I expected some internal resistance after saying that for the first time and really meaning it. The label wasn’t fake any longer. But resistance never showed. The label was a seamless fit. A transition that felt as natural and familiar as the rising sun’s warmth against my skin. When I met his gaze, I knew from the softness in his eyes that he felt the same. My boyfriend felt the sunrise.
“I don’t thinkwe’ve gone a day without talking since the dares started,” I mused Monday morning when we ruefully untangled ourselves from one another after the most cathartic weekend of our lives.
“I know we haven’t.” David was in the steamy bathroom, trying to see through the fog from my recent shower as he shaved.
I snorted. “You don’t know that.”
“I know it.” He turned on the tap to rinse off his razor. His gaze remained on me through the mirror, watching as I tugged on my underwear and pants.
“Yeah, well, according to you, you know everything,” I muttered under my breath.
“What was that?” He raised an amused brow and turned off the water to hear me better.
“Nothing.” I shrugged on my jacket with a smile. Messing with him would always be my favorite pastime, no matter how many times we slept together. In fact, the jabbing made sex more fun. It’d taken me over a year, but I’d willingly admit to having a fetish for back and forth. Pushback would always be my favorite brand of foreplay.
“There’s never nothing with you.” He stepped out of the bathroom, clean-shaven and smelling like spring.
“I have to go.” I sat on the couch and tugged on my socks, ignoring the look on his face when he came closer. “I have a lot of work to do.”
David kneeled in front of me. “So do I.”
His hand cupped my chin, guiding me toward his lips.
“You’re not acting like it,” I murmured right before he kissed me. David took his time, pulling me far away from my ever-looming task list so I was weightless for a moment.
“Aren’t I?” David teased me with one last kiss and unlaced my boot for me to slip my foot in.
I fought the urge to tug him back to bed as he tied both boots.
“All set.” He tapped the toe of the boot before pushing off the floor to go back to the bathroom.
I swallowed a sigh and pretended not to be annoyed at his ability (or at least, acting chops) to walk away without so much as a glance over his shoulder.
“What have you got planned this week?” he asked from the bathroom.
I pressed my fingers to still-tingling lips as I packed my bag. “The… my org’s masquerade.”
“This Saturday, right?”
“Right.” I pulled the bag over my shoulder.
“See you then.”
I froze, but he added nothing else as he unloaded his cleaning supplies from underneath the sink.
“See me then?” I asked.
He made a noise of approval, and I laughed.
“Oh, come on.” My smile faded. “You’re joking.”
David looked at me then and shook his head. “That’s a mean thing to joke about.”
I laughed. “You’ve joked about worse.”
He tilted his head from side to side. “Alright, sure.”
“You’re actually coming?”
