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Andrew shot him a grin. “Give me another minute. I’ll meet you outside?”

Marco nodded.

Detoured back into the kitchen, finding it clean and dark and empty. Dario’s office was equally empty, the man himself in the dining room, adjusting the glasses again.

“You really need to send out a memo about that,” Marco said to his brother.

Dario looked up. “I know,” he said wryly. “Or I could keep coming out here and doing it every night.”

“Whatever floats your boat. The paperwork’s all done?”

Dario nodded. “You’re free to do whatever you want with him. Just . . . you know, don’t tell me about it. And don’t make out in the walk-in.”

“I wouldn’t,” Marco muttered. Hewouldn’t.

“I know,” Dario said, laughing. “Really, though, we’re happy for you, brother.”

And Marco realized as he let himself out the back door that they allwere.

Andrew was waiting there, a duffel bag slung over his shoulder. “There you are. I got exciting news for you.”

Marco raised an eyebrow.

“I quit.”

Andrew laughed, and Marco had to join him.

Then Marco had to kiss him, cradling his cheeks between his palms, letting his lips say everything he wasn’t sure he trusted his mouth to say.Yet, anyway.

“You seem pretty happy about it, too,” Andrew teased.

“Fucking relieved. Fucking grateful, too,” Marco said gruffly. He reached down and took Andrew’s hand, tugging him in the direction of the path.

“You wanna go make out in the forest again?” Andrew wondered.

“I actually live just over that ridge there,” Marco admitted. “Two nights ago when you brought us out here, I thought for one crazy moment that you were dragging me to my house.”

“Oh, why would I do that?” Andrew asked innocently.

But Marco knew nothing about that question was innocent.

“Thought you might want to do more than just kiss me,” Marco said. Two of them could play at this game.

“I do,” Andrew said in a low, rough voice. “Tell me your house isclose.”

Two summers ago, when he’d started walking this way more often, he’d installed little solar lights every few dozen feet, and he was glad of them now, because he wasn’t watching where he was going at all. Too eager to get to their final destination.

“Yeah, right over here,” Marco said, gesturing with his free hand.

He could see the front porch light just peeking from between the trees as they climbed over the ridge.

“It’s lucky Ididn’tknow this was here. I might’ve said screw the paperwork and well . . .”

“Screwed me?” Marco teased. He tugged him onto the porch and instead of unlocking the door, kissed him again, hard.

Andrew groaned and their hips were colliding as Marco pinned him to the door. Took his mouth with all the frustration of the last week.

They were both breathing hard when Marco finally lifted his head.