All That's Left in the World (All That's Left in the World, #1)

by Erik J. Brown

feel safe when he’s with me and I want him to feel safe, too. Andrew’s breath continues its steady rhythm across from me on the couch. I want to tell him but I don’t know how. How do I explain it when I don’t understand it myself? The idea of kissing him isn’t scary or strange—and I have thought about it. A few times. More so at night, before we go to sleep. When he says good night to me it feels like I should kiss him. The idea of holding him doesn’t make me uncomfortable. Actually, it’s the complete opposite. I want to pull him close to me and hold him while he sleeps. It makes sense in my heart, though it doesn’t make sense in my mind. Even the thought of more intimate things doesn’t deter me. But I’m scared. Disappointing Andrew is what scares me. There’s a massive difference between thinking about things and doing them. What happens if I’m wrong and it’s just friendship and loneliness and horniness all mixed up? And then we try something and it’s awkward and weird and I suck, and then I’ve ruined the only relationship I have left. It seems so trivial when I think of it like that because it feels like so much more than just “the only relationship I have left.”