“Can I have?—”
“You can have anything.”
Andrew’s mouth quirks up at the corner. “What if I asked for your BUGATTI?”
“It’s yours.”
Andrew scoffs like Nicholas is joking. He’d have the pink slip changed tomorrow if Andrew wanted it.
“I rather love your house.”
“That’s already yours.”
“It’s not,” Andrew laughs, clearly still under the misassumption that Nicholas is joking. “But what if I wanted something slightly less expensive, but far more precious?”
“Diamonds?”
“A kiss.”
Nicholas is rendered speechless. For all their touching, all their intimacy, this is one thing they haven’t shared. They were close a few times, but with Andrew’s illness and then the stress of packing, Nicholas wasn’t going to push, even though he suspected it might be coming.
His Andrew is a gentle creature, and Nicholas has learned to let him come to him when he’s ready.
“Princess, you can have all the fucking kisses you want.”
“Alright,” Andrew whispers before closing the distance and finally, fucking finally, pressing those pretty lips of his against Nicholas’s. He tastes like dark chocolate and red wine, like luxury and home, and Nicholas growls into the kiss, tangling his fingers in Andrew’s hair to deepen it.
Clearly, Nicholas did something good in a past life because Andrew lets him, slipping his tongue into Nicholas’s mouth and making Nicholas rock hard at thirty thousand feet. It’s on the tip of Nicholas’s tongue to beg Andrew to get into his lap and continue whatever magic it is he’s doing with his mouth when the flight attendants make the final call to prepare for landing.
“Fuck,” Nicholas pants, leaning back in his seat with a hard on and a happy heart.
Andrew says nothing, but the quiet way he exhales and the color on his cheeks lets Nicholas know he’s not the only one affected.
The flight attendant makes an announcement about buckling their seatbelts, but before Andrew can do his own, Nicholas pushes his hands away, securing Andrew’s seatbelt. The surprised smile Andrew gives him affirms Nicholas’s commitment to protect and worship this man every damn day of their lives.
“I uh…I like kissing,” Andrew quietly admits. His hands are in his lap, fingers tapping against his left palm. “I wasn’t ready before, I’m sorry.”
“No apologizing,” Nicholas reminds him, reaching for his hand as the plane begins its descent.
There’s a swooping sensation in his chest that Nicholas knows has nothing to do with their rapidly changing elevation. Giving Andrew’s hand a gentle squeeze, he pulls it against his chest and breathes in slowly and deeply, hoping he isn’t making a huge mistake bringing Andrew to New York.
20ANDREW
“When you saidyou booked a room at a nice hotel, I thought you meant like a deluxe room,” Andrew gapes, turning in circles to take in his current surroundings.
Knowing how much Andrew needed to plan, Nicholas had given him the name of the hotel he booked so Andrew could look it up online and acquaint himself with the amenities and layout. What Nicholas failed to mention is that rather than booking one of the deluxe rooms like Andrew assumed, he booked the penthouse suite.
The hotel room, which is honestly more of an apartment, is over four thousand square feet of opulent luxury with gilded crown molding, equally beautiful furniture and Andrew’s favorite classical music already playing in the background.
Their accommodations for this weekend include the entire top floor of the hotel, affording them picture perfect views of Central Park and the New York skyline, lit up in twinkling lights this time of night. There are three bedrooms, three bathrooms and an entire formal dining room.
“It’s a hotel room,” Nicki shrugs, like it isn’t wildly more than they need for just the two of them.
“It’s ridiculous,” Andrew counters, unsure why they would need multiple bedrooms or a dining room. Especially since they’re only here for two nights. Given Andrew’s work schedule, he’d only been able to get Monday off to rest after their unexpected change in travel plans for the weekend. “The penthouse suite though, Nicki. Really?”
“A room fit for a princess.” Nicki crowds up behind Andrew and walks them to the largest window, the one overlooking the entire city. “Do you like the view?”
“I do,” Andrew confirms, struggling to focus on how pretty the view is while worrying about finances. “But uh, how much does this cost? I’m not sure I can afford to split it.”
