And then we turned back to join our friends. The Enginerds were still together. Marshall had found himself a cute girlfriend. Vipul was trying not to stare at Brianna too hard. And Dan was actually flirting with Kathy from Accounting.

A few more people came by to congratulate me on my promotion, and as I sat back and looked around the party, I felt content. My career was advancing, I'd paid off my student loans, and I'd just gotten a brand new big screen Plasma TV. I had good friends at home in Kevin and Jen, and great coworkers.

More than anything else, I was starting to fall in love with Brianna.

The sex had always been astronomically good. In terms of pure creativity and willingness to Let me do whatever I wanted to her body,

I could probably say that she was the best lover I'd ever had, Amber and Maria included. And while she wasn't happy about it, she even let slide E-Beth's occasional booty calls, letting me ‘scratch that itch’, as she put it. Our problems had never been in the bedroom.

Instead, our problems had always been emotional. I know Amber had been trying to ease my pain by allowing me to start seeing Brianna even before Amber and I had broken up. And I know Brianna just wanted to take a chance with me to see what we could be together. But in retrospect, Brianna and I couldn't possibly have had a worse start to our relationship.

For those summer months when I started dating Brianna but lived with

Amber, I didn't give Brianna any part of the real me except my cock. I couldn't help it. I was still in love with Amber, and up until Amber left, my physical maturity with Brianna far outpaced my emotional maturity. We'd literally built our relationship on sex and nothing else.

And then when Amber left, I was in full rebound mode, and we all know how rebounds are never a solid foundation for a relationship. Brianna spent our first year falling in Love with me. I spent that entire time wishing she was somebody else.

But somehow, even though I was barely holding up my end of the relationship, Brianna loved me with everything she had. She held nothing back, loving me unconditionally. Brianna stuck with me as I gradually got over my ex. And now, almost a year and a half late, I was starting my relationship with her.

I paid attention to the way she liked to be held, instead of holding her like I did with Amber. I stopped to ask where she wanted to go to dinner, instead of frequenting Amber's and my favorite places.

And I'd made a decision.

“Brianna..." I said softly.

She was immediately by my side. "Yes, honey?"

“Would you like to get an apartment with me?" I asked the empty space ahead of me. But after I finished the question, I tilted my head and turned to face her, a wan smile on my face.

I could already see the moisture in her eyes. "Really?"

“Really.”

A happy whimper escaped her lips, then she kissed me quickly before pulling me into a hug. We could be happy. Brianna deserved at least that much.

WINTER (February 2005)

It had taken a little more than a month to work out the leases.

Brianna's roommates had found someone else to take her room. Kevin and

Jen were only too happy to see me leave. They'd actually started talking about kicking me out so they could really move on with their lives together, on their own. I figured they'd be married by summer at this rate.

So on February 1, Brianna and I moved in together. Somehow, it felt more momentous than any other living arrangement I'd ever been in.

Sure, I'd already lived with Amber. But that roommating had slowly grown from having my own room to Danielle's unique situation pushing me into Amber's bedroom. Besides, we had E-Beth and Diane living with us and college was a different world.

This was me choosing, with lots of forethought, to cohabitate and build a home for just the two of us, without any roommates. I was excited;