Page 47 of Balance

He came again. His orgasm was softer than the first and when he was done, he collapsed against me. chest heaving. He curled up in my arms, buried his face in the curve of my neck, and just stayed there, limp but not lifeless. The aftershocks rippled through him, making him tremble and twitch, and I held him. Stroked my hands up and down his back and toyed with his hair and just loved him up while he came back to himself.

It took a few minutes, but he sighed when he did.

“I think I need a shower,” he said, but made no effort to move out of my arms. Not that I’d have let him.

“I think you’re fine right here for now.”

He snuggled closer like he was trying to burrow into me. “Who knew you were secretly snuggly? I sure as hell didn’t when I sat on your lap on the plane.”

“That was before I knew you.”

“I’m so glad I got us kicked off that flight. I think it was the best thing that ever happened to me. I still can’t believe they haven’t found my luggage. I bet it’s going to end up at one of those lost luggage auctions. Which means someone is going to get my hotdog dachshund undies.”

My laugh caught me off-guard and it bubbled out before I could stifle it. “I’ll buy you a new pair. Send me the link.”

Troye didn’t always indulge in underwear with silly prints, but I loved that he was willing to embrace his whimsical, silly side. There was no way in hell that I’d ever be able to make taco cat underwear look good, but it was effortless for him.

“You don’t have to buy me underwear.” Troye huffed, trying to sound annoyed but not quite succeeding.

“You don’t like the idea of me buying you underwear? Or do you like it too much?”

Troye pushed back and looked at me. His eyes narrowed and his mouth forced into a scowl he didn’t mean. “How do you do that? Get out of my brain.”

“Ah, so he likes it too much. Tell me more about that, sweetheart.”

“Ugh. I can’t even with you. You’re so… gah. You know I can’t help but do everything you ask when you call me sweetheart.” Troye spent a few minutes quietly drawing shapes on my chest. Hearts. Circles. Stars. More hearts. After sex was when Troye was the most open. All his guards were down, and it usually took a while for him to build them back up. But every time we were together, they seemed to stay down longer and longer. Maybe one day he wouldn’t be guarded around me at all.

Troye was quiet when he finally spoke. “I like the idea of you buying me things like that for the same reason I like stealing your clothes. It makes me feel like I belong to you.”

Cradling his face in my hand, I tipped it up and made him look at me. I wanted him to see the truth of it in my eyes. “You do belong to me. You’re mine. And I’m yours.”

CHAPTER 25

TROYE

There was no reason at all to be nervous. None whatsoever. It was only the official meeting of my best friend and my boyfriend. I had dreams about it all going wrong. About Charlie interrogating Matthew until he had enough and broke up with me. In some of my dreams, Matthew was the one who hated Charlie. Why? I have no idea why. But if Matthew didn’t like Charlie, then I had to break up with him. That was the ultimatum Charlie gave me in my dreams.

We decided to meet on neutral ground. Our location was a little restaurant near my apartment that had a homey feel to it. It had been there for longer than I’d been alive. The wood tables were dented and scratched, their damage telling stories of years of love and laughter. The lighting was low, and there was an impressive hanging plant at the front of the restaurant whose leaves hung down and brushed the floor.

Charlie and I arrived first, and I chose a table away from the bathrooms and away from the noise of the kitchen. Charlie had dressed up for the occasion as far as Charlie was concerned. He’d traded out his usual wrinkled graphic tee for a nice, brand new plain black tee. It looked like the kind that came in a four pack, but it was clean, hole-free, and didn’t have any video game characters on it, so that was a win.

“I want you to know that I appreciate the effort you put into this,” I told him as a server approached.

“Can I get you gentlemen anything?” he passed out a couple of menus.

“We’re waiting on our friends, but I’d love an iced tea.”

The server nodded and slid their gaze over to Charlie. “And for you?”

“I’ll have the same, thanks.” When the server left, Charlie turned his attention to me and narrowed his eyes. “Friends? That sounded plural.”

“I promise it’s not a set up, but I told Matthew that he should bring his best friend, Jett. See, I’ve only met Jett a couple of times, and they were both when I went to the office with Matthew. I figured it would be nice of me to get to know his best friend too.”

Charlie took a deep breath and let it out like a sigh, exhaling all the weight out of his chest. “Fiiine. I believe you. For a second, I worried that this was some sort of double date fix-up.”

“No double date. Just four people having dinner. As friends.”

“Except two of those friends fuck like rabbits.”