Touch And Go - Aiden Bates Page 0,74

than casual.”

Relief. An ocean of it poured through me, followed by waves of happiness. I smiled and pushed his hair back from his forehead, careful not to press hard against the bruise there. “You’re beautiful.”

“You like my pawn shop facelift?”

I laughed and brought him into a tight hug, wanting every inch his body against mine.

“I’m so tired,” he whispered.

I looked at him again, taking inventory of his injuries, and wished once more I could undo what had been done. “Mm. Shower and bed?”

“My bed…?”

I frowned and tilted my head, unsure what it was he was asking, until I realized…we’d only slept in the spare room together, never in my bed. In fact, sharing my bed was an intimacy I didn’t extend to many, but one I had assumed Seb would expect. Surely, he knew what he meant to me now. I pulled back and caught his gaze. “What about mine?”

The sweet smile and bright eyes made my heart flip, and it kept flipping as we bathed each other. Flipped again when he put on my Georgetown hoodie, swimming in it like it was a dress. And again, when he beamed as I folded down the covers and motioned for him to climb into bed with me. It felt special, curling up around him in my bed, and I kissed the back of his head and held him close while I heard his breath soften and his limbs went heavy with sleep. Sleepovers had never been my idea of a good time, and I usually asked my casual hook-ups to leave soon after we were done. I wondered if I’d been missing out on this warm, tingling, happy feeling the whole time, but probably it wasn’t that simple. This was special. Sebastian was special. And what we had was what I’d been looking for a long time, without even knowing it.

22

Sebastian

My fingers ached from the strength of my grip as Derek and I walked hand in hand along the docks, but he seemed okay with it. I’d gotten pretty good at reading his body language over the last two days. I’d had to. The last forty-eight hours had been a blur of sex, snacks, and intense feelings, but with a distinct lack of words. There was only so much we could communicate between grunts, thrusts, and groans, so I really had no idea what the future held for us. All I knew was I wanted there to be a future for us beyond what we were about to face together on the docks. It was just a shame I had no idea what Derek wanted.

He’d asked me three times if I wanted to go back to my apartment now that the brothers had cleaned it up, then quickly backpedaled and said I was welcome to stay with him. It was like he was waiting for the other shoe to drop, keeping a side-eye on me, counting down the minutes until I skedaddled out of there and proved myself unreliable. Well, too bad—that wasn’t going to happen.

He’d admitted his feelings the night of the big rescue, but since then, nothing. I wasn’t hoping for a grand declaration of love and devotion, but as the days went on, I found myself wishing for a little more than I was getting.

He was here now, holding my hand through what was probably the hardest moment of my life, but I still felt like I was on the outside. And I wanted in.

“Will you tell me how you met your brothers?”

He tensed, like he always did when I asked for details about his past. Through his stilted answers, I’d picked up enough pieces to put together parts of a story of the Vanguard Tower, but hardly enough to feel like I was part of his world. He clearly held his family as his most prized and loved possession and opening up about them would be the ultimate show of trust and acceptance. A show I needed him to make. But he was silent and looking straight ahead with his sunglasses on as we walked down the docks.

“You haven’t really said much beyond surface stuff. Which is fine, but…you know every little detail about my family, so…” I squinted toward the bright, blue sky, and silently told myself it was okay to ask again for details about his life. It wasn’t embarrassing to put myself out there. It was okay to be vulnerable. Maybe it’d pay off. Maybe he’d open up.

He let out a long breath and