“You’re rating this? And I only get a seven out of ten?”
“The edging cost you points.”
“The edging is why you forgot the pecorino ratio.”
I open my mouth. Close it. “Fine. Eight out of ten.”
I wet a towel and when I finish cleaning myself up, I clean him up, carefully, the way you’re careful with a man who has been taking you apart piece by piece. He watches me do it. Doesn’t say anything. His eyes are soft and his breathing is settled and I don’t make a speech about what this means because it doesn’t need a speech. It’s just what you do. You take care of the person who took care of you.
I pull him into me and settle against his chest. His mouth presses into my hair. My breathing slows against his shoulder.Tuesday night does what it does, which is nothing and also everything.
Chapter 18 — ZAY
Teo drops Parker’s carrier at my apartment Wednesday night with a typed list of feeding instructions and a Ziploc of her preferred treats. The list is formatted. Bullet points, bold headers, an italicized note about the specific blanket that she likes during the afternoon. He hands me the carrier and his face does the thing where the grin pulls back and what’s underneath is just open and serious and young.
"She likes the blanket folded, not balled up. In the carrier."
"I know."
"And the treats are for before bed. Not whenever. She'll try to convince you it's whenever but it's before bed."
"Teo."
"I know." He doesn't move toward the door. He's going home for the All-Star break to visit his family. And leaving Parker with me for the first time. Parker is already investigating the baseboards with the focus of someone filing a report.
"She's going to sit on your chest and purr and you're going to think about how this is the greatest honor of your life." He pauses. "You'd be right."
"Go pack."
"I'm packed. I've been packed for two days. Headed to the airport straight from here."
Of course he has. Teo Marchetti, who cannot sit still to save his life, packed his suitcase early because leaving his cat requires more preparation than leaving a city. He watches Parker the way he watches me sometimes, like watching is the entire point.
"I needed to drop her off, but I also came for this." He leans in and kisses me.
Slow. His hand finding the side of my neck, his thumb on my jaw, tilting my face up the half inch that closes the angle between us. I should let him go. His flight is in three hours and the airport is forty minutes and he's kissing me like he has nowhere to be for the rest of the week.
My hand goes to his hip. Pulls him closer. He makes a sound against my mouth, low and pleased, and his fingers slide around my neck. Not hard. Just enough that I feel it at the base of my skull and my whole body pays attention.
I walk him one step backward until his shoulders hit the wall beside the door. He lets me. He lets me press my weight into him and his other hand grabs the front of my shirt, fingers twisted in the fabric, pulling me in. His mouth opens under mine and the kiss goes deeper and hotter and I feel him hard against my thigh and I know he feels me too because his hips shift and the friction sends a pulse straight through my spine.
"Zay." My name broken into breath against my lips.
I drag my mouth down his jaw. His neck. Press my tongue flat against his pulse and feel it hammering. His grip tightens and his head tips back against the wall and the sound he makes is not quiet.
"Your flight," I say against his throat.
"I don't care about the flight now."
"Yes you do." I pull back far enough to see his face. Flushed. Mouth wet. Eyes half-open and focused on me with the particular concentration of a man who is running calculations about how late he can actually be. I watch him do the math. I watch the math lose.
He kisses me again. Shorter this time. Harder. His teeth catch my bottom lip and I feel it everywhere. Then he flattens his palm against my chest and pushes, just enough distance between us that we can both breathe, and his hand stays on my chest. I can feel the heat of his palm through my shirt.
"Five days," he says.
"Five days."
"Take care of my cat."
