Page 43 of The Princess

“Nash, babe, it’s your money. It’s your place. Your call.”

“It’s my money, but I’d hoped it would be our place.”

Damon bit his lip. “I—do we really need a yard? We both know we’d spend more time at Taylor’s place around the fire pit than we would anywhere else.”

“Good point.”

Nash lifted their hands and brushed a kiss against Damon’s knuckles. His heart stuttered in his chest. Damon had truthfully never been good at the whole friends-with-benefits thing when it came to Nash because right from the jump, he’d been greedy. One night wasn’t enough. One weekend was a tease. Damon wanted more. And now he wanted it all.

Nash had breathed life into a dream Damon didn’t know he’d had, or at the very least, hadn’t let himself think about. Until now. Until Nash casually told him about buying a bigger apartment and carving out space for Damon there. And he knew without asking that Nash was carving out space there for Taylor, too. The plan to not have a yard of their own so they’d always have an excuse to go to Taylor’s for fire nights. And if Taylor ever moved in with them, it would be an even bigger reason to go to fire nights. Family was important to Taylor, and the Bennetts were important to both him and Nash.

Neither one of them had much to do with their families. Damon because his was full of phobic assholes who hid behind carefully placed barbs and barely hidden slights. And Nash because he was a successful author and not a successful doctor. When his parents had kids, they’d wanted to turn them into little clones of themselves. Like younger versions so they could have a do-over and fix their regrets through their children.

And then there was Ethan Bennett and his three boys. Probably the nicest people Damon had ever come to know. Ethan never met a stranger he couldn’t turn into a friend, and he’d be the last person to turn away someone in need.

Nash nudged him, bringing him back to reality. “Where’d you go?”

His forehead was furrowed in worry lines, and Damon reached for him, smoothing his fingers down the line of Nash’s jaw. “Just thinking about how lucky I am.”

“Smooth talker.” Nash kissed Damon without warning. Hard and deep, like a man possessed. Nash kissed him until Damon’s toes curled and he had to pull away for a breath of air.

He almost didn’t want to tell Nash how he felt in that moment. Because while it wasn’t new to Damon, the idea of living with Nash was. And it felt surreal, to love someone as much as he loved Nash, and for that to be reciprocated in a way that could spell forever. But it wasn’t just Nash; he cared about Taylor too. Loving him in his own way that was new and soft and shy and maybe not as bright and fierce as how he felt about Nash, but not less. Just different.

Nash, however, was here, and he deserved to hear the truth from Damon. Especially after his initial insecurities. Nash deserved to hear it and Damon didn’t think he could keep those words back a moment longer.

He held tight to Nash, gripping him where their hands were still linked. He clung to Nash and kissed him again. Pressed their mouths together firm and tight and slipped his tongue into Nash’s mouth, wishing it was that easy to say what he wanted to. Speaking felt like cracking his chest open and laying his beating heart in Nash’s hands, begging him not to break it.

“Nash,” Damon said. He angled their foreheads together and took a breath. Then another. Damon squeezed his eyes shut because he couldn't look at Nash and admit this to him. Couldn’t stand the thought of Nash needing a second to school his expression.

“Nash—” A deep breath before Damon took the plunge. “I love you. I don’t know when it started, or maybe I always did, but there. I said it.” Damon exhaled and collapsed into Nash, resting his head on Nash’s shoulder.

Nash’s arm came around Damon, and when he wiggled his fingers and pulled his hand out of Damon’s, that one came around him, too. Nash held him so fucking tight it felt like he was squishing the crack in Damon’s chest closed, heart still intact.

“Good, because I love you too.”

Damon’s head shot up. “Seriously?”

Nash didn’t roll his eyes or make a joke. He didn’t make light of Damon’s feelings. He simply brushed the hair off Damon’s forehead in a gesture so tender Damon could scarcely breathe or move.

“Seriously,” Nash said, confirming his words. “I love you, Damon.”

“Oh, thank fucking God.” Relief so bright and palpable washed over him and he started to laugh. He pressed a kiss against Nash’s cheek because he was still laughing and then he curled up on the couch and snuggled into Nash’s side like they’d done a million times before.

Nash held his hand again and stroked his thumb absentmindedly over the back of Damon’s hand. “Were you worried that it wasn’t reciprocated?”

Damon rolled the question around in his head before answering. “Yes and no. I mean, it’s always a risk, that first declaration. So, yes, I was worried. But, no, I wasn’t because it’s you. And you tolerate almost no one, so the fact that you let me hang out here all the time is proof of your affection toward me.”

Nash kissed the top of Damon’s head. “This is true. I’ve been hooked on you since that first night.”

“It seems like it was forever ago. Even though I know it hasn’t been all that long.”

“You do realize we’re going to have to tell the other Bennetts sooner or later, don’t you?”

“I vote for later, once we’re sure Taylor is head over heels in love with both of us and that he’d be destroyed if Colby murdered us in our sleep.”

Damon didn’t think that day was all that far off.

CHAPTER 19

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