Page 44 of Wish We Were There

Taylor laughed. “Yeah, I think you’re right.”

They both sat there for a long moment, each looking down at their hands clasped between them. There was so much more Parker wanted to say, but Taylor wanted to speak, too, so he held back.

“I, uh,” Taylor finally said after a beat, as if he could tell Parker was waiting for him. “I’m... kind of embarrassed about earlier, to be honest. I know how this sounds, but... getting the cast off felt really final, I guess. Like he’s really... gone. Like everything from then is really over now, you know? I don’t know how else to explain it. But I don’t want to give you the wrong idea that I’m still sad about him—I mean, I am, but not in a I-wish-he-was-still-here-and-we-were-still-married way. You know?”

The admission made Parker’s chest ache with sympathy all over again. His own feelings on the situation were complicated enough, so it was hard to imagine how much more difficult it must have been for Taylor to sort out all his feelings about what had happened. His life had completely changed, and not at all in the way he’d been anticipating and planning for.

“And it doesn’t mean I’m not serious about this, about us,” Taylor added quickly, uncertainty tinging his voice again. “I mean, it was kind of about Zach, but not really about him either, I guess. I don’t know. I don’t know how to prove to you I’m not, like, hung up on him still, or just wanting a rebound or—or—”

“Taylor,” Parker interrupted, squeezing his hand gently, and the other man clamped his mouth shut immediately. “You don’t have to prove anything to me. I believe you. I know it must be complicated. It’s complicated for me, too. Trust me. But that doesn’t change how I feel about you, so I believe you that it doesn’t change your feelings for me, either.”

Taylor’s lips quivered. His downturned lashes were damp again, and his eyes were locked onto their clasped hands. He didn’t look completely convinced, but Parker hoped that even the tiniest part of Taylor believed him—even a tiny seed of trust now would be enough to bloom with time.

“So what now?” Taylor asked softly after a long moment, looking hesitantly at Parker again. He smiled nervously back, feeling his pulse start to race with nerves once more.

“I want to kiss you again,” he said, leaning closer to Taylor. “I want to take you on a real date, something nice, and make it official. I want to do this right.”

Taylor’s face had split into a smile, but he laughed at that. “That’s not what’s important to me. Can we just skip past that and be boyfriends?”

Parker laughed, a rush of exhilaration coursing through him. His heart was still pounding with anxiety, but now it was tempered with relief and overwhelming joy. Taylor still wanted him, wanted to be his boyfriend. The word was like a spark on his tongue. His boyfriend.

“Yes,” he said, realizing he hadn’t answered Taylor. “Can I kiss you?”

Taylor’s smile widened, color rising in his cheeks. “Yes,” he answered breathlessly.

Parker closed the distance between them and pressed their lips together. Taylor’s mouth was warm and soft, and the faint sound that came from the back of his throat sent heat curling through the pit of Parker’s stomach. His boyfriend.

One of Taylor’s hands came up to cup his cheek, and he tilted his head to press into the contact without breaking their kiss. Taylor’s lips curled into a smile against his own, his hand trembling against Parker’s skin.

“Your beard is kind of prickly,” Taylor murmured when they finally parted, making Parker chuckle.

“I’ll shave it if you don’t like it,” he said quickly. It was hardly a beard, and he alternated between being clean-shaven and scruffy anyway, so if Taylor didn’t like the scruff, then he’d gladly shave more frequently.

“No, I like it. I just have to get used to it,” Taylor replied, shaking his head before kissing Parker again. “So you’ll have to kiss me a lot.”

Parker’s face ached from smiling. His heart was still beating fast, but this time it was from exhilaration instead of nerves. “I can do that.”

He pressed another kiss to Taylor’s lips, but when his tongue hesitantly swiped against Parker’s lower lip, a sharp knock from the front door made them both jump and pull away, startled.

“Oh, the food,” Taylor burst out, as Parker shot a bewildered look over at the door. He held up his phone, which had been face-down on the coffee table in front of them. “I missed the notification. Oops.”

The bag of food was sitting neatly in the center of the doormat when Parker opened the door. He carried it inside, his stomach grateful the food had arrived, but his dick very displeased with the interruption. Taylor immediately dug into the chocolate chip waffle when Parker handed it over to him, though, and he felt a small pang of guilt thinking of how he’d rather have gone right back to what they were doing than eat. After a few bites of his own sandwich, though, he decided eating first was the better option.

“How is it?” he asked after Taylor had taken several big, gleeful bites of the waffle, which was smothered in butter and whipped cream and syrup. Just looking at such a total sugar bomb made Parker’s teeth hurt, but Taylor smiled over at him in response, something wistful in his expression.

“It’s really good,” he replied, nodding. “I’m sure it’s more us than the waffle, but I really am feeling better already.”

Parker laughed, his heart skipping a beat at the way Taylor’s eyes sweetly crinkled at the edges, a little smear of whipped cream in the corner of his mouth as he grinned.

“Me too.”

Chapter Seventeen

Parker

Once they were done eating, they ended up back on the couch in each other’s arms. Parker’s heart hadn’t slowed at all; Taylor’s warm body pressed up against his own sent it racing even faster somehow. For all that they’d talked about, there was so much more he wanted to say.

“Your heart is pounding,” Taylor said softly from where his cheek was pressed to Parker’s chest, making him laugh self-consciously. “You okay?”

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