Four years ago, Dimitri Petrov had his leg blown off by a landmine while in military service. Suffering from PTSD, he doesn’t do crowds, and he doesn’t do people. If he had his way, he’d never leave his house at all. Dimitri’s sister, Irina, runs a dating agency, and despite that it would be better for business if they had a pretty woman working the front desk, Irina insists Dimitri’s the man for the job.<br><br>In a whirlwind of pink shirts, flapping hands, and outrageous flirting enters Elian Hubert. Elian needs a date. Invited to speak on love through time in fiction at a Valentine dinner, there is no way he’s showing up alone. When Dimitri tells him The Single Pursuit is unable to help on such short notice, Elian suggests Dimitri be his date.<br><br>Dimitri doesn’t do dates, and he doesn’t do dinners, but Elian’s made him happier in the last few minutes than anyone’s been able to do in years. He might not do Valentine's, and he might not do gatherings, but maybe he can do Elian ... a favor and accompany him to his presentation? If things go too badly, he can always hide behind a curtain and pretend he’s somewhere else.

Be Still, My Heart

“No. My dad bailed on Mom when I was two, and we haven’t seen him since, and even if he hadn’t…” He shrugged. “I think Mom was happy with it only being the two of us, and I’ve never suffered from not having a sibling. She’s in a care home. She has dementia.” He got a lost look in his eyes. “Most days she doesn’t recognize me. She can talk about me, remembers stuff about me growing up, but she doesn’t know it’s me she’s talking to.”


Dimitri nodded. His parents had died in a car accident when he’d been twenty-two, Irina had been twenty-six. It had been hard, but it had brought them closer.


He reached over and put a hand on Elian’s thigh. “I’m sorry.”


Dimitri shook his head. He had no idea.


Ten minutes later, he stopped in front of Elian’s building, but Elian didn’t move. After a few seconds, he turned to Dimitri. “So…toothbrush?”


“I have spare ones if you want to keep one at my place and one here.”


Chapter 25