Page 19 of Christopher

Apparently, that was close enough to kiss, because the next thing Drake knew, their lips were pressed together.

The kiss didn’t last long. Chris let go of Drake almost as soon as their lips touched, and while Drake lingered for a second, wanting more, he already knew he would need to do this at Chris’s pace. If all Chris wanted was to press his lips together, that was fine with Drake.

It had to be.

When Chris leaned back, his cheeks were flushed. “I’m not going to smack you because you like talking,” he said.

“Thank you. It wasn’t great when it happened.”

“Am I going to want to strangle all of your exes? Because so far, it doesn’t sound like you have any good ones.”

They both leaned away, but Chris slid his hand off Drake’s neck and linked their fingers together instead.

That made Drake’s heart race. He told himself to stop being an idiot. This wasn’t his first crush. It was his mate, and he didn’t want to make a fool of himself.

He suspected he already had, but still.

“I told you that I’m a lot to deal with,” he explained. “Most of my exes didn’t want that. They’d stay with me for a few months before fleeing. I can’t even blame them for not wanting to stay with someone they couldn’t stand. Besides, it’s for the best, because it means I was single when I met you.”

“You almost weren’t,” Chris muttered under his breath.

“I never would’ve gone home with Karl. He was obnoxious and rude, even though he was pretty.”

“You’re prettier.”

Chris’s cheeks flushed again, and Drake had to resist the urge to lean over and kiss him. Clearly, coming here had been the right decision. Chris was still holding his hand, and they’d kissed. If this was all Chris was willing to give Drake, Drake would be happy. In fact, he couldn’t be happier.

Things were finally moving forward. He didn’t need them to rush ahead, just to keep taking tiny steps toward their future.

Chapter Four

Chris was finally out of his bedroom. He still felt the need to run back and hide, but the house was fairly empty since it was the middle of the morning, and it helped. What also helped was knowing that later today, he would see Drake. He didn’t know what they would do together, but they’d taken a massive step forward in their relationship the other day, and it felt like doing so had helped get Chris over whatever his problem had been.

It had been a lot to take in, and he’d broken down a little. Now that he’d taken time to wrap his mind around everything, his brain was finally making sense of it, and he wasn’t frightened anymore.

Well, not much, anyway.

Being a pride member was still intimidating. Chris didn’t know what he would do if he crossed paths with any of the pride members today. They knew who he was, and they’d welcomed his family into the pride, but he was a bit of a mystery to them, just like the pride was a mystery to him. He kind of wished he could fast forward and get to the point where he was comfortable, but that would take work, and he was the only one who could do that work.

He peeked into the kitchen, relieved to see it was empty. He scurried to the fridge, feeling like he was doing something he shouldn’t be doing even though he’d been told that everyone was welcome to eat whatever food they found in the communal areas of the house as long as they wrote it down on the grocery list. He could take whatever he wanted, so after checking what was inside, he grabbed some fruit.

He closed the fridge and turned, wondering if he should go back to his room or eat outside since, even though it was cold, it was a nice day. He froze at the sight of someone standing there, watching him.

“You scared me,” he said.

The man looked unapologetic. “I feel you deserve it.”

“Why?”

“Because of what you’ve been doing to my friend.”

Chris opened the containers of strawberries. They’d already been washed, so he popped one into his mouth as he tried to make sense of what the man was saying. “You’re going to have to be more specific.”

“Why? Do you play with the heart of many guys?”

“I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about. I’m not playing with anyone’s heart.”

“Are you sure? Because Drake’s been all over the place since he’s met you.”

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