“Then I expect you to do some shit worth apologizing for on the way home.”
Home? No, he wouldn’t be following that rabbit either. Not yet.
“Your place or mine?”
“Yours. I want to meet all those books you’re always talking about. There’s a little something being added to the collection, and I need to make sure there’s room.”
Heath looked at him with wide eyes. “Tell me you didn’t.”
“I didn’t.”
Relief clashed with crushing disappointment. He could never have accepted such a lavish gift.
“Olivia did.”
“No!”
Tears blurred his vision with such expediency, they were pouring down his cheeks before he had time to react. Evan cupped his face, brushing them away with a sweep of his thumb, and the contact repaired every broken connection he’d felt sparking and causing fires since April.
“It’s a conflict of interest to bid on my own auction. Plus, I know you can’t say no to her.”
“Evan—”
“Consider it a Christmas gift. A fair swap for your copy of Proust.”
“That book is in tatters! That’s not a remotely fair comparison.”
“Actually, I had it re-bound. There’s this guy in New York?—”
“Evan!”
“What? You gave it to me. I can do what I want with it.”
Heath covered his face to mute the sound of his crying, but Evan’s hands slipped beneath his, pulling his face forward for the lightest of kisses. “You think you need to apologize when all I want to do is thank you.”
“For what?”
“Showing me who I am.”
“All I’ve done since we met was nag you.”
“New kink unlocked.”
A laugh broke through the tears, and Evan kissed him again, this time with the full force of his appreciation. Heath returned the fervor, setting loose months of missing him with a throaty groan.
He could trust this man. This perfect stranger who’d flipped his world upside down and reminded him that tattered books could always be re-bound. Restored by the love and care of someone who treasured their story.
Even the long, boring, and old ones.
epilogue
. . .
Five Years Later:
“Happy birthday, dear Evan! Happy birthday to you!”
“Is this where you throw me in a boat, push me out to sea, then light it on fire?”
