“That’s too cheesy sounding,” I said after rolling it around in my brain for a few seconds. “I honestly can’t think of a word to describe our relationship. It seems deeper than a general label I could slap on it.”
“Soulmate.” We were definitely getting warmer, but he continued talking before I could respond. “Damn, I hope you were smoother when you told him that you are in love with him. I mean, that drama queen display at the cabin was over the top.” I felt a shift in the air and my body responded to Liam’s nearness before he had even made his presence known to me. Sully was oblivious and kept talking. “I have an announcement to make,” he said mimicking my voice and my confession at the cabin. “I’m in love.” He took a dramatic sigh on the other end of the phone, but I was busy paying attention to the hands that snaked around my waist and were sliding their way up my chest. “With a guy,” Sully said with a dramatic flair.
I felt Liam’s hot breath falter against one of my shoulders that were exposed by the tank top I wore at the same time that his body went rigid where it pressed against mine. I realized then that he overheard Sully teasing me about the way I came out to my family, which included a confession that I was in love. A confession that I had not shared with him – the man I confessed to loving. The fingers that had begun to tease my nipples stilled just before they pinched and twisted painfully.
“Ow. Fuck!” I’d revisit the part that turned me on later, and focused on the pain instead.
“What’s wrong, Dragon. Burn yourself?”
“Um…”
“Dragon will have to call you back, Sully. He has some serious esplaining to do,” Liam said, doing a bang up impersonation of Ricky Ricardo’s heavily Cuban accent. I never would have guessed that Liam was an I Love Lucy fan, but he sure had that famous line down pat. Liam reached over and hit the button on my phone that disconnected the call. There were several long moments of silence where we just breathed and then he said, “Is it true? Did you tell your family that you are in love with me?”
I turned to face him and looked down into his gorgeous hazel eyes. He saw the truth in my gaze, but I wanted him to hear the words, feel them in his heart. Maybe it wasn’t the sexiest way to tell him the feelings I had for him in my heart, but spaghetti and meatballs on a Wednesday night was going to have to do. “I did tell them that I am in love with you. I did make a grand statement just like Sully said. I even had the big dramatic pause like he teased me about just now.” Liam’s smile was so bright with happiness that I regretted not saying the words to him sooner. I cupped his face in my hands.
“I am in love with you. I can’t say for sure when it happened, I just know it did. You captivated me from the very first day we met. You woke something up inside me that I could no longer deny. That lust turned into love long before I tasted your kiss, knew what it felt like to be inside your body, or lay with you in my arms all night. I didn’t need anything physical to know what was in my heart.”Okay, I definitely channeled my Irish for that confession.
“Wow.” My sassy Liam didn’t have much to say, which was probably a first time since I’d met him. He closed his eyes for several long moments and I hoped it was because he wanted to pull my words into his heart and hold onto them, absorb them into his body, and imprint them on his brain. I also feared that he didn’t feel the same way about me, but if he gave me a fighting chance I’d win his love at any cost. Then he opened his eyes and the joy I saw in their depths told me all I needed to know. “I love you too, Jack. I probably have from the very beginning.”
I saw his lips tremble with emotion and I couldn’t resist pressing little kisses on them. I felt like every sacrifice I made, and hurdle I jumped, led me to this moment and I was never more grateful that I had waited for him. I may have given my body to others before him, but I had never given my heart. I would never disrespect the women I had known intimately by pretending that it never happened, but I could honestly say it had just been sex. I now knew the difference between sex and making love. Liam and I made love, even when we were clawing and going at each other like animals. Even though Liam, wasn’t technically my first sex partner, he was my first lover. The word wasn’t sounding so cheesy to me anymore.
Liam’s stomach growled loudly, causing his eyes to widen in embarrassment. “Help me figure out how to broil this bread and we’re ready to eat. Fuck!” I’d forgotten about the spaghetti noodles boiling on the stove. “I hope they’re not ruined.” I stirred the pot to break up the giant clump of noodles that had formed. I checked the time on the stove clock and they still had two more minutes to cook. “Crap the spaghetti will be done before the fucking bread is ready.” How did people get this timed out right?
“Can I please help you?” Liam’s soft voice didn’t hold an ounce of mockery. “You went to so much trouble, so let me help you finish it up.”
“Okay,” I agreed without hesitation. The last thing I wanted to do was ruin our dinner. “First, help me figure out how to broil this bread on low. Where is the broil button? I’m such an idiot.”
Liam studied the fancy stove and scowled. “You’re not an idiot, the designer of the stove is though.” Liam pushed the menu button a few times and found the broiling options. “There,” he said after he chose the option for low broil. He slid the pan into the oven and stepped back. “Do you have any vegetable oil or cooking spray?” I handed him the can of cooking spray and watched as he hit the water with a few squirts of it. He put the pasta spoon back in the water and stirred, separating the noodles far better than I had.
“Huh, that’s an easy fix,” I said. I decided to get out the wine glasses and the bottle of wine I had chilling in the refrigerator. I turned and found Liam looking at me with an expression I couldn’t quite read. I looked at the bottle of wine and then back at him. “You don’t like red wine?”
“Yeah, I do. It’s just that I usually drink something different with spaghetti and I’m going to sound like a five year old if I tell you.”
I grinned at him as I put the wine back in the refrigerator. I pulled a gallon of milk out and smiled at him. “Better?” His cheeks turned a cute shade of pink. “I prefer milk with mine too,” I confessed. “I was trying to look mature.” I poured milk into the wine glasses while Liam checked on the bread.
I loved the domesticity of setting the table, serving food, and chatting about our day while we ate. I was afraid my dinner would taste horrible, even though I followed my mom’s instructions step by step. It turned out really good and I was pretty damn pleased with myself. Liam’s moaning around a mouthful of meatballs helped stroke my ego and stir up my cock. I had something he could stuff in his mouth.
“So good.” He licked his lips and I was easily working up a totally different kind of appetite. “Huh uh,” he said, shaking his head. “I recognize that look and you’re not having your way with me until I’m good and stuffed.” He cocked his head to the side, realizing how dirty his statement sounded. “Eat,” he said, as he pointed towards my plate with his fork.
“Okay.” It was hard to chew food wearing a stupid grin on my face, but I did the best I could. It really was good food and I loved seeing Liam enjoy something I made for him. “I want to talk about what happened when Kristen stopped in for a visit,” I said, surprising both of us.
“You do?”
“I do,” I said firmly with a nod. “I’m very sorry for my stiff behavior when I introduced you to Kristen. I keep trying to prove to you that you’re important to me and that I’m not ashamed of you or us, but I keep fucking things up. I saw in your eyes how badly you wanted me to stake my claim on you by physically touching you and I just froze like a deer in the headlights.”
“I was going to bring it up tonight also,” he said, putting down his fork. “It did hurt my feelings, but I also knew you were trying. You didn’t hesitate to introduce me as your boyfriend, which I truly appreciated. I know that you’re not ashamed of me. I know this isn’t just sex; I can feel the difference when we’re together. I understand that it’s hard for you to change how you react after denying this side of you for twenty years.” Liam released a soft breath and reached across the table for my hands. “I love you, Jack. I didn’t repeat those words to you as a knee-jerk reaction. I didn’t just say them to appease you. I feel them in every fiber of my being.” His thumbs caressed the back of my hands while he searched my eyes. “I want to be able to hold your hand in public. I want everyone to know that I’m yours and you’re mine. I’m willing to wait until you’re comfortable, okay? I’ll follow your lead.”
“Liam, I’m not sure I deserve you.” My voice was raw with the love that only he made me feel in my heart. Only he made me want to take risks and be bolder. “I will try harder. I want to hold your hand and have it feel like the most natural thing in the world. I love that we belong to each other and I want people to know.”
“Kind of like your glare behind the bar?” I was sure my face looked a little sheepish at being called out for my barbaric behavior. Liam leaned closer and his eyes darkened with desire. “Don’t change that part. It makes me hot.” I raised my brow and was rewarded with a devilish grin. “So hot.”
“Good to know,” I replied after I cleared my throat. “Ace, I’m not always good with words. I made this dinner because that is what my mom always did to show her affection. This was my favorite dish and I wanted to make it for you to show that you’re important to me.”
“I love it, Jack.” I could tell by the earnest expression on his face that he did indeed love it. Liam was an open book and I loved that about him – no subterfuge or games. Just Liam. “I wish I knew your mom was coming though. I would’ve been home sooner.”
“She was planning on a visit before she returned to West Virginia. I can’t wait for my family to get to know you better.” I meant what I said; they were going to love Liam so much. “What do you want to do tonight?”
“How about story time? I’d love to know what happens next for Big Jack and Jeremiah.” He must have felt my hesitation at moving forward in the journals. “Jack?”
