Alex seems to enjoy making me squirm, because once again, he doesn't answer me right away. I'm suddenly grateful for the darkness - my entire body is on fire right now.

Then he steps toward me.

"You're asking me to be your rebound guy?" he says. He stops just short of me, not touching but close enough that I can feel the heat radiating off his bare chest.

"Not a rebound," I say quickly. "As I've told you, that thing with Wes was over long ago. ...