Luka could see the ridge of the mountain went in both directions, and he thought about walking there, on top of the world. “I like this place. I love this.”
“Let’s see the guesthouse.”
“Yes, let’s go.”
The guesthouse was a miniature of the larger house, but without the wraparound porch. Inside, there was a small kitchenette, an immense window overlooking the scene he’d just seen off the edge of the mountain.
After staring there for a long moment, he looked around at the smaller bedroom and bathroom, then they went into the house to find three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a chef’s kitchen that even Luka knew he’d love to use. “I might actually learn to cook.”
“Stop. I’ll cook. I don’t trust you.”
“Mean!”
“Yeah. So?”
Luka laughed as he walked around the home, then went onto the porch and walked the entirety of it. Benson just leaned on the porch railing, smiling at him. “You look happy.”
“How could I not be?”
“Good. What suddenly became my greatest need is to make you smile.”
Luka remembered himself how miserable he had been. For years, he went through the world as if it were against him. Every person felt like an enemy; every place he was suffocated, he felt like he was the target of the world’s disdain.
He’d come by it rightfully. When he went to school as a kid, he was scorned and hated. If it wasn’t the homophobes, it was the rich kids looking down on his thrifted clothes.
It had made him untrusting and caused him to hate the world.
Benson’s smile was real. In his eyes was love. He’d never thought he’d have that, or truthfully, he didn’t think he could accept it.
He grabbed Benson’s hand and took him to the overlook, staring at the landscape as he built up his courage. “Benson, I can’t believe you. I keep worrying that I’ll wake up and be back in my apartment, alone, watching the snow build up on the street. I…I’m in love with you. You already know that, but…I think, for the first time, maybe, I see how much you love me, and it’s not the houses themselves, or anything like that. It’s that you got these places because you could see me in them. Because you wanted me to be happy.”
Benson nodded and whispered, “It’s all I want in the world now.”
“Okay. Then marry me.”
Chapter Sixteen
Bensonstaredathim,kneeling in snow and mud, and couldn’t connect any of it to what his mind was thinking.
He was dreaming. He was losing his mind. If he said yes or no, the dream would split apart and he’d be talking to a banana in a pool of grape jelly, or he’d be in a park, skating on pickles over marshmallow sidewalks.
Luka stood and shook him a little. “Are you okay?”
The shaking broke his stupor. “What?”
“I guess that’s a no?”
Then he remembered. Luka had just stolen his thunder. Benson had every intention of proposing later in their trip. “I…I have rings, and I…”
Luka turned bright red and ducked his head as he said, “You were going to. Shit. I ruined it.”
Benson grabbed his head and pulled it up so he could look into those beautiful eyes, and he laughed. “I don’t care who did it. All I want is to marry you, and I thought I was jumping the gun, pushing you too fast, but…it’s all I want in the world.”
Luka jumped up and wrapped his arms around Benson’s neck, holding on while he kissed him so hard, Benson’s lips hurt, but he didn’t care a bit. He kissed back and held him there, in the cold, in the snow and mud, and fell harder in love.
They got to their hotel just a little after the sun fell behind the hills, and they had a romantic dinner, though the candles and champagne was mostly ignored while they discussed their future home.
“I love the window, but…”
