex, yeah, but she's clearly over eighteen, and—"

"And you know literally nothing else about her. She could be married, or undercover as some kind of truther spy."

"Shawna?" Major considered that briefly. "Nah. Besides, those guys don't look smart enough for that."

"They may not be … but someone else might. Just … think about it, all right?"

"I promise to observe the utmost caution. Heck, if I just keep her naked all the time, she can't hide anything." Major grinned, but Ravi didn't return his levity.

"You'd be surprised," he muttered darkly, and stalked out of the room.

Watching him go, Major shook his head. Ravi clearly needed to get laid. Maybe Shawna had a friend who was a British medical examiner groupie.