Page 19 of Faithful

Kai draws my hand away from his lips and says, “I’m hungry.”

“I’ve got food,” I murmur, swallowing past the knot forming in my throat because I’m no longer sure what he’s talking about.

“Good.” Kai marches out of the room and into the kitchen.

I follow him and remove the takeout boxes from the fridge.

He stands behind me and rests his chin in the dip between my neck and shoulder. “Sushi.” His lips brush my ear, and the warmth of his body fills every little bit of space around me. “You know me too well, Dylan.”

“Are you going to help?” I ask, soaking up all the sensations. A part of me is still not sure that any of this is real, that he is real, and he is in my apartment, and that I don’t want to strangle him to death.

“I’ll get the table then,” Kai says, stepping back.

Eating out of plastic seems very unromantic (not that I’m trying to infuse some romance into this dinner, right?), so I rummage through the contents of the kitchen cabinets in search of proper plates while some serious damage to interior decor happens in the living room.

By the time I’m done transferring food, Kai has rearranged the furniture. The coffee table is now in the center. There are two pillows on either side of it. The sofa set is pushed back slightly.

He also found a candle.

It looks vaguely familiar, and I remember it being in Leigh’s old place.

She’s going to kill me.

“I’ll move it back before I leave,” Kai says, smiling triumphantly.

I don’t want you to leave.

The thought catches me off guard, and I just continue standing there next to the sofa with two plates of sushi, staring at him holding a candle and being happy, and it makes my chest ache from the assault of emotions.

“Are we eating on the floor?” I finally manage to choke out, moving toward the coffee table.

Great job stating the obvious.

And why is it so hard to breathe all of a sudden?

Why is it this hot inside?

I don’t remember turning on a heater.

I don’t even know where the controls are.

Kai nods, then takes one of the plates from me and sets it down. His eyes meet mine for the briefest of moments and I detect something there, something I haven’t seen yet. Fear?

He silently helps me grab the rest from the kitchen and once we’re done organizing our dinner, he pulls out a lighter from the back pocket of his jeans and lights the candle.

If I had any doubts before about this being a romantic evening, I certainly don’t have them now.

“I’m sorry I don’t have a proper speaker,” I tell him because I feel the need to say something, but my brain is all foggy and that’s the first thing that comes to mind.

“I guess we’ll go with plan B.” He crosses the living room to turn off the overhead lights, then plucks the remote from the TV stand and navigates to YouTube.

I watch him searching for music without saying a word. When he finally finds what he’s looking for, he returns to the coffee table and settles down in front of it. “Is this okay?”

I follow his lead. “Yes.”

The song playing in the background and the images flickering on the big screen have turned this apartment into a different place. A place I like. A place I could stay in for days. No, weeks! Maybe even months.As long as it’s with him.

“TV speakers are better than laptop ones,” Kai says, studying the set of chopsticks he–very elegantly-just pulled out of the wrapper.

---