“It’d be so easy to fall in love with you again.” Hell, Sandro was more than halfway there already.
“Yeah.” Bennett swept a thumb over Sandro’s cheekbone. “I know the feeling.”
Eyes burning, Sandro dragged his palms up Bennett’s chest to cup the sides of his neck. “Things can be different this time.”
“Things will be different this time.”
With that understanding between them, Sandro surged upward and kissed him. Bennett kissed him back as if he’d just solved all the secrets of the universe, and it made Sandro feel both ten feet tall and anchored in this very moment. He pushed Bennett backward onto the bed, following him up until they were sharing the same pillow.
Curled into Bennett’s side, Sandro propped his head on one hand and traced Bennett’s lips. He hated that Bennett had always felt the need to hide his pain. To make himself smaller and easier to handle to make everyone else’s life easier. It was a product of his upbringing, of wanting to make his mom’s life easier—Sandro understood that. Had understood that from the first time Bennett had brought him home their sophomore year.
So, of course, when his rookie season had failed to live up to his expectations, he’d shut down. Of course he had. It was ingrained in him to deal with everything himself.
Sandro just wished he’d seen the behavior for what it was at the time.
“Don’t hide from me again, okay?” He tapped Bennett’s chest, over his heart. “I want to know what’s going on in here. I want to know you. Let me. Okay? You’re allowed to take space in my life. Hell, take all the space.”
Bennett’s lips twisted into a small smile. “Yeah, I’m beginning to see that.”
Tugging the cover over them, Sandro laid his head on Bennett’s shoulder.
And they stayed that way until they fell asleep.
chapter sixteen
“She needs a new engine, eh?” Sandro stood amid the clanking of tools and chatter of conversation at his favorite auto body shop the following morning and patted the hood of his SUV.
“Definitely.” Adam, the mechanic Sandro had been taking his precious baby to from day one, nodded. “And replacing an engine often necessitates replacing other worn-out components. Here’s the cost estimate.”
Sandro accepted the printout from Adam and gave it a quick once-over. “What do you think?” he asked, handing the paper to Bennett.
“Will she run for another fifteen years if the engine gets replaced?” Bennett asked.
Adam shook his head. “If she had less mileage, yes. But Sandro, my man . . . you’ve put a ton of mileage on this car.”
Sandro patted the hood again and forced himself not to get emotional. He’d pushed her to her limit, hadn’t he?
“That’s what happens when you drive from here to Tobermory and back multiple times a year,” Bennett said.
“Want my opinion?” Adam asked.
Sandro nodded. “Please.”
“Buy a new car. If you didn’t make the salary I know you do, I’d tell you to get the engine replacement and milk the next few years out of her. But you can probably afford to pay cash for a dozen of these. Get yourself a new one that has a remote starter and heated seats that actually work.”
Financially, sure, Sandro could buy a new car.
Emotionally? He wasn’t sure he was ready. This car had been his first large purchase after his rookie season, the first big thing he’d laid down his own hard-earned money for. It was also the first car that he’d chosen for himself and that hadn’t been a handoff from one of his older siblings. She’d been reliable and safe and had never let him down.
She’d been the new toy he’d driven around town the month after Bennett had broken up with him.
Darcy had accused him of participating in retail therapy, and maybe he had—the car had certainly improved his mood for a brief time.
And she’d been with him ever since.
It was stupid to be attached to an inanimate object, but tossing her aside for a new car felt like a betrayal.
Bennett’s palm landed on his back, and Sandro leaned into the touch.
