“No?” Rafael’s lips curved into a teasing smile, and I knew there was nothing I wouldn’t do for this man, nothing I wouldn’t give to have him beside me like this, every night, for the rest of our lives.
“Nope. You’re stuck with me now.”
Rafael leaned in and ghosted his lips over the top of mine. “Then I’m exactly where I want to be. Mmm, spearmint and?—”
“You.” I grinned against his mouth.
“Good combo.”
“The fucking best.”
He chuckled and rolled to his back, and I automatically moved in against his side.
“Still hasn’t cleaned your mouth out, though.”
“Do you really want it to?”
Rafael arched a brow at me but then laughed. “Nah, not really.”
He closed his eyes and laid our hands over his heart, and with every gentle rise and fall of his chest, I felt my eyes begin to close. But I didn’t want to fall asleep, not yet—didn’t want the night to end—so instead of letting the silence surround and draw us into its grasp, I whispered, “Are you happy?”
It was a question I’d asked of him just recently. One he’d paused in answering. But there was no hesitation tonight. “The happiest I’ve ever been in my life.”
I placed a kiss against his ribs, then laid my head there. “Then that’s the goal.”
“The goal?”
I nodded and nuzzled into him, inhaling his scent. “To make every day the happiest you’ve ever been in your life.”
“As long as you’re there, it’ll be the best day.”
“Then the rest of your life is going to be fucking epic.”
He brought our hands up to his mouth and pressed a kiss to my palm. “I’m counting on it.”
I wasn’t sure how long I lay there, listening to the sound of him breathe, but when he drifted off into a peaceful slumber I wasn’t far behind, chasing him into his dreams, more than ready to wake up tomorrow and give him the best day of his life.
Ever.
34
ALESSIO
“OH NO,” I murmured as I struggled to open my still-sleep-heavy eyes. I could hear cabinet doors opening and shutting in the kitchen, and when I reached out to the other side of the bed, Rafael was gone. Gone from the bed, but not my apartment, because his off-key humming carried through into my room, entirely too cheerful for such an early hour. “Ah, shit. I’m in love with a morning person.”
Just another way we were opposites, and something told me I’d be curbing my late-night habits one day soon.
But it was worth it. Worth it to have Rafael in my house, rummaging around, making himself at home.
Yawning, I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and groggily sat up. Our clothes from last night had littered the floor, but there was no trace of them now, and even Rafael’s side of the bed was made.
God, the man really was perfect.
My hair was a mess of tangles from Rafael’s fingers in it all night, and I gathered it up in a knot and tied it back before throwing on some sweatpants and heading out into the kitchen.
And for a long time, all I could do was stare.
His hair was damp, like he’d just taken a shower, and he was barefoot and wearing only a pair of my sweatpants and a t-shirt, both of which were slightly too big for him. The pants should’ve been too short for him, but they sat low enough on his hips that a few inches of skin was revealed when he reached up in one of the cabinets to grab a coffee mug.
