“You don’t have to say anything. This is as much for me as it is for you. I never got to go to a normal birthday party. Everything was always so overdone. Like the parents cared more about looking better than the other parents than they did about their kids actually having a good time.”
“There’s just one problem, though.” I set the Lego aside and stood, pulling Sawyer against me. “You’ve set the second date bar really fucking high. It’s going to be impossible to top this.”
“And I’m not done yet.” He grinned at me then stole a kiss. Before I could process what he said, he stepped away, pausing only to grab a chair from the dining room table. “Can you bring another one?” He asked as he took the chair into the living room. I watched him set it in front of the couch. “Put it at the other end.” Sawyer told me. Him tearing the cushions off the couch and tossing them onto the floor got my attention.
“What are you doing?” I put the chair where he asked me to and watched as he unfurled a large blanket and draped it over the couch and the chairs.
“Building a blanket fort.” He looked at me, joy in his expression so bright it made my head swim. “Don’t ask why. Just get in and get comfortable. Oh, wait one second. I almost forgot.”
Sawyer darted away and returned seconds later with an armful of pillows. He chucked them into the fort and arranged them, then motioned for me to climb inside.
It was going to be a tight fit for two grown men, but maybe that was the point. It certainly wasn’t a drawback.
I got in the fort and arranged the pillows for maximum comfort. Sawyer appeared again, backing into the fort. He handed me a bowl of chips, and then I saw him pull a laptop into view.
“We’re going to watch a movie. Any requests?”
“This isn’t something they do at birthday parties, is it?”
“No, but I always wanted to do this at a sleepover. But my parents were ‘furniture is for status, not comfort’ kind of people. Mom would’ve shit kittens if I built a fort on the living room.”
“Am I sleeping over, Sawyer?”
He cast a sheepish look over his shoulder. “It wasn’t my plan because I’m not sure what qualifies as taking things slow, and I know you have Lara to think about, so you probably can’t or maybe don’t want to, but the offer is open.”
By the time he was done talking, his cheeks were red. He snapped his gaze away from me and fiddled with his laptop.
Shifting my weight so I could get to my pocket, I took my phone out and sent River a message using text-to-speech.
“River, if you’re still at the house, would you mind sticking around tonight and looking after Lara for me? Something’s come up.” I knew River would agree so I put my phone away without waiting for an answer.
“Lara loves him, and River owes me a favor,” I told Sawyer. “He’s one of my camera guys, and he’s a wizard with the editing software I use. He stayed behind today to do some work, so he’s already at my place. If you really wanted me to stay, that is.”
Sawyer glanced back at me. “I’d like that.”
He started the movie, opting forJurassic Park. “I figure we can have a dinosaur movie marathon.” He snuggled in next to me.
I spent the movie with my arm around him, and Sawyer nestled into my side like he belonged there. The fort he’d built us felt like it was part of a different universe. One where it was just the two of us and we had infinite time together.
When the credits rolled, he stretched. By this time, my ass had gone numb.
“As fun as that was, I hope you didn’t want us to sleep in here because I can’t feel my ass.”
Sawyer laughed. “I have a feeling that some things just aren’t as fun when you’re an adult, and that sleeping on the floor in the living room is definitely one of them. If I had one of those fancy four poster beds, I could turn it into a fort for us.”
“I’m sure that’s not necessary.” Reaching for him, numb ass be damned, I pulled him close. He shifted around to face me, and the smile on his face turned to something softer. Something full of want. Something that I was sure I felt too. A need deep inside of me to touch him. To be touched by him. To show him how much I cared about him in a language that I was used to speaking.
“Lukas.” A million questions flashed in Sawyer’s eyes, but he only spoke one of them. “Are you sure? You said?—”
“I know what I said, and I also know that if I don’t kiss you right now, I’m going to die.”
He melted against me, and I could feel the heat from his body through his shirt. “We can’t have that.”
“It would put a damper on my day, for sure. It is my birthday, after all, and I think the birthday boy should get a kiss.”
“Just a kiss?” Sawyer asked as one of my hands skimmed down his back, then lower, cupping the cheek of his ass.
“We’ll play it by ear.”
