“Thank you.” Lulu swallowed, accepting the toothbrush from Xavi’s fingers, then stared at it like it was an alien tool from far out of space and not a damn toothbrush.
“What’s wrong?” Xavi’s brow furrowed, his coffee eyes filling with worry.
“Nothing.” Lulu’s gaze dipped to the toothbrush. Then, before he could look up again, he felt Xavi’s presence, so close to him, their chests brushing up against each other, his hot minty breath hitting Lulu’s nose.
“Will you look at me,mano?” Xavi’s voice came from far away, muffled by the ringing sound in Lulu’s ears, and he fixated on that small familiar word that they’d both spoken a thousand times or more.Mano. “Please.”
Looking up, he found Xavi smiling carefully at him, the very same sentence burning in his dark eyes that was racing through Lulu’s body.I want to, but I’m afraid.
“Are you…” Lulu started as he looked up at Xavi, their gazes locking onto each other. “Are you okay?”
Xavi tilted his head, that frown back. “About last night?”
“Yeah.”
“Yeah,cisne. Strangely enough, I am.”
“No… uhm… no…” He couldn’t bring himself to speak the word.
“Regrets?”
“Yeah.”
“None. I’ll never regret you,cisne.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“I know what you meant.” Xavi’s face sobered, heat moving through his eyes, determination too. Funny how Lulu knew every little thing about Xavi. How Xavi felt when he looked a certain way, how certain mannerisms were connected to certain thoughts, and right now Xavi looked fucking determined, without a trace of doubt in his eyes. Brushing his free hand across his face, Xavi took a deep breath. “Let me see if I can put this right.”
Lulu couldn’t help chuckling, although his heart was racing in his chest. It was so typically Xavi. Always so careful with words.
Scratching the back of his neck, Xavi held out his hand, and for a few seconds, it just hovered there between them. Then, carefully, he reached for Lulu, sweeping his fingers along Lulu’s forehead in a barely there touch, tracing the outline of a worried line, his touch just a whisper.
“Don’t worry,mano,” Xavi smiled, warmth dancing in his eyes. “It’s all good.”
Lulu sucked in a clipped breath, then another, Xavi’s touch so featherlight, yet so reassuring. Twirling his fingers around a stray lock of hair, Xavi exhaled, his chest vibrating against Lulu’s. Then, slowly, he tucked the strand of hair behind Lulu’s ear, his fingers lingering just a few seconds on the shell, before they traced its outline and brushed along Lulu’s earlobe. It was all so erotic yet so innocent, and Lulu’s body stirred with arousal like it had last night. Everything inside him screamed at him to leap into Xavi’s arms and just let their mouths, their tongues, and their bodies do the talking again.
Xavi tugged carefully at his earlobe, pulling Lulu from his lust-induced trance.
“From the first time I met you, there was a promise in your eyes.”
Lulu’s heart nearly stopped beating, then did a weird somersault-like flip in his chest. That was not what he’d expected Xavi to say, and it took him a few seconds to locate his own voice where it had dropped to his stomach.
“A promise?”
“Yes.” Xavi’s fingers moved from Lulu’s ear, down his neck, until his hand came to a stop just where Lulu’s neck met his shoulder. “That you could mean more to me than any other person ever would.”
“Okay…” He was in some alternate universe. He had to be. Or perhaps he was still asleep. That was a possibility, too. Anything to explain away what was currently happening, what Xavi was saying, with such stoic conviction in his voice and naked vulnerability in his eyes.
“A promise that we could be perfect together. Not flawed or scarred or—”
“Or broken?” Lulu blurted out of nowhere, but was met with a grateful smile from Xavi in return.
“Yeah.” A flicker of nervousness moved through Xavi’s eyes as he held his breath.
“I felt it too. I saw it. Part of me didn’t want to, though. To see it. To feel it.”
“Why not?”
