“Maybe. But I couldn’t have done it if I didn’t have Presley. He made me see myself clearly, and it wasn’t a pretty vision. It didn’t matter that my mother and my brother had said the same things to me.”
“So why do you think Presley was able to get you to challenge yourself? You hardly knew each other.”
“True. And yet it felt like I was waiting for him.” I took Press’s hand and squeezed it. “It took almost losing what I had to get me to focus on what’s important: the present and the future. Plus, I got tired of being angry all the damn time. It sucks the life out of you and serves no purpose. I let my father have way too much space in my head and my heart, instead of the one person who belonged there but didn’t feel he had a right to be.”
“That’s beautiful, Nate,” Carole said, teary-eyed. “My husband—Jerry—used to tell me he loved me every day before he left for work. Even after thirty years, I never got tired of hearing him say it.”
As we wrapped up the meeting, I murmured to Presley, “Did I tell you today that I love you?”
“I don’t remember.” His eyes danced. “Guess we’d better get home so we can play show-and-tell.”
I slipped my arms into my jacket. “I’m all for that, except I want to do both the showing and the telling.”
An hour later we lay naked in bed, him on his hands and knees, his beautiful ass in the air as I pumped into him. I thrust deeper, pressing my hand into the small of his back, and he arched underneath me. “God, I love you.” I felt huge and hard and so out of control, I knew it wouldn’t be long.
He pushed against my furious pumping and held on to the headboard. “Uhhh, me…too…Naaaate.”
He tightened around me and came, screaming out my name. I held his hips and pounded him harder as my vision grayed and the rush of pleasure swept through me. I came a minute after him, my forehead pressed against his sweat-slicked back. I pulled out, but Presley didn’t move. His eyes remained closed, dark lashes sweeping against the curve of his cheek. I thought of that woman, Carole, and how she sent her husband off to work with a kiss good-bye one morning, never knowing it would be their last.
What if that happened before I had the chance to let Presley know he never needed to worry again? I studied him as he slept, and an idea began to form.
* * *
“Times Square?” The look in Presley’s eyes could best be described as horrified. “On Sunday morning?” He frowned. “Why the hell are we going there? Let me check your native New Yorker card.”
I allowed myself a tiny smile. “You’re cute. And silly.” It had taken over a week’s worth of phone calls and calling in favors, but the time had come to set my plan in motion.
“No. Just tired.” As if to prove his point, he yawned and laid his head on my shoulder. “Someone kept me up last night. Late.”
“Didn’t hear you complaining.” I might’ve sounded a bit smug.
“You were away for eight days at that stupid conference. I kind of missed you.” He turned his head into my neck to press a kiss above the collar of my jacket.
“Kind of?” I tipped his chin up and touched his lips to mine, the sense of peace and rightness washing over me as it always did when I kissed him. “You jumped me at the door and had me naked in a minute flat.”
“Thirty seconds, but who’s counting?” he said. “And we have this gorgeous kitchen now, thanks to yours truly, so why are we here in this tourist trap when we could be having our waffles in bed?”
I bit back a smile at his grouchy tone and gazed out the window of our car as it stopped at the corner of 42nd and Broadway. “We’re here.”
Grumbling, he took my hand and followed me out of the Uber. “It’s not so bad yet, but it’s early.” He glanced at his watch. “Eleven. Huh, should be more crowded.”
I took his hand, and we walked down the block and into the middle of the pedestrian area where no cars were allowed. If everything went according to plan…ah, there it was. “Come on.”
“Nate, what’s going on?” He stopped, but I tugged him along. A round table, covered by a white tablecloth, sat alone in the center of the street, with two waiters flanking either side. One held a menu, and the other lifted the bottle of champagne from the bucket next to him. A single red rose sat in a thin glass vase.
“You’ll see. Sit next to me.”
I heardoohsandahhsfrom the crowd gathered behind the metal gates set up behind us. I’d contacted the police department about my plans and gotten permission to use them. Nothing could go wrong.
Eyes wide with questions, Presley sat next to me. “What are you doing? Why didn’t you tell me—mmph.”
I kissed him to shut him up and heard clapping behind us, but when Presley softened his lips to mine, I forgot everything else except this man who changed my world. I touched his face and pulled away, feeling as dazed as he looked. The waiter set down the menu and poured us each a glass of champagne.
A violinist approached, and I took Presley’s hand. He began to play, and we sat and enjoyed the haunting strains ofSalut d’Amour Opus 12by Elgar. When he finished, he bowed, and to applause from both of us and the crowd, walked away.
“That was truly magical.” Presley held my hand, and I picked up the champagne glass.
“Every day with you is magic. I couldn’t imagine where I’d be without you now.”
