Rye smiled, and again, he stretched up at the same time that he tugged Jake down a little. He kissed Jake lightly, briefly, and when they parted, he held Jake there with him still, their foreheads touching and his eyes softly closed.
“I love you.” The words came as a barely-there whisper, his voice low and rough, even to his own ears.
But Jake must have heard them, because Rye felt him shudder, and his hand smoothed slowly around to Rye’s back, bringing Rye flush against his chest. Jake took a controlled breath, but then he shook again, his whole body trembling, and he lowered his head until he was resting his cheek against Rye’s.
Then, Jake whispered, “I love you, too.”
Chapter Sixty-Five
Jake
Jakestoodatthekitchen counter, sipping tea and staring out toward the inky blackness beyond the wall of windows on the far side of his living room. His chest felt tight as his mind wandered, and he set down his mug and ran a hand through his hair, still slightly damp from the shower he’d just taken.
Three days now. Rye had been staying here with him for three wonderful, amazing days, and they still had another week together before Shirley, Tanya, and Jon came back from their cruise.
But honestly, Jake was already thinking ahead to after that. Because these last three days might have been some of the best days of his life, and he almost couldn’t imagine going back to how things had been without Rye here.
He wassoin love, and Rye knew it now. Not only that, but Rye loved him too. The small, tentative words he’d told Jake two nights ago had made every single moment they’d spent together since, every single one of their touches and kisses more...more. Sweeter. More tender. More beautiful.
And he wanted it to stay just like this. He wanted to ask Rye to move in here with him.
The feeling was so strong, almost visceral, and Jake had certainly never felt anything like it before. Yet it seemed too fast, and it made him more nervous than anything else had so far. Because from the very first moment he’d met Rye, over a year and a half ago now, all Rye had ever really wanted was to gohometo be with his mom, to go back to the place where he’d grown up, the place that had been stolen from him, that place of safety and love.
Jake knew Rye felt comfortable here, too, at Jake’s home, but it wasn’thomehome for Rye. And so, Jake was hesitant. He knew they should talk—they had other reasons to need to talk as well, other reasons that had gotten harder and harder to ignore the last few days—but that also made Jake nervous.
Krista would tell him to stop being a lunkhead and just talk to Rye about how he was feeling, in a careful way, of course. And she was probably right. She was usually right. So maybe that was what he should do.
Quiet sounds from down the hallway pulled Jake out of his introspection, and he turned to see his boyfriend padding down the hall toward him, a book in hand and his reading glasses perched up on his head. Rye smiled when their eyes met, and that made Jake’s heart stutter with some unsteady rhythm.
God, he was gorgeous.
Jake tried to recover enough to remember what he’d been doing while Rye had been taking his shower and getting changed into his pajamas, but his brain seemed offline now, and all he could do was stare. Rye’s smile turned crooked, a little silly, and Rye shook his head and held up his book.
“You said we’d read, right? I brought a book. Where’s yours?”
Jake blinked. “Huh? A book?”
With another shake of his head and a small laugh, Rye angled toward the couch. “Here, we can both read mine. If you don’t mind YA fantasy, that is. It’s a new one I just picked up from the bookstore yesterday. Janice recommended it.”
Finally pulling himself out of the trance he’d fallen into, Jake straightened up and cleared his throat. “Uh, yeah. Yeah, sure, that’ll work,” he said, picking up his mug again as well as the other mug of tea he’d prepared for Rye. He started over to the couch to meet Rye, and they stopped together right at the corner. Rye smiled up at him and took the mug Jake offered.
“Thanks.” Rye stretched up and kissed Jake’s lips—a short, sweet kiss that made heat flare to life in Jake’s chest. And when Rye pulled back, he was grinning. He tilted his head toward the couch. “Come on.”
Together, they settled into one corner of the couch, Rye curled up against Jake’s chest in his usual spot. They both set their tea down on the coffee table, and Rye opened the book up to the first page.
“Just tell me when you’re ready to go on to the next page,” Rye said as he positioned the book so they could both read.
Jake nodded, though he was quite sure he wouldn’t be processing a single word of the book. He’d slipped his arm around Rye’s shoulders, his hand lightly gripping Rye’s upper arm, and he rubbed up and down gently, relishing the feel of bare skin against his palm. Rye usually wore long-sleeved T-shirts, except to sleep in, and this was the first time they’d come back to the couch to cuddle after getting ready for bed. Jake... appreciated this T-shirt much too much, it seemed.
He closed his eyes. Oh, yeah, he wasn’t getting any reading done tonight.
His hand stopped moving on Rye’s arm in some attempt to rein in his reaction. But when Rye made a small sound deep in his throat, a quiet whimper,Jake frowned, even as his body responded to the sound with another of those wonderful rushes of heat through his chest.
“Sorry, I’m distracting you,” he murmured, and he turned and placed a light kiss against Rye’s temple before letting his arm shift to rest along the back of the couch instead of around Rye’s shoulders. But apparently, that wasn’t what Rye wanted after all, because he laughed and shook his head, and then he reached back, took Jake’s hand, and brought it to his shoulder again.
“Distract me, please,” Rye said, his voice low and with a note to it that Jake had only started to hear maybe within the last day or two.
Oh, boy, they needed to talk.
