I placed the drinks and food on the bedside table and walked around Isaac to lock the bedroom door. Then, I walked toward him and put my hands on his waist, grabbing the hem of his sweater to take it off. I couldn’t wait to feel Isaac’s soft, warm skin against mine.
He held my wrists to stop me but didn’t remove my hands.
“Max, we need to talk first.”
“Can’t we talk naked?” I pouted.
He smiled but shook his head while he pulled me toward the two chairs facing the window on the other side of the room.
I sighed. This conversation wasn‘t going to happen in bed then.
“We need to talk because I turned up out of the blue, and if we don’t talk properly, we’ll end up in bed before we have a chance tofigure out if we’re on the same page.”
“Baby, if we’re naked in bed, we’re on the same page. Hell, we’re on the same book.” I tried to give him my best puppy eyes, but I knew he was right, we needed to talk.
We’d virtually ended our relationship at Lisbon airport, agreeing to be just friends. But the moment I saw him on the beach, I’d forgotten all that and attacked his mouth like I hadn’t spent the last month trying to come to terms with the fact thatI wouldn’t be with Isaac in the way I wanted.
“How long are you staying?” I asked.
“Until Dorian and Jean-Paul come back from France. I’m covering the running operations of Liberty Center while they’re away.”
It made sense now. That was the reason they had kept all details of their absence under wraps and hadn’t asked for my help. Which also meant they’d known Isaac was coming and kept quiet about it.
“That’s it. They’re off my Christmas card list,” I said. “Wait, you’re here for two months?” My brain had just caught up with that part of the conversation. “Where are you going to stay?”
Isaac blushed and looked down at where our hands were interlinked.
“That’s why we needed to talk. I was, er, hoping I’d be able to stay with you, you know, try the relationship thing, and figure out what to do when the two months are up. I want to stay here, Max. With you.”
I was so sure I’d heard it wrong that I didn’t say anything.
“Oh,” he said. “I… we don’t have to. I mean, Joel and David are going back, so I can stay—”
“Fuck no, you’re staying with me.” I pulled him off his chair toward me so he didn’t have a choice but to straddle me.
“Are you sure?” He seemed uncertain.
“Of course, baby. I’m sorry. I’m just trying to get my brain to catch up. I’ve spent all day trying to come up with some kind of strategy to keep busy so I’d stop thinking about you so much. And now you’re here, you’re staying, and—”
His lips were on mine before I could finish my thought.
“We can get naked now,” he said breathlessly between kisses.
All I could think was fucking finally. I resumed where I’d stopped earlier by ridding him of his sweater and then grabbed mine by the back of my neck and took it off, too.
His position made him the perfect height for me to lick and suck on his nipples, so I did just that. He cursed but didn’t tellme to stop.
We were both hard and grinding against each other, trying to find some kind of friction despite the two layers of underwear and jeans between us.
“Too. Many. Clothes.” I put my hands on his ass and got up, carrying him with me to the bed.
The rest of our clothes went flying across the room as we removed them as fast as we could before we settled with me on top of him fully naked.
“Show me how much you missed me,” Isaac said.
“We’ll be here a long time.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
