Page 75 of Up In Flames
Will stretched out on the couch and put his head in my lap. A smile tugged at his mouth when my fingers started combing through his hair.
“Tell me everything.” I wanted to know their reactions. I hadn’t met his parents, and I didn’t know if they wanted to meet me. Maybe they were sad about the whole gay thing. “How’d they take it?”
He sucked in a deep breath and let it all out at once. “They were surprised, but they were okay with it. They had some questions that were kind of tough to answer, but it went well.”
He looked up at me, his eyes sparkled, and he looked more relaxed than I’d seen him in a while. “They want to meet you.”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t look so surprised. Of course they want to meet you. You’re the first person I’ve ever wanted to bring home. You’re the first person who has been important enough to me to make me want to live a different life.”
Will’s proximity to my dick was doing things to me. I tried to focus on the conversation, but knowing he was out now, that I could see him in public and not have to hide my affection for him, or make sure I didn’t look at him too long, or sit too close? It had my blood roaring in my ears and rushing between my legs.
“What kind of life do you want?” Curiosity forced me to ask. I held my breath waiting for him to say something.
The corners of his eyes crinkled as he smiled. “One with you. One where I get to take you out on dates. Where I get to come home to you. Where I get to save your number in my phone under increasingly disgusting nicknames.”
“Like what?” I wanted that too, and I carded my fingers through his hair some more, marveling at how soft the strands were.
“Snookums. Honey bear. Sugar pie. Hot lips.”
“Okay, Honey bear I could live with. Snookums is a definite no.”
“What about pookie?”
“What about no.” I bent forward and kissed him, partly to shut him up, partly because I wanted to. Because I could. Because he was mine now and that’s what couples did. I let the kiss last, let it drag out. Savored the taste of him, the way he seemed to melt into me as we kissed.
His smile was still present when we parted. “What about cupcake or muffin?”
“Cupcake, no. But muffin might be okay, depending on the kind of muffin. It has to be a good kind, not like bran or something.”
“What about chocolate chip?”
“Too basic.”
“Okay, Oren, sunshine of my life, the beat of my heart, the shelter in my storm, what kind of muffin would you have me refer to you as?”
“Lemon Cranberry.”
Will contemplated my selection. “Light, and a bit fruity. I see it.”
In retaliation for his comment, I pinched his nipple. He yelped and batted my hand away.
“You did not just do that.” Laughter made Will’s voice waver, but his grin was feral. I was in big trouble.
“I might have gotten carried away.” It might have been a more convincing line if I hadn’t been grinning like an idiot the whole time.
Will sat up and turned toward me, his body coiled tight like a spring waiting to be released.
“Will, I’m sorry.” I wasn’t sorry. Not at all. Not even when I knew he was poised to strike at any moment. He was faster and stronger than I was, and he was in remarkable shape. I was… not. I walked a lot, but that wasn’t about to be of any use to me. “Will?—”
He launched himself at me, wrapped his arms around me and in one fluid move, lifted me, turned me, and trapped me underneath him on the couch. It happened so fast I barely had time to react before Will’s hands were on me, digging into my sides, tickling me.
Laughter was dragged out of me. Forced from my lungs and into the air by his familiar touch. He had me pinned under him, and I tried to twist away to no avail. Not that I really wanted to escape anyway. In the moment, my fight or flight instincts were firmly set on flight.
“Will, please—” I managed to get out, but he kept tickling me. My sides ached. My face hurt. But it was the good kind of pain. It was the price of joy. Happiness. Love. The pain was a welcome reminder that I was alive. Living. Breathing. Loving.
Will stopped. He must have seen something in my expression because like two magnets, I reached for him as he came to me. We collided, mouth to mouth. He held me down with his body, and I held his face with my hands, digging my fingers into his hair, his scalp. Grounding me. Keeping him.
