“James?”
“Yeah?”
“Are you ever going to kiss me?”
My mouth went dry at that. Had he actually been thinking about that?
Clearly, he had.
“Do you want me to kiss you, Aleks?”
Aleks let out a soft sigh. His fingers were still on my face. He was toying with the hairs of my beard.
“I don’t know. No one’s ever done it before. What if I don’t like it?”
“Then I won’t ever do it again.”
He opened his eyes and stared into mine. “Would you still be my friend even if you couldn’t kiss me?”
This time it was my turn to touch his face. “Yes.”
“Good,” he said. He was about to close his eyes when I tipped his face up just a bit. He sucked in a breath and I knew it was because he thought I was going to kiss him then and there. The thought had crossed my mind, but I knew he wasn’t ready.
“Aleks,” I whispered. I could tell he was on the verge of drifting off.
“Yeah?”
“I’m going to make sure you like it, okay?”
A little smile drifted over his mouth and I found myself touching it. “Okay, James, I believe you.”
It was my turn to smile. His eyes drifted shut and then he was pushing against me. I wrapped my arms around him.
“James?”
“Yeah?”
“I think I’m going to like it too.”
I kissed the top of his head.
“James?”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t wait too long, okay?”
“Okay, Aleks, I won’t.”
“Good,” Aleks said on a sigh.
“James?”
“Yeah,” I said, unable to stop the smile that spread across my mouth. My name on his lips was heaven.
“You’ll always come for me, won’t you, James?”
I hugged him tighter. “Always,” I assured him.
