Page 28

Liam

I feel incredibly warm as I stretch my legs out luxuriously. The mattress underneath me shifts and feels unusually hard, making me sleepily open my eyes.

To my surprise, I find myself sprawled across Hayden’s chest.

“Are you awake yet?” Hayden asks.

“Yeah,” I reply, loving the heat radiating off his body.

“I didn’t want to move you since you were sleeping so deeply,” he says, rubbing soothing circles on my naked back. “But you’ve got to move, Liam. I need to go pee.”

A chuckle escapes me. I can’t believe how sweet Hayden can be when he wants to be.

“All right,” I say grudgingly, sliding off him.

Hayden grins and sits up beside me. Without bothering to put his clothes on, he climbs off the bed and walks into the bathroom, giving me a full view of his tightly-muscled ass and thighs.

Heavens! Hayden Bastian is carved like a Greek god.

A crazy grin lifts the corners of my lips as I realize he’s all mine. Too bad I can’t show him off to the world and claim him as mine.

Exhaling a sigh, I sit up.

Immediately, my muscles protest.

Everything aches .

Hayden did his best to be gentle with me but it didn’t make any difference.

My body was no match for his strength or stamina. His powerful thrusts shook me from head to toe, driving my mind into oblivion.

The room still smells like our skin and our sweat. Weak afternoon sunshine filters in through the curtains, reminding me that we’ve eaten nothing since this morning.

I was supposed to go shopping after the walk on the beach but that plan failed. The thought makes me chuckle to myself and pull up the blanket over me.

Hayden steps back into the room and sits on the edge of the bed.

“Hey, are you okay?” he asks, caressing my hair.

“Mmm,” I moan, stretching under the sheets. “I think you could’ve killed me today.”

A deep chuckle vibrates in his chest. “Nah. You’re still talking and kidding around. I think I need to try harder .”

The threat wipes the grin off my face.

“How about we do it one more time?” Hayden suggests, his eyes gleaming. “This time, I’ll make sure I take you to heaven and back.” He winks and leans down to kiss me.

“Hayden, no!” I gasp, scooting away from him. “I’m still tired!”

He chuckles, enjoying the panic on my face. Moving closer, he kisses my cheek. “All right, fine. Have it your way for now.”

A low growl erupts from somewhere between us.

“Was that you?” Hayden asks, laughing at the embarrassed look on my face.

“It’s not my fault!” I retort at once. “You pushed me so hard, that I think I burned a thousand calories or so!”

His grin widens.

I shake my head but can’t help smiling too.

“Do you want to go shopping?” Hayden asks. “I’ll come with you.”

“I don’t have the energy to move from this bed,” I say, grabbing my phone from the bedside table. I open my favorite delivery app and glance toward Hayden. “I hope you like Chinese food.”

Hayden shrugs. “I can eat anything, really. As long as it’s edible, I’ll eat it.”

A sliver of unease wraps around my gut.

I can only imagine the kind of life Hayden had while he grew up with an abusive dad. Did he even get to eat proper meals as a kid?

A part of me wants to ask but doing so would ruin the light, cheerful mood between us. Taking a deep breath, I decide to leave it for now.

“I love Chinese food,” I say, scrolling on the screen to find my favorite restaurant in the area. “It’s delicious and always fixes my craving for something greasy and carb-loaded.”

Hayden presses a kiss on my cheek. “Order some dumplings for me.”

“Oh, dumplings are a must!” I say, grinning at him. “And let’s see—I’ll have egg fried rice, spring rolls, and orange chicken. Ooh! I love orange chicken.”

“Orange chicken, huh?” An amused grin comes over Hayden’s face.

“I love the sweet, tangy, sticky sauce,” I tell him. “Do you want me to order anything else?”

“Nah, I’ll eat everything you’ve ordered.”

I glance at him, taking in his sculpted abs. Looking back at the phone’s screen, I decide to order two portions of everything for Hayden.

“What was that look about?” Hayden asks, immediately catching on.

“I’m just ordering extra portions of everything for you,” I tell him. “You eat like a damn bear about to go into hibernation.”

Hayden grins. “I do get hungry after...certain activities.”

My cheeks heat up at those words. Pretending to order more food, I glance down at my phone, doing my best to hide my shyness from him.

“Done,” I say, finally putting the phone away. “Our food is on the way.”

“Good. We can chill until it arrives,” Hayden says, climbing into bed beside me.

Grabbing the blanket, he wraps it over us and brings me closer for a kiss.

I smile against his lips, thoroughly enjoying myself.

We stay curled up under the blankets, talking lazily about nothing, kissing in between words, until the doorbell finally rings.

I groan, not wanting to leave the warmth of the blanket and Hayden’s hot body.

“Do you want me to go down and get the food?” Hayden asks, noticing my annoyance.

“No, I’ll go,” I say, grudgingly climbing off the bed and grabbing Hayden's shirt from the floor.

“Put some pants on!” Hayden calls after me as I reach for the door.

“No one’s going to care,” I say, turning around to look at him.

“Please?” he says, holding up his denim trousers.

“Didn’t think you were such a prude,” I say, snatching the pants from him.

“It’s not prudish to protect your boyfriend.”

Boyfriend? The word immediately makes me blush.

“The guy has just come to deliver food,” I mumble, hurriedly zipping up the trousers and rushing out of the room.

I can’t help smiling all the way down to the door. The delivery guy probably thinks I’m overly friendly as I grin at him and take the bag of food from him.

A part of me debates whether to eat in the kitchen or not. It’d be so much easier to clean if we did.

In the end, though, I head back upstairs.

Hayden’s trousers are too big on me, so I have to stop to grab the waistband and pull it up over my hips. As I’m straightening up, something falls to the ground.

Putting the bag of food on the floor, I bend down to pick up a suspiciously familiar object.

“I thought I lost this,” I murmur, taking a close look at the band made of colored threads with silver broomstick charms hanging from it. Grams made it for my twelfth birthday.

Back then, I was crazy about Harry Potter and the wizarding world JK Rowling created. So, Grams made me a special charms bracelet with tiny silver broomsticks and a Snitch.

But why does Hayden have it? I wonder, staring at the faded threads on my palm.

Picking up the bag of food, I make my way upstairs.

Opening the door, I find Hayden on the bed, wearing my trousers. They look too short and tight on him but I’m not complaining. Secretly, I’m glad he chose not to put on a shirt.

As I walk in, I notice he’s already folded up the blanket and propped up the pillows, making space on the bed for our Chinese feast. I put the bags on the bed and start taking out the cartons.

“Wow, did you order everything on their menu?” Hayden asks, chuckling and staring at the food boxes on the bed.

“Stop complaining,” I say, playfully punching his arm. “You know you’ll finish everything within minutes!”

He winks, his face brightening up with a carefree grin.

“By the way, why do you have my charm bracelet?” I ask, showing him the band. “I thought I lost it. Where did you find it?”

Hayden’s eyes widen when they land on the bracelet. “That’s mine!” he says, suddenly snatching it from me.

“Hayden!”

“I know it’s yours but I’m keeping it.”

“What? Why?!” I ask, baffled by the way he cradles the old bracelet.

“It’s my lucky charm,” he says, cracking a grin.

“But where the hell did you get it?” I ask him, still wondering why he’s so attached to the damn thing.

A grimace flashes on his face. “Okay, but you can’t get mad.” He takes a deep breath while I cluelessly stare at him. “I took the bracelet off your wrist after the first time we slept in this room. Back then, I didn’t know anything about you but I was already obsessed with you. I didn’t want to leave you and go but I had to.” He lets out a sigh. “So, I took it while you were sleeping.”

“You took the bracelet as a kind of a souvenir?” I ask, trying to understand him.

He gives a sober nod. “Meeting you was something of an anomaly for me,” Hayden says in a quiet voice. “You were the first person I opened up to about being gay. I couldn’t believe how easily you accepted me and let me spend the night here. You have no idea how that made me feel.”

A heavy sigh escapes me as I sit down on the bed. “Hayden, this is the twenty-first century. Unless someone’s a total dickhead, they wouldn’t care whether you’re gay or straight.”

“That’s how you think and feel,” Hayden says, smiling gently. “You think the rest of the world is just as kind and warm as you.” Reaching out, he gently places a hand on my cheek. “I hate to say you’re wrong but babe, not everyone’s as great as you are. People can be real dickheads sometimes.”

A chuckle escapes me. “I’m not na?ve enough to think everyone’s good. I know assholes exist but the world is mostly good.”

He shrugs. “Either way, I’m keeping this.”

“Fine,” I mutter. “Keep that old thing if it makes you happy.”

His grin widens immediately.

“Can I ask you something?” he says after a pause.

“Sure.”

“What’s that tiny silver ball that hangs between the broomsticks?”

A loud guffaw escapes me.

“What’s so funny?” he asks with an innocent look on his face.

“That’s a Snitch,” I tell him. “I’m guessing you have no idea how Quidditch works.”

“Quid—what?”

“Quidditch!”

“What’s that?” he asks, looking adoringly confused.

“It’s a game they play in the Harry Potter books and movies,” I explain to him. “You know, it’s a lot like soccer but also a bit like hockey. They throw different-sized balls between themselves and try to get them through goal hoops to score points.”

“Oh...”

“I know what we’re watching this evening,” I tell him, proceeding to open a box of chowmein. “We’re starting a Harry Potter marathon!”

Hayden chuckles. “My boyfriend’s such a nerd.”

I stick my tongue out at him but my attention drops to the box of noodles on my lap. The aroma of fried garlic and chili-infused oil wafts into my nostrils, igniting my hunger. My stomach howls, urging me to take a big bite.

“Gods, I needed this,” I say, chewing through a mouthful of noodles.

“Did you need that more than sex?” Hayden asks.

I choke on the noodles.

Hayden laughs at the stricken look on my face. He pats my back, helping me force the morsel of food down my throat.

I glare at him but my annoyance doesn’t last long. My hunger makes me reach for a box of orange chicken next. The very first bite of the sweet, tangy chicken makes me forget about everything.

Sitting cross-legged, I watch Hayden demolish a carton of fried rice like it’s his last meal on Earth. Glad that I ordered extra food, I eat my orange chicken with absolute satisfaction,

A comfortable silence soon falls over us as we eat.

“Mmm...so good,” I say, sampling a dumpling. “It tastes better than I remember.”

“Yeah?” Hayden grabs a dumpling from the same box. He puts the whole thing in his mouth, chewing as he nods. “This is good, but you know what they say? Food always tastes better after—”

“Hayden,” I growl, glaring at him for teasing me again.

“What? I was going to say ‘after a long day.’” He grins. “You have such a dirty mind, Liam.”

I glare at him. “You know exactly what you were going to say.”

He shrugs with an innocent look on his face and steals another dumpling from me.

Shaking my head, I let out a chuckle. Why is it so damn hard to stay angry at him?

As we continue eating, my exhaustion melts away.

Warmth spreads through me as I realize what it means to have Hayden beside me. Cocooned in my bedroom with him, I feel safer and happier than I’ve ever felt before.

With a start, I realize I feel at home with him.

My throat chokes up with a sudden emotion. I don’t even grumble as Hayden grabs the last dumpling and grins smugly as he eats it.

A sigh escapes me.

There’s no point denying it anymore. I’m completely, utterly in love with Hayden.