Page 37 of Sugar

“And yet, you can’t wait until you find out it’s something,” Piper countered. “There’s nothing wrong with preparing for the worst sometimes. I’m not going to resent you if we get to next year and everything’s exactly the same as it is now.”

It wouldn’t be. But Juno didn’t say that because he still didn’t know for sure, and he was too afraid to put anything out in the universe. “I wanted to do something tonight that would make you happy.”

“Being with you makes me happy. We can come to this place any time. Let’s go walk by the water. It’s sunset. I bet there are dolphins.”

And, well, if anything was going to get Juno moving, it was the promise of watching dolphins just off the shore.

Piper was right. They grabbed a drink and a shaved ice and found a high part of the beach where they perched, watching the water. It only took about ten minutes before Piper spotted the first dorsal fin, and though it was too far for Juno to catch it, he did see when the dolphin’s back broke the water.

“Oh!”

Piper laughed. “I love them. When I was little, I thought it would be so cool to be a dolphin. Then I found out they’re kind of horrifying.”

Juno snorted. “Yeah. Murder, infanticide…amongst other things. But I don’t hate watching them from the shore.”

Piper grabbed his hand and kissed it. “Neither do I.”

Juno wanted to point out that Piper wasn’t watching them. He was watching Juno. But he didn’t want to call attention to it. He liked being observed in this way. His entire life, he’d been stared at because he was striking. Not beautiful the way Oliver was. Oliver seemed to be everyone’s type, regardless of gender or preference. Juno was different. He was unique—a term he’d come to love and hate in equal measure.

People rarely bothered to know him. They just wanted a piece of him.

Piper was the first man apart from his small group of friends that made him feel different. He wanted that feeling to last forever and ever. He knew that even if this didn’t work out, Piper was going to spoil him for other men for the rest of his life.

“What are you thinking?”

Juno glanced away from the water when the last dorsal fin dipped under and didn’t reappear. The final sparks of evening sun glinted off a few waves as Juno turned to face the man who was holding his hands. “I’m happy.”

Piper raised his brows, and Juno didn’t blame him. He’d had moments of joy in the last few weeks, but he hadn’t been happy. Not until this moment. He was still terrified of the future and what his life might look like, but right then, he was content.

If he could keep that, he could deal with the rest.

“Will you kiss me?” Juno asked. He let some of his vulnerability seep into his tone, and from the look on Piper’s face, he heard it.

He shuffled closer, not quite towering over Juno, but his presence was still far bigger. His shadow blocked out the last rays of the sun, and his large hands framed Juno’s face. They were warm and pressing and possessive.

There were people all around them, and Juno knew they were being watched. He could feel it. Judgment from some, curiosity from others. There were probably some who enjoyed watching them.

But everyone ceased to matter the moment Piper’s lips touched his. They kept it chaste, a quick touch of tongue before Piper’s lips just rested against his, but Juno felt utterly and completely owned. If Piper had ordered him to drop to his knees and humiliate himself right there, he would have done it without question. But the fact that Piper never would was what made Juno fall that much harder.

“Juno.”

“Mm?”

Piper laughed softly as he pulled back a few inches. “Nothing. I just really like the way your name feels on my tongue.”

Juno squeezed his eyes shut and let his forehead drop against Piper’s sternum. “Who even are you? Where did you come from?”

Piper laughed harder and wrapped his arms around Juno’s waist. “Come on, sugar,” he said after a long beat. “The dolphins are gone, and the sun is setting.”

They had a long drive in the morning, and right then, the only place Juno wanted to be was in the bed, wrapped in Piper’s embrace.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Piper was an early riser. He had been for so many years it turned into a habit he couldn’t break. He also preferred to be on the road with the dawn, especially since their first stop was nearly ten hours away. But when he woke at five, he watched Juno’s profile as he slept—peacefully for the first time in several nights—and he couldn’t bring himself to wake him.

Slipping out of the bed, Piper did a quick check to make sure they were fully packed, and then he drove to the coffee shop up the road and grabbed breakfast. The pharmacy was just opening as he headed back home, so he slipped into the drive-thru and grabbed his pills.

It was vaguely embarrassing to go over the instructions with the pharmacist, but it was easier to shoulder since he was in his car and not surrounded by strangers listening in. When he had the paper bag in his hand, he felt around for the little bottle and heard the soft rattle of the pills inside.

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