“Yeah?” James asked, falling back onto his arms as Leon approached the bed.
“How about we circle back to that later, hm?”
“Well, you know what happens when people say they’re going to circle back,” James said, dropping down onto his back as Leon climbed on top of him. “You forget, and suddenly it’s two weeks after the holidays, and the project is nowhere near done, and you’re both left having to explain to your boss why–”
Leon placed his hand over James’ mouth as he began undoing the buttons on his shirt. “I will undress you one-handed if you keep pushing me. Or you can be a good little mensch and help,” Leon said, bending down to replace his hand with his mouth.
James hummed happily into the kiss and thrust his hips up against Leon’s ass.
“Is that a yes?” Leon whispered in his ear.
“Yes, my big baby,” James said.
He didn’t get the use of his mouth back for quite a while after that, which he figured was
well worth the joke.
“I don’t want you to be nervous,” James said as he held Leon’s hand on the walk from Leon’s car to the front door of James’ childhood home.
“Well, that makes two of us, but it doesn’t do a whole hell of a lot to make me feel less nervous,” Leon grunted, even as he squeezed James’ hand tighter.
“I promise she’s going to love you on sight. I’ve only ever told her nice things about you.”
“Other than all those years we sort of hated each other at work?”
James snorted. “It might be hard for you to believe this, given how you’re basically the center of my universe now, but it wasn’t always like that. I never used your name; I just said I had an office rival who got sent to accidental couples’ counseling with me.”
James nearly toppled over backward when Leon jerked to a stop.
“I’m…what?” Leon asked
Uh oh. He had meant it as a joke, sort of like “you’re not the main character, Leon, relax,” but…the truth was, Leonwasone of the main characters in James’ life. Or at least the very sexy “bad boy except not really” love interest.
“Uhm… You’re the center of my–”
Leon interrupted him with a kiss that tasted like salt and anxiety.
James kissed him back, squeezing Leon’s hand until his rings left grooves in both their fingers.
Leon was the one to break the kiss, and when he did, he stared hard into James’ eyes. “Are you just saying that to distract me?”
“I’m sorry, we literally share a calendar. Have you ever seen anything on there that isn’t a shared event with you or my mom?” James asked, unable to stop himself from resorting to snark, even all these months into their relationship. “You’re one of the two–okay, I mean, I guess now you’re one offourpeople in my life, but…that’s just the truth. It’s not an over exaggeration or a distraction. It justis.”
Leon searched his face as James began to lose feeling in his fingers. He was pretty sure it wasn’t from a lack of breathing, which happened to Leon when he got upset. It was because Leon had a stranglehold on his hand.
“Darlin’… I don’t know what to do with that thirty seconds before I meet your mother for the first time,” Leon said, and his voice was painfully sincere.
“You don’t need to do anything with it. I’m sorry if that was overwhelming or not something you wanted to hear. I was trying to make a joke, but I guess there was a little too much truth behind it.”
James gently rested his other hand atop their joined hands. Leon immediately loosened his grip, and his shoulders slumped out of their tense position.
“It’s not a bad thing. It’s…a lot, but a lot in a good way. I just…”
“Don’t know how to deal with it right now, yeah,” James said, desperately wanting to crack his knuckles but unable to do so since both of his hands were otherwise engaged. He settled for staring at his front door and gnawing on the side of his lip.
Leon was lucky enough to have a hand free, and he used it to cup James’ cheek and pull his lip out from between his teeth. The move was familiar, and in any other setting, it would besweet, caring, and verging on adorable. Right now, however, it was very unhelpful for all the feelings swirling around James’ gut.
“You’re one of my main people, too,” Leon said, tipping James’ chin up so he had no choice but to take in Leon’s earnest expression. “Probably also one of four, or maybe five if I count both Hailey and her mom.”
