But I met Reese and every moment since then had been more amazing than the last.
“Two! One! Happy New Year!” Kale and the rest of the gang shouted, and then the camera’s view spun around, not catching much of anything. The last thing I saw was Kale go in for that all-important New Year’s kiss.
After that, Kale passed the phone around so everyone could say a quick hello and when he got the phone back, he had Christian in his lap, and I knew the call would be coming to an end.
“You’re all coming to LA, though, right? The arrangements are made?”
“We have a flight booked. And a block of rooms at a hotel. We’ll be there with bells on.”
No one had blinked when I told them the wedding was small and private, with just a couple of witnesses to mark the occasion.I wanted our ceremony to feel as magical as possible, and though I’d never say it to their faces, that would be hard accomplish with a bunch of rowdy doms in the audience. But they wanted to celebrate with us, and I’d wanted to make sure Reese knew he was celebrated by the people in his life. The bar he worked at would be closed that night, because all his friends on the staff, in addition to Morgan, would be joining us elsewhere for the party.
His boss, the owner of the bar, had offered to let us use it, but I didn’t want Reese to feel like he should be at work.
“Okay, well, now that I’ve confirmed your travel plans are set, I’ll let you go defile that little prince of yours.”
Kale’s smile was practically feral. “See you in a couple weeks.”
He ended the call, and the silence wrapped around me. Normally, I didn’t mind being alone, but that was because I’d gotten used to it. I’d grown so accustomed to being alone that it had stopped bothering me. Loneliness wasn’t a thing you felt if you never stopped moving long enough to feel anything.
But almost a year ago, Reese had stopped me in my tracks. And now I wanted nothing more than to go to him and just exist in his presence. He’d be too busy to pay me any real attention, which was fine by me. I could watch him work all night long.
To kill a little time, I took a long shower and paid special attention to cleaning out for him. I intended to have him in every which way possible when he got off work, and I wanted to make sure I was prepared.
Dressed in a pair of jeans and Reese’s favorite hoodie, which was now my favorite hoodie, I arrived at the bar, freshly showered, shaved, at quarter to eleven.
In spite of the throng of people, the thumping music, the crush of bodies at the bar, Reese clocked me right away and even from across the room, his smile took my breath away. Iapproached the bar, smiling at the way there was an empty stool at one end with a reserved sign sitting on it.
I removed the sign and placed it on the bar, and in the next moment, Reese was there, sliding a whiskey in front of me. We normally kept our PDA to a minimum when he was at work, because he liked his job, and I liked to watch him do it, and neither of us wanted to put him in a position that might jeopardize that.
But Reese surprised me by leaning over the bar and stealing a kiss. It ended as quick as it started, before I could even reciprocate, in fact.
“I couldn’t wait until midnight,” he said, tossing in a wink for good measure as he went back to pouring and mixing drinks.
I’d probably never get over how good he looked when he did his job. The confidence. The fluidity of his motions. It was like watching someone dance. I bet Reese could bartend with his eyes shut. My favorite part of it all was the way he’d steal glances at me whenever he could. He kept a close eye on my drink, but I planned to nurse this one and make it last as long as I could. I had plans for Reese that didn’t include whiskey dick. And while there would be other New Years, this was our first one together and I wanted it to be perfect. Or as close to perfect as I could get it.
With midnight careening toward us, Reese returned to me at my corner of the bar. He’d been wearing a plastic Happy New Year tiara all night and when he reached me, I plucked it off his head and stuck it on mine. He dragged his gaze over me with a smirk.
“Stealing hoodies and accessories now?”
“And stealing your heart, I hope.”
“That’s belonged to you for a long time, Cory.”
“Ten!” The bar rattled with the start of the countdown. “Nine! Eight! Seven!”
Reese and I looked at each other, and he was already reaching for me when the countdown hit five. At four he was cupping my cheek and pulling me toward him, as if I needed much encouragement.
At three, we joined the countdown.
“Three. Two. One. Happy New Year!”
We didn’t shout. In spite of the fact that we were surrounded by strangers who were living this moment with us, it belonged to us. This little bubble we lived in cocooned us, and Reese kissed me long and slow and tender. Both his hands were on my cheeks, cradling me like I was something precious. My hands had found their way to his wrists, and they closed around them. One hand on his bare skin, the other around the watch that had long since marked him as mine.
The bar had erupted into a cacophony of cheers and shouts, but it all fell away. Reese was the only one I saw, the only one I heard, and I clung to him harder, not yet willing to let him return to the rest of the world.
“Happy New Year, Cory.”
His thumbs brushed over my cheeks, and I cursed the fact that he loved his job as much as he did, because I wanted him alone. I didn’t want to share him with the general public anymore.
