And thank you so much for joining us.

It is the Nightly Pleasures podcast, episode number 24.

I am your host, The Grey Night, and tonight, a real pleasure to start us off with,

it's an excerpt for a book that won't be out until the 20th of June.

The title of the piece is Mancandy by the author Melanie Harlow.

It's a real treat, and it's coming up right now.

What the hell?

Had I left my apartment door open?

I'd overslept this morning, and I heard we were going to get a ton of snow today, so I'd left in a rush hoping to beat the bad weather.

Maybe I'd neglected to pull the door all the way shut behind me.

Taking off my snow boots, I set them on the hallway mat and glanced up the stairs towards Jamie's apartment, but I didn't see or hear anything. Then I walked

into my living room, and it hit me, the scent of her perfume, in my apartment. It was unmistakable,

and by now, familiar, sweet and fresh and floral. She smelled like a perfect spring day in the

middle of winter, and it made me want her even more every time I smelled it lingering in the hall.

But she was so stubborn, rushing past me every time I saw her, barely making eye contact,

saying nothing more than hello, and good night.

If it weren't for those tell-tale blushes, I might think she'd be telling the truth the first night,

and she really wasn't attracted to me at all.

Just today, during my workout, I was thinking about trying again with her.

"'For fuck's sake, we weren't kids anymore.

"'Did we have to play games?

"'Life was too short not to go for what you wanted, and I wanted her.

...