Page 101 of Kiss-Fist
This is gonna be a lot of work, a journey we’re both on, but it will be so fucking worth it.
EPILOGUE
ROBBIE
Three months later…
Thom is on his phone, walking around my new place, showing his best friend, Isaac, the work he’s doing. I didn’t ask him to do this, but he insisted. And fuck, it’s nice. Seeing him looking like some kind of construction worker wearing that tool belt is giving me allkindsof ideas.
I may have sucked his dick as he was trying to repair a cabinet while he was wearing it as a thank-you for offering to help me. And a little reward for myself for buying this shithole.
Not that Thom thinks it’s that bad. I’ve seen his sketches for how he wants to redo the sorry excuse for a kitchen that I have. I had no idea he was so handy. He and Dex own a gym, sure, but I’m wondering if maybe they’re not wasting their talents.
This was supposed to be a fixer-upper. A project house that was meant to take years. Now, with Thom’s plans, it should be done in six months. And I have my dad already trying to cajole his golf buddies into redesigning my front and back lawn. So yeah, while it is a bit of a shitholenow, buying this was a good idea.
It feels like a moment coming full circle, and it’s wild to think that only a few short months ago, Thom was just some guy standing in the middle of a gym wearing a backward cap and fingerspelling very poorly at me.
Now, he’s the love of my life. How the hell did that happen?
He spins and catches my eye, then grins and waves me over. ‘Isaac wants to say hello.’
Thom has finished his first-ever ASL semester, and he’s leagues ahead of his classmates, but he has incentive. And an entire community of people willing to tutor him, all because they care about our happiness.
I didn’t think it would start to feel this easy this fast, but it has.
It’s a little scary.
I look at the screen and smile at Isaac, though my chest still does a tiny twist because the man is absurdly gorgeous, and I have no idea why he and Thom were never a thing. But my insecurity is small and private.
I won’t say a thing about it.
Isaac waves at me. “Hey!” The auto-captions roll across the screen. “How are you?”
‘Exhausted,’ I sigh. I feel the rumble of Thom’s voiceagainst my arm that’s touching his chest. He hooks his chin on my shoulder to interpret for me, and I can feel the vibrations of his voice against the shell of my ear. ‘How are you? How’s Paris?’
‘Hot.’
I laugh. I spent more than one summer there when I was studying abroad. People have no idea what hot is when air-conditioning is not a regular thing. ‘Sorry.’
He shrugs. “No worries. I’ll be home soon. I’ll be back around Thom’s birthday, and this time, I get to stay.”
I feel the tiniest bit of trepidation. I’ve won over Thom’s brother, but Isaac seems just as important, and we’ve only had a few conversations like this. And while Dex is learning, I don’t think Isaac is. It might always be weird, and I’m not sure how to feel about that.
But he seems excited to know me. He’s been keeping up on house progress, and every time Thom gets off the phone with him, he always sends his love. It’s nice. I like that for Thom, who doesn’t have a lot of that in his life.
I sneak away from the call and let Thom finish up, moving to the bedroom, where he’s just finished installing the full-body mirror on the back of the bathroom door. I’m adjusting it when I feel his footsteps under my feet, and I have just enough time to brace myself before he wraps his arms around my waist and then signs in front of my body.
‘Hi, beautiful.’ He’s nowhere near my face, but I get it anyway.
I grin at him. ‘Hi,’ I mouth back.
His hand creeps upward, toward my chest, and I feel ahot flush rising from my neck all the way up to my ears. I know that look on his face. I know what he wants.
And god help me, I want it too.
His hand wraps gently around my throat, and I moan, letting him feel how much I want this.
His cheeks darken as he mouths along the skin right below my ear.
