Shay took her time looking around the apartment. It was warm and comfortable, just like Nate. Hardwood floors, large leather couches, throw rugs, and lamps made the room cozy. It was one giant open space with a kitchen on one side and a bed on the other.

Shay quickly looked away from the bed. Now that her moment of courage had passed, she wanted to run in the other direction. Why had she blurted it out as she had? What must he think of her?

"Would you like a drink?" he asked as he poured himself a glass of amber liquid with a shaky hand.

"No, thank you. Perhaps I should go," Shay suggested as she moved toward the door. The least she could do was give him an easy out in a way that wouldn't hurt her feelings.

"No, you chose to open the door. In fact, You didn't just open it, you kicked it down, and now you will stay, and we will figure out what's on the other side together." He knocked his drink back in one swallow and set the glass down, motioning for her to join him on the couch.

"I-" Shay was at a loss as to where she should begin as her legs trembled. She should have planned it all better. What was she thinking?

"Why?' he asked, leaning forward and placing his hand between his knees as he looked at the design on the carpet. He must realize Shay was having trouble focusing, so he diverted his gaze and didn't look directly at her.

"Why did I ask you, or why don't I enjoy sex?' Shay's voice was barely audible as she licked her lips nervously. Maybe she should have taken a drink. Was it too late to ask for one?

"Both," he said, taking a steadying breath. He was nervous, which made Shay feel a little better about the situation.

She shrugged. "I trust you, and I'm attracted to you. I've never experienced those things before, and the fact that I feel both of those things for you feels...liberating. I feel like I could have a normal experience, feel like a normal person." Shay plucked at an imaginary string on her pants while Nate waited for her to continue.

"Brody Peyton was my only boyfriend. We started dating when I was seventeen and dated until we were seniors in college." Shay cleared her throat. "I've never told anyone this, ever." She felt like crying.

"I – I used to take the stairs to work every morning. Then I injured my foot and had to take the elevator for a week. I never stopped taking the elevator after that, and I made sure always to take it at the same time every morning." Nate's eyes met hers as he gave her a tender smile, "because I knew you would be there."

Shay gave him a watery smile back.

"The first time I had sex, I changed my mind at the last minute and told him I didn't want to anymore. He called me a tease and a fake. He told me it would probably be my last chance, and I would be an old maid because no one would want a beanpole like me. Then he said it would be fine and I would get used to it. I fought a little bit, but I gave in because I figured he was right." Shay sniffed. "You have no idea what growing up in L. A. was like. Everyone was perfect, and if you had the tiniest flaw, everyone made sure to tell you about it. It was twice as bad for me because my parents were famous."

Shay cringed. She felt like the seventeen-year-old making excuses all over again.

"The second time, he told me I had already done it, so what did it matter if we did it again. We were dating, and that meant we had to have sex. Everyone expected it." Shay stood and started pacing, wrapping her arms around herself. It all happened gradually, and eventually, I stopped telling him no and just accepted that it was part of being in a relationship."

Shay looked at her feet as she was sucked back into the past. "Every time, I hated it. Every time it hurt."

She shrugged again. "I had no interest in a physical relationship with anyone after that until I met you."

"How old are you, Shay?" Nate asked.

"I'm thirty-two." There was no reason not to tell him.

"Ten years, that's a lot of lonely." He looked up and met her eyes again. "I know. I've been alone for almost as long."

Shay shook her head. "Maybe not in a relationship, but I'm sure not alone alone."

"I date, sure, but I'm always careful to date women that I have zero interest in, and I don't have casual sex. I have had th-three relationships in my th–thirty-eight years.  One in high school, one in college th-that lasted for a brief moment after we graduated, and a th-third in my late twenties." Nate cleared his throat. "I have a stutter, in case you haven't noticed."

Shay shook her head. He stuttered occasionally, but she had never thought it was anything but emotion.

"I have st-stuttered since I was a kid. Th-therapist say it was my domineering father, and perhaps it was, but it didn't fix th-the problem." Nate reached for a pen on the side table and clenched it in his hand, taking a deep breath while Shay watched him wide-eyed.

"I have been given techniques to help me minimize the stutter, but it never goes away. It's worse when I'm nervous or anxious, so I tend to date women that I have no real interest in for that reason." Nate looked at Shay, and she felt herself fall into his eyes. "You make me stutter, Shay."

"So you would never date me?" she asked, wanting to cry more.

"No, that's not what I'm saying. I'm just cautious, like you are, about revealing my weakness, and I figured since you leaped, I should too."

They stared at each other for a moment as they realized that they had both admitted attraction in interest in each other and shared their deepest secrets.

"You never stutter at work when you lead those big business meetings." Shay pointed out.

"Those don't make me nervous. I don't care about the business. I'm decent at it, but it's not my passion. It's not what I want to do. It's what I have to do." Nate smiled. "Taking the elevator and seeing you every morning made my day a little more bearable. I especially liked the time you wore my jacket. That was a winning day. I thought of you wearing my jacket all day long."

Shay sat next to him on the couch, letting her leg brush his. "Are you still interested after everything I've told you, though? What if I'm not good at sex, or I really am frigid?"

Nate reached up and wiped a tear off her cheek. She hadn't even realized she had been crying.

"Shay, you were raped repeatedly. That was never going to be a good experience for you. You're not frigid." Nate took her hand and squeezed it as her tears fell faster.

"I never thought of it as being raped, only as me being too weak to say no." She choked.

"That's what Brody wanted you to think. He is a narcissist and a master manipulator. He would have done whatever it took to get his way, including drugging you. You were seventeen, and he took the time to learn your weakness, so he knew exactly how to hurt you most to get what he wanted." Nate put his arm around her and pulled her against him as they leaned back onto the couch.

"How do you know so much about it?" Shay asked as she rested her head on his firm chest and listened to his strong heartbeat.

"He's just like my father. I know the type well." Shay watched his hand clench the pen.

Shay realized he hadn't said if he was still interested or not, he had only denied that she was frigid. "I understand if you're not interested in having sex with me, Nate, but I had to ask if you would consider it because I didn't think you would take the first step, especially now that I won't see you at work."

"I'm very interested, Shay. Why do you think I suggested to your mother that she should hire you? Do you really believe I would have sent you back to The Dragon after you did such a good job working for me? I have always been interested, but the only way it would've worked was for you to take another job. What about you?"

"What about me?" she asked with a frown.

"After having shared your story with me and now knowing I stutter, are you still interested?" His hand tightened where it rested on her shoulder as if he would physically hold her to him if he could.

Shay leaned back and looked up into his handsome and kind face.

"Yes, Nate. I'm very interested with or without the elevator." Shay grinned, suddenly very happy.  It felt so right being held in his arms. "Where do we go from here?"

"How about an old-fashioned date? Dinner, dancing, a movie?" he suggested.

"Yes, but can we do it here?" She looked around. "I like it here. It feels like a home."

Nate gave her another squeeze. "We can. Tomorrow?"

Shay nodded her agreement but was in no hurry to move. "Can we have our first date right now and sit like this for a while. I've never been held?"

Nate's response was to pull her closer. "Sure, what's it like being a triplet?"

Shay snorted. "The worst!"

They talked all night, and it was well past midnight when Shay left without a kiss goodnight.

She had a goofy grin on her face all the way home,knowing that it was just the beginning.