Page 6 of The Year of Us: July

Reese

Monday morning, Cory told me he hadn’t booked a return flight to New York, and Monday morning we opened the fridge to find nothing except an empty milk carton and a moldy bag of grapes.

“I need to go to the grocery store,” I grumbled. Behind me, Cory lifted onto his toes to peer over my shoulder, pressing his chin into the bone.

“You do.”

I elbowed him and turned quickly to get a kiss onto his mouth before he dodged the attack.

“I’m also supposed to meet Morgan for lunch today. I can cancel if you want.”

Cory shook his head and took my hands, lifting them to his mouth to kiss my knuckles.

“I’m never going to be that kind of boyfriend, Reese.

I’m here unplanned and unannounced. I’m happy to go to the grocery store with you, but I’m happy for you to go spend time with your best friend without me.

” He smiled and took a step out of the kitchen.

“Besides, I need to meet with the realtor about finding a place.”

“You’re more than welcome here,” I said.

“I know and I love that, but we both know this place is far too small for one person, let alone two.”

Cory let my hands fall and the weight of his Rolex on my wrist sat like a shackle against the bone, an unwanted reminder of how different the two of us were.

“Well.” I cleared my throat. “Have you given any thought to what part of town you want to look at?”

We’d talked about it over the weekend, all the places Cory could afford that I’d never be able to.

The options that afforded him views of the beach or the mountains with sprawling floor plans that would give him more room than his massive condo in New York ever could.

He liked the idea of Malibu, but it was achingly far from me so it was off the list as soon as it was on.

Hollywood was always an option, which would have had him close for work too, but there was the issue of privacy.

“I’m thinking Coldwater Canyon,” he said. “But I’ll talk with Kale’s friend and see what he has to say. Well, Kale’s friend’s friend or whatever.”

I hummed, unclasping the watch and setting it down on my nightstand beside Cory’s charging cell phone. “What’s his name?”

“Zane Ward.”

“That’s quite a name.”

Cory chuckled and climbed onto the bed, his stare focused as I stripped out of my underwear.

I flung them at his face and he caught them, balling them up and bringing them to his nose before inhaling deeply.

He let out a primal kind of groan, then slid them down his chest to the quickly growing bulge between his legs.

“You said I could go see Morgan today,” I warned.

“I know.” He arched his hips off the bed.

“If you keep being that sexy, I’m not going anywhere besides between your legs.”

“As tempting as that sounds…” He raised a brow at me, then obediently tucked himself back under the covers and out of sight. “Go get showered and dressed. I’ll clean up after you’re done.”

I hated leaving him alone, but I loved how everything in my apartment had already started to smell like him.

He was extremely attached to the hoodie he’d stolen from me, but I’d watched the way he carefully laid it out on the sheets, trying to refresh the smell of me into the fabric.

Together, the two of us were a lovesick mess, and as much as I hated the idea of Cory being in the same city as me and not always the same bed, I saw the necessity of it.

He was a fucking drug, and an accessible one at that.

The country between us had been the only thing that allowed me to get anything done between visits.

If he was closer to me every night, I didn’t know if I would ever come up for air.

I’d have to talk to Morgan about it; she would have advice…

though if she had gone behind my back and planned this trip with him in enough detail to get him a key to my apartment? She’d already picked her side.

I cursed her name while I finished washing up, and I made sure to shower quickly to save some water for Cory.

He was still on my bed when I stepped out of the bathroom, but no longer hidden under the covers.

He was naked, hand stroking lazily up and down his shaft while he smiled up at me like the Cheshire cat.

“Oh good,” he said, letting his hand fall to the side. He climbed off the bed and moved toward me, cock bobbing between his legs. “You’re out of the shower.”

I groaned, sliding my hand around his waist and pulling our bodies flush. “Don’t waste your cum on the shower drain.”

“I would never.” His dick pulsed against my thigh. “I don’t mind waiting sometimes. In fact, I sort of like it.”

I hummed, dragging my hands down the small of his back and pulling our bodies even closer together. The heat of him burned through the towel around my waist and I wanted .

“I like making you wait too,” Cory whispered, sliding past me with a grin and locking himself in the bathroom before I even realized he’d walked away from me.

“You ass,” I called through the door.

Cory laughed, then turned the shower on.

I muttered another choice phrase and finished drying off.

After tossing the towel into the hamper, I got dressed in a pair of torn jeans and a faded black band t-shirt from some random concert at The Troubadour Morgan and I had gone to a few years ago, then I waited for Cory to finish showering so I could brush my teeth, comb my hair, and then do something with the rest of my life.