Thanks for the reviews :)

A week had passed since the pair of them had been stood outside Christian's house, the home that he'd now moved and settled into. And Syed hadn't seen him once since that day; he'd heard nothing from him either, no phone calls, no texts. In fact the only time he'd heard his name was when he'd overheard Pete on the phone to him. Syed felt disappointed about that, angry perhaps, but most of all confused. He simply didn't understand why Christian had chosen to stay away; it was almost as though he'd gone out of his way to not have to come into contact with him. He'd elected to finalise everything on the one day of the week that he knew Syed wasn't working, and his regular visits to the house had stopped occurring during the final week of the renovation. If this was Christian's idea of persuading Syed that he could be trusted then it was fast failing. What had he been doing all week? Going to clubs and shagging strangers? Hopefully not…

Sat in the office, staring morosely at the computer screen, Syed contemplated asking Pete if he knew of any reason why Christian hadn't contacted him. Although doing that would only make him look desperate and needy, not cool at all. He could always text or call Christian himself? But then he refused to be the one to do any of the chasing. If Christian wanted to prove that his interest in Syed was genuine then he had to be the one to make the moves, to show that he didn't just want sex, any man could give him that, after all. No, Syed wanted to know that he was wanted for more than his body and that-

"Hello you."

"Christian," Syed beamed. "What are you doing here?"

Christian grinned. "I just dropped in to see Pete quickly; I need to ask him something."

Oh, so not for Syed then. Time for some answers, it was no good, he had to ask. "Been away on holiday?"

"No. Why, have you missed me?" Christian leant down by the side of the desk, resting his arms on the top of it; Syed's eyes flickered towards them and then back to Christian's face.

"Just wondered, you're more tanned than usual," he stated nonchalantly.

"I've just been working out outside more, got to make the most of this weather. So, you were questioning why I hadn't been around. That's quite reassuring."

Why did he have to say things like that? "I think Pete's off the phone; you could go in and see him now?"

"It's what I was hoping for actually," Christian went on.

What?

"In fact," he amended. "I stayed away on purpose."

His pulse racing, Syed asked, "Why?"

"To see if it made a difference, if it changed anything." Christian kept his voice low and quiet as he spotted Syed looking over at Ben, who was trying to decipher what was being said.

Syed's mouth was dry. "And?"

There was that look again, shining out of Christian's entrancing green eyes. "I think we both know the answer to that, don't we?"

It was taking all of Syed's effort not grab Christian, drag him under the desk and kiss him right now.

"At least, I know how I feel," said Christian, picking up a pen from and spinning it ineffectually around his fingers. "You might feel differently."

Of all the things Christian was, stupid certainly wasn't one of them. So he couldn't really think that. There was an inescapable and undeniable chemistry between them, crackling electricity in the air whenever they were together. For a split second their eyes met.

"So… why don't I pick you up on Friday? Around eight?"

This was it. Things were finally going to start happening.

Syed gave Christian a tiny, timid smile. "Okay."

"Deal." Christian smiled too.

The big date is coming up in the next chapter ;)