Page 3 of The Year of Us: May

I closed my eyes and exhaled slowly, fighting the vines of tension that tried to bind their way up my spine.

“What’s wrong, Reese?” he asked.

The driver got into the car, rolled up a divider I hadn’t even seen, then headed into the traffic jam of JFK.

“Nothing,” I lied.

“Come on now,” he teased, curling his long and slender fingers around the middle of my thigh and squeezing. “Don’t start the weekend off like that.”

“This is just…you’re just…”

“I am who I am,” he said, almost apologetic. “And I amhowI am. Maybe it’s better you get to see it now before things get too…” he trailed off.

“Things are alreadytoo.”

“Yes,” he agreed. “I suppose they are.”

The two of us were silent, save for the desperate sound of my heart slamming against my ribs in an attempt to make an escape from my chest. It took fifteen minutes to get out of the airport and traffic getting into the city wasn’t much better.

“You live in Manhattan, then?” I finally asked, the silence too much to bear.

“Yes. You’ve seen it when we’ve video chatted with each other.”

I huffed. “I’ve seen your headboard, your refrigerator, and one time your shower.”

“Well, I want to say just wait until you see the view, but now I’m more concerned it will scare you off.”

“I’m not scared,” I promised, threading our fingers together and lifting his hand to my mouth. I dusted a kiss across Cory’s knuckles that made him shiver before letting our hands fall back down on top of my leg. “I’m just overwhelmed.”

“You know it’s moments like this that I would tell anyone besides you that that’s the point of having a dominant partner.” The corner of his mouth quirked up into a wary smile.

It was impossible to not laugh at him, so I didn’t bother trying to hold it back.

“Should I be offended?” he asked after I finally quieted down.

I smiled at him, shaking my head and biting down on the inside of my cheek.

“No,” I whispered. “Not that.”

“What then?”

“Maybe just…prepared.”

CHAPTER3

Cory

If Reese thoughtan upgrade to first class and a hired car was too much, I worried what he might think of my loft in Manhattan with a view that didn’t suck and a sticker price that could probably buy the entire building he rented in, and then some. My wealth was part of who I was, and I wasn’t going to apologize for it. Though I was keenly aware that it might be something Reese struggled to comprehend. The wealth disparity didn’t bother me, but he was fiercely independent.

“I hope you don’t mind that I planned a quiet night in. I figured after six hours on a plane, you might want to take it easy tonight.”

Reese hummed his approval. “And tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow, some post wake-up sex sight-seeing. Dinner. The Black Door. If that’s still on the table.”

Reese lifted an eyebrow. “Why wouldn’t it be?”

It was my turn to dust a kiss across his knuckles. “You’re overwhelmed already. I never want to make you uncomfortable.”