His face split into a grin. “Well, you are,” he said. “And I won’t hear otherwise.”
“You aresonot straight,” I said, grinning right back. “No straight man would ever say that to me.”
“I’m not,” Kieran agreed, pressing soft kisses along my jawline. “I’m really not. And I don’t wanna pretend I am anymore.”
I reached out to thread my fingers through Kieran’s hair, stroking gently through the strands at the back. “You don’t have to. I’ll help.”
“You alreadyhavehelped,” Kieran said. “Accidentally came out twice already. No, wait, three times, but that was more Carter figuring it out for himself.”
“Who were the other two?”
Kieran cleared his throat, a hint of color in the ridges of his cheekbones. “Mrs. Kwan,” he said. “And Morgan.”
“Mrs. Kwan? The Korean takeout lady?”
Kieran shrugged. “She’s my friend. Gets me to do a lot of little things around her restaurant. And then she tried to set me up with her nephew,” he added, wrinkling his nose.
“Was he hot?” I teased.
“He’s a lawyer and he lives in San Francisco,” Kieran said.
“Oooh, so he’s rich. And I hear the weather’s nice there.” I beamed up at Kieran. “You think she’d setmeup with him?”
Kieran’s mouth fell open, but the laughter in his eyes told me he knew I was joking.
OfcourseI was joking. I was sure Mrs. Kwan’s nephew was a perfectly nice man, but I had the man Iwanted.
The man I was meant to be with.
“She did say he might come to Slow Falls for Thanksgiving,” Kieran said. “Maybe you could come down, too.”
“Maybe I could,” I agreed.
We had work ahead of us, figuring all this out.
… but I was already wondering if Kieran wanted to move into a little cabin in the woods with me. Maybe. Someday.
“Maybe you could come down whenever you’re working on a book, and I could cook for you, and you’d have more time to write,” Kieran suggested, nuzzling my neck as he worked his way down, light, soft kisses torturing me.
“Would that give memoretime?” I asked, sliding my hands under the hem of his shirt. “Because I feel like I’d be distracted.”
“Distracted how?” Kieran asked, a sly smile spreading over his lips as he kissed down my chest, pausing over my heart.
Howdid I get so lucky? I couldn’t possibly have done anything to deserve this.
But Kieran washere, and that was all that mattered. I had a chance to keep him and I planned on grabbing it with both hands.
“Oh, I dunno. There might be this really hot guy living in your apartment who keeps looking at me like that.”
“Like what?” Kieran asked, suddenly innocent.
“Likethat,” I said. “And like every other way you look at me.”
“Yeah?” Kieran smirked. “You should hook me up with this guy. He sounds like fun.”
“He is fun,” I said, running my thumb over the shell of Kieran’s ear. “And he’s smart and kind and gentle, and he puts up with me even though heknowsme. One of a kind, really.”
Kieran turned his head to kiss my palm, lacing our fingers together and then moving to my wrist, soft, quick kisses trailing all the way to the inside of my elbow.
