Charlie rolled his eyes. “You have to let the eggs fry long enough to get good and crispy around the edges. You rush them, you impatient man.”
I couldn’t hide my grin anymore. “Yes, Chef.”
“Huh?”
“We havesomuch television catching up to do,” I sighed.
He took our dishes and set them on the counter, shaking his head in amusement. “Favorite place you’ve ever been?”
We played this game a lot—trading each other’s favorites back and forth with no rhyme or reason for when the questions began or ended.
“Besides here?”
He cast a look back at me like he’d thought I was kidding and then softened. I still felt raw and flayed open from earlier, like every vulnerable thought I had would come spilling out as soon as it crossed my mind, but when he looked at me like that, I didn’t feel like I needed to seal myself back up.
“Yeah. Besides here,” he whispered, wandering back over to where I sat. He stood just out of arm’s reach.
“New England in the fall, just as the leaves turn. The orange—it’s shocking to see in nature, almost like it’s not real—is my favorite color.”
He sighed wistfully. “I’ve never been there. And that’s two favorites.”
“Then I get two questions of my own, don’t I?” I asked, that unnamed emotion fizzing up and making my stomach swoop.
He scooted forward a step, just enough so our knees brushed. “I suppose.”
I searched his face, brightly lit in the midday sun, and hale. Whole.Real.“Would you want to go with me if you could? To see the leaves turn in the fall in New England?”
He sucked in a breath. “Reece.”
We hadn’t done this yet; we hadn’t directly addressed what I’d dwelled on for days. Weeks. “Two answers, Charlie.”
Eyes glassy, he swallowed, and his outline glowed just a touch brighter than normal. “Yes,” he whispered, “I’d go with you to see the leaves change. I’d go with you anywhere. New England, California, evenMissouri.”
I snorted and reached out to hook my fingers in the waistband of his pants, pulling him closer between my legs. “Now, that’s pushing it. Missouri? Really?”
He smiled and cupped my face. “Really. And I might even enjoy it, too. You’re pretty fun to be around, you know?”
“You’re just saying that.”
His face grew serious. “I’m really not.” He swallowed, his form flickering the tiniest bit before solidifying again. “I don’t have the words or ability to fix the things that’ve happened to you, or to assure you nothing will ever go wrong again. It might, or it might not. But I do know, Reece, I wouldn’t change anything about you. Not a thing. Not ever.”
Intentional or not, his words were the softest, most gentle blow to any remaining restraint I still possessed. I stood, tightly banding an arm around his waist because I couldn’t stand the thought of not touching him anymore.
Chest to chest, firm and warm, I peered down at him. “I’m going to ask my second question now.”
Charlie swallowed. “Okay.”
I cradled his face in my free hand, tipping his jaw up so his mouth was right there, a scant breath from mine. I ran my thumb along his bottom lip ever so gently. “Can I kiss you?”
His lips pursed into the pad of my finger, eyes heavy with want. “Yes.”
Slowly, I leaned down and brushed my lips against his in a featherlight touch. A zap of energy shot through me, sharp and bright, and I pulled away just enough to look at him, searching. Had he felt it, too?
His eyes darted between mine, honeyed whiskey turned syrupy with arousal.
Our mouths crashed together.
He tasted like the first refreshing glass of iced tea on a hot summer day, and I drank him in, parched and needy. I dug my fingers into the small of his back to keep him close. It was electric, like energy flowed between us in a closed current of conduction and need so hot it burned. I swore I could feel the faint beat of his heart through my shirt.
