Page 87 of Trust Goes Both Ways
He smiles, almost shyly, and then he’s gone, back to feed the small party he has going in his room. Doubt we’ll see any of them for a while. Will is friendly and cuddly—according to his boyfriends—but he’s also competitive and can shit talk with the best of them. He’ll be a good influence on the kid.
“I better get these back before they go warm.” Grady kisses my cheek. “Love you.”
I’m alone before I can reply, and I do a little jig of happiness. He doesn’tneedto hear me say the words, because he trusts in them completely and wholly. He isn’t waiting for me to leave him or change my mind. He’s in this one hundred percent, and he knows I am too.
The next hour goes by in a blur, trying to get around to talk to everyone and sneak as many spare moments with Grady as I can.
And then suddenly, it’s a few minutes until midnight, and for the first time all night, I’ve lost track of Grady. Panic hits me right in the chest, and I rush through the living room, looking for him. Where did he go? I swear he was here a minute ago.
I can’t miss this.
Ican’t.
“One minute!”
Fuck, fuck,fuck. “Grady?” Not in the kitchen. Not in the hallway—why did I look in the hallway? A quick peek into Riley’s room reveals no one but Riley, already asleep; everyone else has found their person.
Where is my person? There’s no way I can miss this. Not when it’s so important.
“Ten!”
Finally, I spot him, standing in the doorway of the kitchen, watching me with an intense look in his eyes that causes a delighted shiver to run down my spine.
Relief floods me at the same time.
“Nine!”
He closes the gap between us and stops right in front of me. Not touching. The heat radiating from him sinks deep into my very soul.
“Eight!”
I fiddle with his tie, twisting it around my fingers. “I thought I’d miss you.”
“Seven!”
“You’ll always find me,” he says quietly.
“Six!”
“And I’ll always find you.”
“Five!”
The things he says; I doubt he has any idea just what it does to me.
“Four!”
“It’s tradition,” I say, breaking the silence. “You have to participate.”
“Three!”
He bites his lip. “Participate in what?” he asks, playing along.
The fact he remembers the exact words from the day we met is like a direct hit to my gut, a pleasant tingle spreading.
“Two!”
Fisting his collar, I drag him down into a kiss, heart bursting. He wraps an arm around my waist, playing with me. His fingers trail over my pants where my tattoo is and I moan, running my hands through his hair, a little longer than it was a year ago. Perfect for holding onto while he drives me wild in bed. Hell, when he drives me wild just from a single kiss.
“One!”
I had no idea just how far I would come in a single year. That a year ago I would share a first kiss that would change everything for me.
Exactly a year ago, I found my soulmate, the one I’ll spend the rest of my life with. The one I share a life with, a home, a family. All the things that I’d dreamed of and had begun to think that I would never get. The universe had known, had waited for that perfect moment when I would find the one person that completes me. It couldn’t have ever been anyone else.
Even when I didn’t know him, it was always him.
“Happy New Year!”
*****
