Page 35 of Love Again

"Tall, older men with eyes as deep as the ocean and who can go for two rounds of sex before breakfast."

His laugh reached all the way inside my heart, and I pulled him closer so we were nose-to-nose, well, as much as we could be considering our height difference. He got the message and kissed me, a bone-melting kiss.

After that, we spent the rest of the car journey talking about Afonso and all the good memories I had of our childhood.

"This is us," he said as he approached a tall gate that opened as soon as we were close enough.

Inside the gate, there were trees on either side of the short driveway up to the house.

"It's weird, isn't it? The house is kind of back to front. The best parts are inside and the back. Dri designed it, and he always thought it was a waste to have the front of a house looking so grand and beautiful if no one ever enjoyed it."

"I am inclined to agree with him, but I'll reserve my judgment once I see the rest," I teased.

I grabbed my overnight bag and followed Vítor to the front door. He paused before he put the key in the lock and looked at me. There was uncertainty in his eyes. He looked so fragile in that split moment that I didn't want to make things any worse, so I spoke without touching him, even though I wanted nothing more than to offer some comfort or reassurance. Whatever he needed.

"Hey, I know we haven't talked about it, but I get it. If nothing else, we are at least friends, right? I'm not expecting anything, okay?"

He nodded and smiled. He'd given me more in the last twenty-four hours than I'd ever gotten from anyone else in my entire life. I felt such a connection with him that I wanted to crawl into his arms and live there forever. The reality was that even if the feeling was mutual, Vítor was clearly still grieving the loss of his husband, and I would never put myself in a position where I may end up hurting him.

Let's face it, how many other guys had been hurt because they tried to give me something and I couldn't give anything back? Maybe coming to Porto with Vítor was the reminder I needed to be careful with both our hearts.

If Vítor had frozen at the thought of bringing me to the home he'd shared with the love of his life, I froze as soon as I walked in behind him for a totally different reason. Because in the hallway hung a pencil drawing that was the carbon copy of the photo David had given me of his aunt and uncle, his mom, and Vítor.