“Thanks for inviting me. I’m always so freaking happy when I’m with you.”
Scratch that—Callum’s sweet little mouth is the cutest thing about him. How is it that he always manages to say exactly what I want to hear?
“You’re so precious,” I murmur. “Such a sweet talker.”
He tenses, and doubt skewers my chest. “It’s because I like you, Ian. I like you a lot.”
Oh. He was scared of getting emotional.
I try not to smile like a creep, choosing to kiss his forehead instead. “I do too, if I haven’t made it clear.”
“It’s so clear,” he says. “Can I ask you something?”
“Yeah, sure.” I nod, not knowing what to expect.
“I know it hasn’t been that long, but…” Callum runs a hand down his face, pulling away, but avoiding eye contact. “Yeah, so I’d want to, shit, be, like…” He trails off, motioning between us with his large hands.
Holy—does he want to make things official?
I’m out here taking it slow and trying not to scare him off, and he goes ahead and moves things along himself. My chest is so full, yet so apprehensive at the same time, because the last time a guy started a sentence with something along the lines of “it hasn’tbeen that long,” he ended it with asking if I was cool taking it raw.
Freshman year was ass.
“Want me to finish that sentence for you?” I ask, and Callum nods. “You want to be together.”
The silence that follows lets a nugget of doubt weasel into my brain.
Please,pleaselet that be what you were trying to say.
He picks at the label on his beer bottle and returns my nervous smile. “Yeah.” He sucks in a breath, averting his gaze. “Do you want to be my boyfriend?”
Is there a stronger word than “yes”?
I stick a finger under his chin and lift, returning his gorgeous eyes to my line of sight. “Of course I want that. I’ve wanted to be with you for ages.”
That smile! Oh my god. My boyfriend’s smile iselectric, and I can’t hold back from kissing it. Him. Kissing him. My boyfriend. Kissing myboyfriend.
“Not that you weren’t already great, but I know you’re gonna be an amazing boyfriend,” I murmur. “Our friends are gonna be thrilled.”
Callum tenses up, so I trail my hands down and rub circles into his lats with my thumbs, making his solid body soften under my touch.
“I don’t know if I want to tell anyone else just yet,” he says. “Like, I’m really close to getting comfortable with coming out some more, but I’ll need a little time.”
“Doesn’t matter. I’ll wait for you.” Sensing an imminent apology, I press my mouth against Callum’s to cut him off. As much as I want to hard-launch my man on social media immediately and tell the world that we’re dating, I want him to be happy even more.
“Isn’t it supposed to be wholesome time now?” he mumbles through his busy lips.
“Fuck that.” I kiss Callum harder. “You’re the best, and now you’re my boyfriend.”
We pull back to breathe, pressing our foreheads together.
“Ooh, right,” he says. “We should consummate our bond later.”
I lose it. Callum has to hold me up by my underarms because I can’t help but keel over, laughing my head off, and that’s one of the last things you want to do when you’re chest-deep in water.
“Oh yes, my dearest,” I choke out between my borderline cackling. “Shall we make our union whole in the sacred water of this hot tub?”
“Yup. We gotta seal the deal.” He reaches for my cock, and I swat his hand away, even though the temptation to let him take me apart right here is threatening to overpower my few remaining scraps of common sense.
