Page 18

Chapter 18

Liam

Of course I stayed. I couldn’t have made myself leave if I wanted to. I’d asked if he meant for the night, or longer, and all Brodie said was yes.

The day still had plenty of hours in it, but Brodie and I stayed in bed. We curled up in each other’s arms and we talked.

He told me more about his family and I told him about Piper. He seemed curious about her. It had been such a long time since anyone asked me about her that I’d forgotten how nice it was to share her with someone. He didn’t seem jealous of her, just quiet and a bit sad, I thought.

As the sun moved through the sky, the light in the room changed. His bedroom was painted in the same soft sunset glow way that lit up when the sun hit it. It was like living in a cloud.

“I think I love your house,” I told him. My body had recovered and was ready to go again, but I ignored my baser urges in favor of just being near Brodie. I could see myself here, morning after morning.

Brodie was lying half on top of me, his arm flung over my chest, his legs tangled in mine. The soft strands of his hair tickled my chin. He’d covered us up earlier, but the blankets had slid down to his waist. As tempting as it was to start something, I brushed the hair off his face and kissed his forehead.

“It’s almost dinner time. And as much as I love staying like this with you, we need food.”

He rolled off of me and onto his back. He turned his head and looked at me. “I suppose I could cook us something. Be warned, though, it’s been forever since I made anything. It might not be edible.”

“Then I’ll cook.” I kicked the covers out of my way and climbed out of bed. I quickly dressed again, earning me a small scowl from Brodie. “You, my darling exhibitionist, have a house of windows.”

“There’s a privacy fence. And the neighbors don’t have windows on that side of their house.” Brodie raked his gaze over me. “And you were naked earlier.”

I went around to his side of the bed and swooped down, stealing a kiss. “Yes, I was. But I wasn’t cooking. There are many things that are more fun naked; cooking is not one of them.”

Brodie stretched out like a starfish and heaved a sigh. “I suppose that’s fair.”

“Come on. I’ll cook and you can unpack and keep me company.”

I left the room and went to Brodie’s kitchen. I spent a few minutes going through his cupboards and his fridge to see what I had to work with. Brodie had a shocking lack of kitchen items. He had one pot and one frying pan. He had a few wooden spoons and a couple of horrifically dull kitchen knives.

Brodie came padding out of the bedroom, tugging a shirt down. He stopped and looked at me. “Problem?”

“Brodie, darling, is the rest of your kitchen still packed? The pots and pans? The knives?”

He rubbed at the back of his neck. “I told you I wasn’t good in the kitchen.”

“You didn’t say you weren’t good. You said it had been awhile since you made anything.” I closed the drawer and put my hands on the counter. “What was the last thing you cooked?”

Brodie grinned at me, broad and amused like he was about to let me in on the world’s best joke. “Probably ramen.”

“Tomorrow, I’m taking you shopping and we’re going to outfit your kitchen properly.” Before he could argue with me, I added, “Consider it a housewarming gift.”

He bit his lip and thought about it for a second. “I guess that would be nice of you.” He reached for the flowers that I’d brought. The colorful daisies were stunning in his kitchen. He traced his fingers along one of the bloom heads. “It’s a housewarming gift, though, right? It’s not like guilt or something?” Brodie caught my gaze. His brows were pinched and he looked troubled.

“Do I still need to feel guilty?” My voice was barely above a whisper. “I will grovel for a thousand years if that’s what it takes, but I assumed earlier that we were moving past that.” I took a deep breath. “Was I wrong?”

He shook his head. “You weren’t wrong. I don’t want every moment we spend together to be tainted by that. I’ve forgiven you, Liam, but forgetting is harder.”

I rounded the island and Brodie practically fell into my arms. He held me around my waist and buried his face in my shoulder. Kissing his hair, smoothing my hands down his back, I let him have a moment to collect himself.

“I can’t change what I did, but I can promise to not do it again. I won’t ever leave you behind again.” There were more things I wanted to say, but my words were trapped behind my teeth. Brodie was my whole heart and I needed to tell him that. But a punch of melancholy hit me in the sternum. The last person I’d loved was Piper, and she’d been taken from me. I wasn’t superstitious enough to think that I had some kind of Practical Magic curse, but a sudden torrent of what-ifs hit me.

What if I lose him too? What if I tell him how I feel and he gets sick? What if I am cursed? What if he’s struck by lightning and I never told him how I feel?

That last question stopped me dead. I couldn’t breathe through the fear that skittered down my spine. I pulled back so I could look at him and words came tumbling out like a dam had burst.

“I shouldn’t have let you leave. I should have chased you down. There are a million ways I could have handled things and I chose the worst possible one. And I won’t make excuses for it. I will never stop being sorry, Brodie.”

His cheek was warm in the palm of my hand. I wondered if he could feel the way I trembled or see my heart cracking open as I poured every bit of affection I felt for him into my words. “You’ve forgiven me, and I can’t tell you how badly I want to deserve that. I’m not sure I do, but I am sure about how I feel about you.”

“Liam—”

I put my hand over his mouth and saw the crinkle of amusement in his eyes. I felt the smile on my skin.

“Brodie, I love you. I love you so much it terrifies me. I think I’ve loved you from that first day. From the moment I saw you laughing, drenched head to toe, towel drying your hair in the lobby of a hotel.” I pulled my hand away from his mouth. “Everything I do from here on out is because I love you. Because I should have told you a long time ago. Because I want to be a man who deserves you.”

“You love me?” Brodie’s voice was thin and it quivered a little.

“More than life.” I cocked a smile at him. “I stalked you and followed you halfway around the world, didn’t I?”

“The tulips were a bit much.” Brodie gravitated toward me, the gap between us grew even smaller.

“They weren’t nearly enough. I can’t change that I hurt you, but I can swear that I will never leave you behind again. I won’t ever let you walk away from me, Brodie.”

“Red flag,” Brodie said, brushing a kiss against my lips. “But lucky for you, I love you, red flags and all.”

Our gazes held and I could almost see our love for each other float between us like dust motes in a sunbeam.

“I know I just confessed my love, but I’m about to disappoint you and I hope you can forgive me.” Before Brodie’s happy expression could fall too far, I smiled at him. “Your kitchen is too ill-equipped for me to make us anything suitable for dinner.”

Brodie rolled his eyes. “Lucky for me, my boyfriend is taking me shopping tomorrow.”

“He sounds like a generous man.”

Brodie shrugged. “He’ll do.” After a beat, he caught my mouth with his. The kiss was soft at first, not tentative or shy, but tender. With gentle ease, he licked his way inside my mouth. Everything about the kiss was soft. The way he held me around the waist and the way his tongue danced with mine. It wasn’t greedy or insistent, but it was still powerful. My knees turned to jelly and I threatened to crumple down to a heap at Brodie’s feet. It would be a suitable place to be to worship him, I thought.

We kissed until we were both wound up and wired from it. Our cocks were impossibly hard, but we didn’t do more than press up against each other and bask in the proximity.

Brodie was the first to pull away. “I’ll order something for dinner and you can cook for me tomorrow.” Brodie went in search of his phone and, once he found it, he placed a call for pizza and two kinds of wings. When he hung up, he put his phone on the counter and looked at me.

“What?”

“When I said I wanted you to stay… I think you should check out of your hotel and stay here. With me.” His expression was equal parts hope and fear and I hated that he looked at me with even an ounce of trepidation.

“I’d like that.”

The fear melted out of Brodie’s expression, replaced by warmth and joy.

“I’d like that a lot.” I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I don’t know what my future looks like right now, but I know I want you in it.”

Brodie crossed the space between us and looped his arms around me. Lips brushed against mine and I felt the smile on them.

“That’s enough for me.”