Page 186 of Gym Bros
I nod. “Me too.”
His hand tightens around mine. “And know you.”
“I’m not sure…” Suddenly I’m dangerously close to bursting into tears. I take a shaky breath and finish my thought. “I’m not sure there was much of a me before you.”
His hand catches my face as his forehead meets mine. The tips of our noses graze. “Do you like how you turned out?”
I nod. “A lot. A whole lot.”
“Because if there’s more to you, I’m here for it.”
“I’m here for however you turn out, too.”
“I love you, baby.”
“I want you to call me angel,” I say with more urgency than the moment calls for, but I’m already crying again. “I don’t want anything to change. I loved being your angel.”
“Calyx. Christ.”
28
SAMUEL
He is so goddamned beautiful when he cries, and I shouldn’t love it so much. But maybe these are the good kind of tears. Like the kind you cry when you’re so fucking relieved the hard part’s over, and you did it. You made it. I kiss one just as it’s about to fall over his cheekbone. My mouth meeting his skin brings me back to life.
I feel my heart pumping again. My lungs expanding. Muscles activating.
Nothinghas changed. Not the way I feel about him. Not how totally in love with him I am. The secret he kept feels less like a lie and more of a way to keep us just like this. That I was able to win his love is a tremendous accomplishment, because I don’t think any part of him ever meant for this to happen.
I don’t think he saw me that first day at the gym and thought—yes. Him. That’s the guy for me. I think I broke him down and won him over and maybe even put him into a kind of love arm bar where he had to submit because I wasn’t going to stop until he was mine.
But honestly, I didn’t expect this either. I wasn’t any better at the beginning than any man who’s been stunned by his beautyand determined to wrap myself up in it. The rest, though—the fake horse rides, the goats, the Avengers, the oysters, the two person planks, the grappling…all the small surprises along the way—that was all him. The undiscovered, laughing heart of him—not to mention the sexy, ever-accommodating side of him. That’s what makes him my favorite person—my favorite everything.
“I don’t think I deserve you,” Calyx whispers.
“You break it, you buy it,” I tell him.
“No…tell me I didn’t break you.”
“Oh, you did,” I assure him. “You destroyed me. Ruined me for anyone else. Now you have to rescue me.”
“I love you,” he says softly.
“Prove it,” I tell him.
He doesn’t technically roll his eyes, but the vibe is definitely there. Still, hedoeskiss me, pressing his plush lips to mine. I don’t know how many times Calyx and I have had sex, but my body reacts to this one gentle kiss like it’s reliving our entire sexual history. My dick was already half hard from holding his hand, but it’s rigid now. Un-fucking-believably erect. The surge of desire that courses through me causes a groan to escape. I haven’t even felt his tongue yet, and already I’m desperate to get out of these pants—get him out of his.
I put my hand on his chest and hold him off. “Whoa, holy shit.”
“What?”
“Would it ruin the moment if I accidentally came in my pants?”
He smiles. “Maybe. But maybe not.”
“I’m not sure I wanna risk it.”
“So…no kissing?”
