Page 76 of Rebound

“I’ve been thinking a lot. I mean, I always think a lot. Especially about you.”

“Not surprising,” Thomas murmured, holding onto Ben and walking them out of the room, back toward the dining room and the delicious smell of coconut curry.

“I just wanted my space to feel more like mine,” he said. “I wanted to be comfortable with it. With me.”

Thomas shot him a speculative look, one eye narrowed and the brow arched, but he didn’t speak to that. Instead, he tore open the bag and took out the containers of food and set them on the table.

“Did you want to get silverware?” Thomas asked.

He nodded, wanting a lot more than that. He returned with spoons and forks, joining Thomas at the table and digging into dinner.

“So, do I get any hints about this trip?”

“I don’t want to ruin the surprise.”

“You know that even if I know everything we’re doing down to the second, it won’t be ruined, right?” Thomas put the lid back on the empty soup container and tossed it into the empty bag.

“I know. I just want it to be special. It’s kind of a big weekend.”

“It’s just a birthday.”

“And your divorce is final,” he said.

Thomas chewed the corner of his lip and nodded. “Are you done with that?”

Ben slid the mostly empty curry container toward him. “You seem less excited about the divorce than you do your birthday.”

“I’m glad it’ll be done with, but it’s been a very long chapter. More than a chapter, if we’re being honest. It’s been a series, a volume. Like…” Thomas trailed off, jamming the rest of the containers into the trash bag. “I don’t know how to put words to it.”

“It’s a big thing,” he agreed.

“I don’t want you to think that it’s not important, because it is. And it’s a good thing too.” Thomas stood and took the trash into the kitchen. “It’s just a lot.”

“We don’t have to go away.” Ben stood and followed after Thomas into the kitchen, wrapping his arms around him and dropping a kiss against the space between his shoulder blades.

“I want to.” Thomas turned in his arms and the tips of their noses brushed together. “It’s just an old book closing, and there’s this new one here with you and I’m ready to see what happens next.”

“Curious where your own plot takes you?” He tilted his head to the side and Thomas leaned in quick, kissing the side of his neck.

Thomas’s hands snaked up his back, fingers threading into his hair and pulling their faces back together. Ben could smell the curry against Thomas’s mouth and he tried to lean in for a taste. He knew there were many more layers to the things Thomas was feeling, but he also knew Thomas would talk when he was ready.

Things between them had turned serious, and Ben needed to trust in that. Trust in Thomas to know himself and what he wanted, even if it was different from what Ben expected of him.

“You could say that,” Thomas teased, his breath hot against Ben’s mouth.

He hummed a pleased noise in the back of his throat, looping his arms around Thomas’s waist and taking a step backward. “I think the first stop is my bedroom.”

Thomas chuckled and kissed the corner of his mouth, as confident in his movements and touches as he ever had been. “Then, by all means, lead the way.”

CHAPTER24

THOMAS

The Fridaybefore Thomas’s birthday came, and Ben showed up at his door with a backpack and a smile.

“Are you ready?” Ben asked.

Thomas was ready, surprisingly so. Not just for the weekend, but also for his divorce to be final. He was ready to be with Ben without the complications that lingered in the back of his mind over still being legally married.