Ramsey realized, belatedly, that he’d never worried about Nate returning his feelings. He’d only worriedhewouldn’t be able to square with them.
But he’d done it. Well, okay, he wasdoingit. Or he was fuckingtrying.
“You make me feel . . .”Unhinged, fond, enamored, like myself for the first timeever.
Nate caught him by the arm and stroked up it, reeling him in. “You know you’ve always done that to me,” he admitted in a soft voice. “Always. It was why I was such an ass. You wouldn’t stay in the box I put you in.”
Ramsey tilted his chin back. Found a well of determination. The same well that had seen him through so many shitty circumstances. “Because I wanted to be in the box with you.”
“God.” Nate threaded his fingers through Ramsey’s hair and tugged him down into a kiss. It was hot, because he’d nevernotwant Nathaniel, but it was more than that too. Sweet and soft and inevitable.
Full of love, Ramsey realized.
Nate pulled back and murmured against his lips. “You know I love you, right? That’s what that is.”
Ramsey nodded, wordless.
Nate tucked him into his chest. He’d never let anyone else bother about keeping him safe, only cared about how safe he could keep himself. That wasn’t going to change, not in any significant way, but once in awhile, if he needed it, Ramsey knew Nate would.
Knew that he’d never even need to ask.
“I do love you,” he whispered into Nate’s chest.
He wasn’t sure if Nate heard him until his embrace tightened just a little more.
It was funny because it wasn’t anything that special, and yet it was extraordinary too.
Chapter 19
ForNate,itwasamazing how everything changed after the incident with Jordan.
Everything and nothing, at the same time.
He and Ramsey had gone to bed together, like it was any other night, and Ramsey had touched him the same as he had so many other times.
It made Nate wonder how long they’d both felt this way, unsure how to breach that last bit of distance between them.
But regardless, they woke up the next morning, and their routine was the same.
Breakfast. Shower. Ramsey went to the rink and Nate went to the practice facility to work out. Insisted on Jordan joining him, and while he seemed quieter, more subdued than normal, he seemed relatively okay in the aftermath.
Jordan made noise again about replacing the watch and Ramsey’s chain, but Nate brushed him off. The watch wasn’tthatvaluable, in the scheme of things, something he could fairlyeasily replace if he chose to, and as for the chain, Nate was intending to take care of that himself.
After working out and showering, he offered to grab lunch with Jordan, but Jordan just huffed with exasperation. “Don’t fucking hover, man. I’m okay.”
Nate got it. Jordan had fucked up and was still, as Ramsey had put it, licking his wounds.
“Alright, alright,” he said and instead grabbed takeout sushi on the way home, hoping that Ramsey would be back from the rink and they could eat together. If not, it would keep in the fridge until he was.
When he walked in, sure enough Ramsey was there, on the phone.
“Yeah,” Ramsey said as he paced back and forth in the living room. “Yeah, I know the Leafs want a d-man. They’ll be interested. Only question is what are the Wolves going to give up for me.”
Nate, in the process of unloading the food from the bags in the kitchen, froze.
Ramsey continued. “I don’t care. I just need you to get it done. The deal’s there. I can’t stay in Buffalo, no matter how much they want me to. Yeah. For personal reasons.” He paused. “No, I’m not going into why. With you or with them. Just . . .yeah. I’m not leaving Toronto.”
Nate unfroze. Strode into the living room.
