Page 74 of Shift Change

“Go for it, but if you’re about to tell me to get lost or something, please don’t drag it out.”

“It’s not that at all. I’ve known how I felt about you. Looking back, I think it started at Thanksgiving when we came up with all that ROD friends bullshit. Regardless, I definitely knew in Miami. Remember that night in the hotel? When we had sex, but I was too overwhelmed to say anything?”

“I remember.”

I reached for his hand. “Last night, you fought for me. Hell, for a minute I thought you might kill that bastard. Yet all I could see was the man who’d won my heart going to war for me. You were out for blood because you thought he’d hurt me.” My throat tightened. “No one’s ever cared about me like that.”

Chuck squeezed my hand. “I was… terrified.”

I nodded. “Somehow, in the middle of all that chaos, I started thinking clearly. The dreams I’ve been having and the feelings I’ve been too scared to admit all made sense. I hoped that maybe—justmaybe—you felt the same.”

Chuck blinked. “Which is…?”

“I guess I’m bi too. I don’t know, and I honestly don’t give a shit. Theonlything that matters to me is being with you.”

He wrinkled his brow. “So… you like me too? We’re a couple?”

God, we were such dumbasses—two idiots so busy pretending we were cool hockey bros that we didn’t even know how to do this. We’d spent half our lives acting like feelings were poison.

That ends now.

I stood and walked around the table. “Get up.”

He stood, and I cupped his cheeks in my hands. “Dog. Handsome Chuck. Babe. I…” His eyes caught my attention, and I needed a breath to get back on track. “Would you please be my boyfriend? My exclusive, in-this-totally-for-us boyfriend?”

I was almost certain he’d say yes, but when he did nothing but stand there looking into my eyes, the tension built. “Chuck?”

One corner of his mouth tilted upward, followed by the other. His lips parted, showing his perfect white teeth, and his dimple—that damn, drive-me-crazy dimple on his left cheek—kicked into action. “I’d really like that. This is real for me. No takebacks.”

“That’s good because…”Come on, if I can’t say it, I have no business being with him.“I love you.”

His eyes teared even as his smile grew bigger. But he said nothing.

“I love you, Dog,” I repeated. “Do you love me?”

“Duh.” His smile fell right off his face. “Wait. That sucked, but I didn’t mean it in a bad way. Yes, I love you. I’msoin love with you.”

You’d have thought we’d never kissed before. Our foreheads collided, we bumped noses, and when I tried to put my lips on his, our teeth clicked.

“Sorry,” I mumbled.

“My fault. I’m a little excited here.”

“Me too.” I cocked an eyebrow. “Sexually excited?”

“Every way excited. I’m so happy, Nate.”

“Then come with me. Let’s find out what two guys who are in love do in bed.”

24

mad dog

By the timewe stumbled into the bedroom, the hallway behind us was covered with abandoned clothes, and we were both naked. Nate’s lips were swollen, he was panting like we’d done an hour of cardio, and we were both rock hard and starving for each other.

I grabbed him and hauled him close, kissing him like we’d been apart for a year. My hands slid down his back, and I dug my fingers in as I pushed my tongue deep into his mouth, claiming him and giving myself to him all at once. When I slid a hand lower and tipped him over like a black-and-white movie damsel, he groaned—half pleasure, half lust—and I felt it everywhere.

He sucked my tongue like he was trying to pull the want out of me, and I ground against his leg. The friction of his thick hair set me on fire, and I moaned into his mouth while my hips moved like we were already halfway there.

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