“I appreciate that. Thank you.” He hung up and handed my phone back to me.
I looked at him, my brow raised as I pocketed it. “Did you just name-drop yourself?”
A faint flush crept into his cheeks as he picked his bag up off the floor. “I’ve never done that before.”
“It was kind of hot,” I said, draping my arm over his shoulder and turning us toward the exit.
Several minutes later, we were seated at a table in the far corner of the room, the din of conversation around us making it so that no single discussion stood out. In a crowded restaurant, we managed to feel like we existed in our own private world.
“My condo should sell pretty quickly.”
Taylor’s thumb traced a slow circle on the back of my hand. “What does that mean, timeline-wise?”
We were holding hands. In a restaurant. In public.
And I was smiling so wide my cheeks had started to ache.
“It means I could probably be out of there by mid-February if someone were willing to put up with me in their house while I figured out a more permanent arrangement.”
The grin that broke out across his face was almost giddy. “Funny you should mention that. I know a guy looking for a roommate.”
“Do you?” I asked, playing along.
He nodded. “Big house. Decent neighborhood. Owner’s very accommodating.”
“Accommodating, how?” I smirked, enjoying the playful turn our conversation had taken.
He squeezed my hand, the silly grin transforming into one that was softer. Sweeter. “Are we really doing this? Moving in together?”
I turned my hand over beneath his, lacing our fingers together in a restaurant we’d never been to before, in a city I hadn’t planned on staying in, with a man I’d somehow managed to find twice in one lifetime.
“Twenty-two-year-old me would never believe it.”
“I can barely believe it now.”
The waiter appeared, refilled our water glasses, and then disappeared again. Taylor and I never took our eyes off each other.
“I’ll need to go back pretty soon to figure out what to pack or sell,” I said.
“I can go with you.” He slid his hand free and moved to reach into his pocket, presumably to check his calendar app. He frowned, then patted his other pocket. “Shit. I left my phone in my bag."
“We’ll figure out the schedule,” I told him. “We’ll make it work.”
“Together.”
“Together,” I confirmed.
Nearly three hours later, we walked the seven blocks back to the player parking garage with our hands linked together, our breath fogging in the cold. Once along the way, Taylor stoppedus under a streetlight to kiss, and it didn’t even occur to me to panic about being seen.
By the time we made it back to his house, it was close to eleven o’clock, but I wasn’t even remotely tired. I was wired with the thrill of possibility, of knowing that something good had come from all the bad.
The front door had barely closed behind us before Taylor had me pressed against it, kissing me like he’d been thinking about this all night.
I laughed against his mouth as he undid my belt. “Someone’s impatient.”
“Someone’s wearing too many clothes,” he said, lowering my zipper and dropping to his knees, pulling my pants and underwear down as he went. My cock sprang free, and he wrapped his fist around it, stroking it slowly and looking up at me, his hazel eyes dark with lust. “I’ve wanted you in my mouth all night.”
My headthunkedback against the door as he took me straight to the back of his throat, no hesitation, like he reallyhadbeen looking forward to it, his mouth making wet, obscene noises as he bobbed up and down.
