Fuck, this was good.No wonder I hadn’t wanted to ask him to stay—I had to know it’d feel like this, and that I’d like it, and that I’d want more.Like that night right before graduation, when we’d lain like this under the stars and talked about the future, and I’d known, I’d fuckingknownI was in love with his dumb ass.
“You wanna fuck or something?”I offered.And then winced.
He snorted and patted my belly.“Go to sleep, you maniac.”
I smiled.And if he said anything else, I didn’t hear it.I was gone.
Chapter 6: TARAN
Atfirst,Iforgotwhere I was.The ceiling was too high, with dark, elaborate tin tiles on it instead of plain white drywall.Then I turned my head and smiled immediately; Diego was already awake, stretched out beside me and propped up with his chin on one hand.
I tried to sit up, but a plaintivemewfrom the foot of the bed stopped me.Strawberry Shortcake had settled there sometime during the night and clearly wasn’t ready to get up.
“I’m not a morning person,” Diego said quietly, “but even I gotta admit you look really fucking good in the morning sunshine.”
I flushed.Every time he complimented me, I had this wild urge to ask him what the hell he was thinking, and had he looked in a mirror lately.It took serious willpower to just smile and say, “Thanks.”I held out an arm.
He came in close, curling against my side and burying his face half in my armpit.He took a deep breath, like a sigh.
I laughed.Jesus, I hadn’t showered in twenty-four hours.“Do I stink?”
“Yep.Fucking great,” he muttered into my chest.
Hey, anything he liked about me, I wasn’t gonna complain.I rubbed his back and kissed his curls, then looked back up at the ceiling.
Fuck.This was it, honestly.This was the thing I’d been after since I saw him again—probably the thing I’d been after in school, too, even though I hadn’t known exactly what it was or how to get it.This feeling, right here, with him.
And Shortcake, obviously.She’d hidden from me for the first couple of weeks, so I felt extra blessed with her tiny, warm weight against my foot.
“Thanks,” I told him.
“For sniffing you?”
I laughed, making his head bounce.“For letting me stay.”
“Mmm, yeah… about that…” He pulled away so he could prop his head up again.He kept my arm under his armpit, so I could keep rubbing his back.
I scanned his face for a clue about which way this was gonna go.He could either say this was a one-time thing and don’t get too comfortable… or he could acknowledge that yes, this was the first time we’d slept in the same bed, which was entirely on him, because I’d offered repeatedly at my place.
He smiled, his bright eyes crinkling at the corners.Something about that look soothed me.
So I said, “Go ahead.You might even like it.”
Diego wasn’t a big talker.Okay, no, he was a huge talker, pretty much all mouth, and always had been; he wasn’t a big talker when it came to his own feelings.Or past.Or desires.Which, fair enough.I’d already hurt him once, and it hadn’t been quick and easy.
But I lived in hope.Clearly.
“I doubt it.”He sighed and sat up in bed.“Okay, I gotta brush my teeth before we have a conversation.But yes, we need to have a conversation.”
I watched him go, smiling faintly at his ass in those clingy boxers.An alarm went off before he got too far, and he returned to the end table to switch off his phone.“Sorry.It’s weird they haven’t figured out a way to get ADHD meds to people without, like, needing to remember them every day, right?”He swiped a pill bottle off the table and started back toward the bathroom.
“Now you mention it,” I said.Then, “You have eggs?”
The rest of his studio apartment was separated from the bed area by a massive bookshelf.He disappeared around it, but called back, “Yeah.”
“I’ll make breakfast.”
“Was hoping to have you for breakfast.”He shut the door behind him, and water started running.
