“Yeah, me too,” Roman murmured, holding him a little bit closer. “But, babe, that’s a man singing it. Smokey Robinson is his name.”
“Huh. Really?”
“Yep. You like that I have a hold on you?”
“Yes, I love it,” Ezra said softly.
Roman stopped dancing for a moment to gaze down upon his sensitive lover. “Ezra, I love you.”
Ezra glanced up, smiled disarmingly, and said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, “Yes, Roman, I love you too.”
It was just that easy. Saying the words aloud to one another and knowing they were the absolute truth. But then… what did it mean for their future? Ezra would be graduating in just a couple of months and had already started looking for programming work in his field. Jobs that would certainly take him away from New Orleans and out of Roman’s life forever. What the hell was Roman going to do about that? He couldn’t get in the way of Ezra’s career, couldn’t ask him to stay here with him… could he?
* * *
“I’m in love with Ezra,”Roman said to Jay the following Saturday afternoon. They’d just finished their workout, followed by a quick shower, and were picking up lunch from a nearby street vendor to eat in the park.
“Yeah, no shit. You been in love with him since…” Jay squinted. “That Saints game back in August when they beat Houston.”
Had it really been that long?
“How’d you know?” Roman asked.
“Remember when Ezra fell asleep at halftime and you got all touchy about anyone coming near him?”
“Yeah,” Roman said with a certain fondness. The feeling, only a tiny bud back then, had certainly blossomed. “Well, now it’s reached terminal velocity.”
“Meaning?”
“That’s the point at which…” Roman shook his head. Ezra was really rubbing off on him. “Ezra’s graduating soon and he’s starting to look for jobs, ones that aren’t here in Louisiana.”
“Shit, man, what are you going to do?”
“I don’t know. I mean, I know what Iwantto do.”
“Yeah, what’s that?”
Was it crazy for Roman to be contemplating forever? It had only been nine months they’d known each other, four months that they’d been intimate. But Roman knew he wanted to spend his life with Ezra, wake up to him every morning and come home to him every evening, take care of him and spoil him too, build a life with him. “I want to marry him.”
Jay nodded like it made perfect sense. “Yeah, I’d lock that shit down if I were you.”
“You would?” Jay had always seemed like such a free agent when it came to dating, never wanting to commit to any one man for very long.
“Hell yeah. Better put a ring on that finger. You let Ezra loose in a place like Palo Alto or San Francisco, he’s going to be like a little nerd magnet for all those rich techie playboys. They’ll be standing in line waiting to troubleshoot that ass if you know what I mean.”
“I do know what you mean,” Roman growled. He imagined Dev Kumar a few years from now with a better haircut and an expensive suit.The long game, he’d said. Just the thought of another man hitting onhisEzra was enough to raise his blood pressure.
“The whole Geek Squad just prowling around taking numbers,” he continued.
“Yes, Jay, I get it.”
“But, you know, only if you’re ready.”
Roman knew exactly what he wanted, but as ever, he didn’t want to pressure Ezra into a commitment he didn’t want or wasn’t ready for. Ezra was young and just beginning his professional life. He hadn’t traveled widely or much at all, though Roman would certainly enjoy seeing the world with him, if that’s what he wanted.
“What about him, though?” Roman asked. “I’m his first and only lover. What if he wants to, you know, sow his wild oats?”
“You talking kinky stuff or sex with other men?”
