Page 95 of Two for Charging

“You!”

Chris kissed him then, hard and deep and so exactly what Luca wanted it was cruel. He forced himself to pull away.

“Don’t,” he said. “It’s not—I know you don’t feel the same way I do.”

But Chris kissed him again. His hands anchored Luca steady by the hips, and Luca couldn’t help but return the kiss. How was he supposed to deny himself the one thing he’d been craving for months? He knew it wasn’t real, but with Chris’s lips on his, he could fool himself for a moment.

When Chris pulled away, he said breathlessly, “Yeah, so I’m going to need you to tell me how you feel.”

“I am in love with you,” Luca told him. What more did he have to lose?

One of Chris’s hands slid up to cup Luca’s cheek. He let out a disbelieving laugh and then asked, “Really?”

Luca tried to wrench himself out of Chris’s grip, but Chris was too strong. “Of course, really!” Luca spat the words. “I told you yesterday—”

“You said you couldn’t keep teaching me how to have sex, and that I knew why,” Chris corrected. “I thought you meant you couldn’t because it was a weird way for you to pay rent, and you wanted to stop.”

“I—” Luca supposed he hadn’t said the words out loud. But he had been so obvious Chris must have noticed. “Chris, I took you on a moonlit boat ride down the Chicago River. I went to Berkeley to buy you cheese. I massaged arnica gel into your bare legs. This—” He gestured at the shimmering lights extending before their feet. “—was me trying to plan a platonic activity for us. I could not have been more obvious if I tried.”

“Oh.” A note of wonder registered in Chris’s voice as if he truly hadn’t understood how ridiculous Luca had been all this time. “Oh. Oh wow. You—and me—but why? I mean, I’m just—”

“You are not just anything, all right? You are kind and earnest and generous and beautiful, and I love you, and it is killing me, and if you don’t stop holding me this way, I will never get over you.”

“Good,” Chris said.

“I—wait, what?”

“I don’t want you to get over me.” Chris slid their mouths together in a brief, tender kiss. Luca wanted nothing more than to sink into it with his whole body, but he didn’t understand.

“You don’t even like men!”

“Oh, right.” Chris pulled away. Cold air rushed into the space between them, and Luca reached out to pull him close again, but he stopped himself. They needed to talk before more kissing happened, or maybe they never would. “So, did you know some people aren’t interested in sex with anyone?”

“Yes,” Luca said. “I thought maybe you were asexual at first, but you said you did want to do things with me, so I wasn’t sure. But then tonight, you told your mother you didn’t want to meet any more women, and—”

“Yeah, exactly. I only want to do things with you, and I don’t want to meet women.”

Luca opened his mouth to say something, anything, but his brain couldn’t process beyond Chris wanting him.

“It turns out some people don’t want to have sex with anyone. But sometimes, when they get close with someone and know them well and have feelings for them, that can change.”

Luca blinked. The information was vaguely familiar. At the same time, hearing it applied to Chris was a revelation. “And it has? Changed?”

Chris nodded.

“So you—”

“So I don’t know if I like men or women or whatever, but I do know I’m in love with you.”

Blood rushed in Luca’s ears, and he swayed on his feet. “You…”

Chris leaned in again and caught him tight around the waist. “Can I kiss you again now?”

“Please,” Luca said, and then he couldn’t talk at all for quite some time.

Chapter Fifteen

“Without a doubt, the Sea Lions’ not-so-secret weapon continues to be their first D-pair, Chris Calabrese and Luca Mazetti. While Calabrese favors a more classically defensive style, Mazetti’s strength is offense using his deft hands and elegant footwork. Together, the two of them bring a synchronicity and creativity to the ice most teams can only dream of. We couldn’t pick one of them over the other, so they take place three as a duo.”