“One more demand,” I said as he lined himself up against my hole, his head nudging against me and promising ecstasy.
“What’s that?” he asked, pausing.
“Always call me Raf,” I whispered, and he plunged into me so hard and so fast I saw stars – and nothing else for the next century, it felt like, as he hit that bundle of nerves at my core again and again, sending me to a place I barely even recognized.
A place where I didn’t care or worry about how I looked. A place where I didn’t mind if things were out of place or fell on the floor or got dirty. A place where I didn’t think about my problems because I wasn’t thinking at all, because the only thing I could do wasfeel.
It could have been minutes, hours, weeks, or eons before we both reached our peak; Drake first, losing himself in a staccato rhythm as he came inside me, then took me in his hand to help me over the finish line as well.
We lay panting, limbs tangled together in the sheets of my bed, and that was when I knew.
It hadn’t been a fluke, last time. It hadn’t been a one-off.
It was real.
And Drake was going to be it for me.
Drake
“Are you really sure about this?” I asked.
“Of course,” Rafael said. He paused and went up on his toes to kiss me before carrying on his way, supporting the box with both hands. I watched him with a mix of jealousy, guilt, and fear. I should have been helping. He was doing all the work. Was this the right way to start our lives together? To make him resent me because I wasn’t doing anything to help?
“I mean, really?” I said. It wasn’t as though I had a lot of furniture or boxes, but still. I grabbed one of my chairs with one hand and followed him; it was just about all he would let me do. My arm was strapped across my chest, where he knew I wouldn’t be tempted to use it.
“I’m sure, dumbass,” Rafael said, putting the box down on his living room table with a sigh and turning to flick me on the bicep. “Stop trying to talk me out of it.”
“That’s romance for you,” I said, affronted. “I call you Raf, and you call me dumbass.”
He chuckled. He smoothed his hands over my biceps and shoulders, soothing me. “I don’t have any doubts about us,” he said. “Do you?”
“No,” I admitted.
It was only the voice in the back of my head that did. To be honest, it was the voice of everyone else, not my own. It wasthe voice of everyone I knew who would have said, isn’t this a bit soon? Aren’t you crazy to move in with, work with, and thoroughly depend on someone who you’ve only been seeing for a few weeks?
But Rafael was right. The answer to both of those questions was no; I didn’t have any doubts. We were meant to be.
And even if we weren’t, if this was all a mistake… it wouldn’t take much to extricate ourselves from each other. A new start with a new job and a new apartment in a new town – I’d done it before. It would hurt, but if I needed to, I could do it.
And if I didn’t need to?
This would end up being the best decision of my life.
“Are you sure you don’t think it’s too soon?” I asked, just because I had to ask him one last time.
“Who cares about the timing?” Rafael shrugged. “You don’t have anywhere to live. There’s no point in you spending money on a hotel or renting someplace awful just to get a roof over your head when there’s enough room for you here.”
“I shouldn’t have told the landlord I was leaving,” I sighed. “I just… before you came and told me about Grey, I was convinced I’d made a mistake and I had lost my job for good. I thought I needed to minimize the amount I’d owe in future rent, and get out of Dodge.”
“Well, I’m just glad I caught you before you did that,” he said with a grin. “Look, if it turns out that it’s awful or it is too soon, you can just move back out. Okay?”
I nodded, glad he was seeing the same side of things that I was. At least we were on the same page.
Truth be told though, on my side at least, I didn’t think I was going to ever want to move out. Not unless we were both moving out together to get a nicer place.
Because Rafael already felt like home, and I never wanted to give that up.
“Is that everything?” Rafael asked, looking around with a raised eyebrow.
