“Aren’t they the same thing?” Cooper cocked his head to the side.
“Not entirely,” he answered.
“Then tell me the difference.”
“Trust is knowing that I’m honest. Belief is…more of a feeling.”
“Is that your scientific answer?” Cooper asked.
“I don’t know how to explain it.” Adam shrugged. “But it feels like a different thing to me. And either way, I’m all in and I want you to trustandbelieve that.”
“I’ll believe it when your things are still here in four weeks and one day.” A small smile pulled at the corner of Cooper’s mouth and Adam knew he’d gotten through.
“If I’m staying, then this isn’t really a trial run, is it?”
Cooper’s cheeks turned dark and he looked down. Adam smiled, taking a breath to look at the rich brown of Cooper’s side-swept hair and the broad expanse of his shoulders. Cooper was short and strong, and the most handsome man Adam had ever been with. He knew he was in love with Cooper. He’d told him as much, but swallowed it back and twisted it into something different because he’d been embarrassed at the strength and severity of his feelings. He felt like they should have been less, when in reality they were so much more than he’d ever put words to.
“I suppose not,” Cooper whispered.
“Is this a good time to tell you I love you?”
Cooper’s head snapped up, cheeks still flushed and nostrils flared. “What?”
“Don’t act so surprised. I’ve said it before.”
“You changed it,” Cooper reminded him.
“I know.” He cradled Cooper’s face in his hands, tracing his thumbs over Cooper’s cheekbones and scanning his face for any signs of hesitation or doubt. “That was wrong of me.”
“You love me.”
“I love you, Cooper Hendricks. I think I’ve loved you since I was a much younger man. I don’t think I deserved you then, and I don’t think I knew what to do with my love before, but I know I want to love you from now until I’m much, much older.”
“That’s…oddly romantic,” Cooper whispered.
“You don’t have to say…”
“I love you,” Cooper cut him off. “I almost told you before, but I didn’t. I love you, too.”
Adam’s eyes widened. “But you didn’t? Why not?”
“The same reasons, probably.” Cooper closed his eyes.
“Well, then.”
“I love you,” Cooper whispered, like he didn’t believe the words, or at least didn’t believe he was saying them out loud.
“I love you,” he said back. “I told you I was all in and I meant it.”
Adam pulled Cooper toward him, slanting their mouths together for a kiss. He licked across the seam of Cooper’s lips until Cooper opened with a whimper. Adam pressed their mouths and bodies together, sliding his hands from Cooper’s face to the back of his neck. Fingers tangled into his hair, and he encouraged Cooper to jump, hoisting him onto the counter so he could better fit between his thighs. He yanked Cooper to the edge, drawing a rough pant out of Cooper’s mouth. The breath flooded against his tongue and he growled, digging his fingers into Cooper’s neck and hair, moving him where and how he wanted to get a better angle to kiss him.
“I love you,” Cooper tried to say, but Adam kissed the words out of his mouth.
The timer on the oven rang and Adam reached over, twisting the knob from 420 degrees to off. He reached back for Cooper, sliding his arms up his back and kissing up the long column of his throat.
“Dinner will keep,” Cooper whispered, the words trailing into a moan when Adam bit the skin beneath his chin. “Needs to cool anyway.”
Adam snaked his hands under Cooper’s thighs and picked him up, moving a step away from the counter before turning and heading down the hall, taking Cooper to the bedroom.
