River lifted his own wine glass over his mouth, obscuring his expression slightly. “I didn’t think you had, but we haven’t talked about it, either.”
“Right,” I nodded. “Well, I just wanted to let you know, I’m happy to keep it this way, if you want.”
“Exclusive?” River asked as he set the wine down, hope pulling at his voice.
“You’re not hooking up with anyone else,” I explained. “And even though I guess I could, I haven’t thought about it.”
River wiggled his eyebrows. “You’ve been so satisfied.”
I grinned at him. “I guess so, yeah.”
He thought about it for a second, and I stood to stir the sauce and the vegetables. “Thanks, Leo,” he finally answered. “I assumed you weren’t sneaking out for random sex. I guess I just figured you would tell me if you were. But it’s a big comfort to have it confirmed, actually.” He took another quick sip of his wine. “And if we’re going to be exclusive…”
I turned over my shoulder and give him a low growl. “That’s what I was thinking.” I grabbed my phone, then messed around until I pulled up the results from my latest STI test from earlier in the summer. “Just for what it’s worth.”
River nodded quickly. “I’ll hit up the clinic this week.”
Satisfaction washed over me, and a new desire lit in my groin. Considering my sex life, I got tested once a month usually, but I understood that wasn’t exactly common practice.
“You know,” he continued, “it seems like things are pretty steady with us, huh?”
“Sure does.” I flipped off the stove and gave the pans one last stir.
“Doesn’t that mean…” He trailed off, but I knew where he was going.
“We should tell Kai,” I admitted.
“Seems like it.”
I sucked my teeth. “I’m so used to ignoring this problem, I almost forgot we were going to have to deal with it.”
“Me, too,” River said. “I just feel so guilty whenever I think about it, so then I stop thinking about it, which isn’t really a solution.”
I stood beside him and stroked his back. “You can still be proud of yourself. You’re still accomplishing a lot and staying focused, which is what you set out to do. I have faith that Kai will see that. It’s what he wants for you, too. He’ll be upset with us for a while, sure, and he’s going to make us grovel, but I know he’ll come along.”
River chuckled and pressed his face against my chest. “You have no idea how many times I’ve had to grovel my way back to Kai.”
I snorted a laugh. “Trust me, I put him through hell when we were in college. But he always had a lot of patience for me, and he stuck around even when I was a mess, and look at us now.”
“I think he learned some of that patience from growing up with me,” River laughed. He wrapped his arms around my sides and sighed. “You’re right. He’ll come along. It will just suck to see him hurt.”
We stood like that for a second, and I rocked back and forth to the R&B song. The savory scent of dinner lingered in the air, and River’s weight was warm and comfortable in my arms. It all felt so normal and so good—making dinner for him, asking about his day, celebrating his successes, even when they were small. Whatever we’d figured out was so much better for each of us than what we’d each been doing before, and I had to believe that Kai would see that and understand why we had acted the way we had.
River leaned back and tilted his head up to me. I studied the high arch of his cheekbones, his long, dark eyelashes, and the way his tongue danced across the back of his teeth. I’d seen his face so many times, but it still fascinated me. It still grabbed my attention and insisted that I stare at the miracle that River was.
How lucky was I, to spend even a little time with his big, open heart? He was unlike anyone I had ever meet before, and being with him had shifted my world in ways that I never expected.
I leaned down and took him in a kiss. Our lips swept together, and my hands found his hips. He curled a leg behind my knee, kissing me back harder and faster.
Suddenly, I realized that I had everything I could possibly need. For years, I’d been driven by a hunger to grow the business, a need that was louder than anything else. But with River in my arms, all my priorities shifted, and my own world opened up to welcome his heart.
He kicked back the stool, and I spun him and pressed him against the counter. River whimpered my name, and out of nowhere, I knew the truth.
This was love. I was in love with River. It wasn’t something to be afraid of or to push away. It was just true, and my heart sang with the realization.
“What in the fuck!”
River jumped out of my arms, and I felt a jolt of pain at the sudden separation. Standing at the entrance to the kitchen, a bag of takeout in his hand, Kai stared at us with a slack jaw and rage etched across his face.
