Page 83 of Meet You Half Way
“Enough to have me unsteady on my feet,” Ajay laughed.
“Unsteady,” Nick scoffed. “Baby I had to carry you home.”
“Well what’s the point of all these muscles if not to carry your boyfriend home,” Ajay chided, using the opportunity to squeeze Nick’s biceps as they grinned at each other.
***
“So, how are you finding life in New York?” Ajay asked as we sat back around the oversized, curved modular sofa in the living room of the house. Rob and Kat were sitting up in the kitchen with Dee and Dane, sharing a laugh and a bottle of wine. Nick had pulled Ajay onto his lap while Mateo sat down beside me, leaning in when I ran my arm around his shoulders.
“It’s going great,” I replied. “We’ve settled in to our new apartment pretty well. You’ll have to come out and visit again.”
“It’s not as impressive as Glen’s apartment,” Mateo added. “But it’s ours and we love it.”
“We’d love to come visit again,” Nick agreed. “Although Glen’s apartment was pretty amazing.”
“Burberry pays well but notthatwell,” Mateo smiled. “But our apartment is closer to the station where Jamie works and it’s in an area with loads of nightlife and great restaurants.”
“Sounds awesome,” Ajay enthused.
“Lucky I have a supermodel to fund my lifestyle,” I added, squeezing Mateo’s shoulder. “Not sure what I’d have been able to afford on just a paramedics wage.”
“Always aim high,” Nick nodded sagely while Ajay laughed.
“I certainly did that,” I agreed, nipping Mateo’s neck in that spot he loved.
“Hey, just because we’re on holidays does not change the rules,” Mateo chided, shifting away from me.
“What rules?” Ajay asked.
I groaned. “The no marking rule.” Nick barked out an impromptu laugh before schooling his features but not before he shared a sympathetic grimace with me.
“No marking?” Ajay questioned.
“No hickeys, no love bites, no scratches, no marks of a sexual nature,” I recited with a heavy sigh.
“It’s really not that hard to not bite someone,” Mateo eyerolled.
“It really is,” I disagreed. “You know what I’m saying,” I added, eyes on Nick who could only laugh.
“I so do,” he agreed, grazing his fingers over the very obvious purple mark on Ajay’s neck.
“Must be a top thing,” Ajay added innocently, sharing a smile with Mateo which was anything but innocent while Nick and I both barked out another laugh.
“Anyway, someone often needs reminding about that particular rule,” Mateo added, eyeing me significantly.
“You’re never going to let me forget that are you, darling?” I returned, bopping him on the nose which he scrunched back at me.
“Now that sounds like a story,” Ajay said, looking between the two of us.
Mateo eyed me again and I sighed dramatically. “I just wanted to mark him up one time,” I groaned. “I was prepared to beg for it too. So we checked his modelling schedule and it looked like we were in the clear. We thought it was the Burberry trench coat shoot the next day so Mateo relented as long as it was somewhere less … visible.”
“It was not the Burberry trench coat shoot,” Mateo added pointedly.
“Nope. Glen had the schedule mixed up and it was actually the launch of a swimwear line,” I said, not able to hide the grin on my face.
“What happened?” Ajay asked.
“The shoot was delayed half an hour while the director recalled the makeup team to cover up the very obvious mark someone had so courteously left on me,” Mateo huffed.
