Nate just laughed though, which settled another part of Ramsey that he hadn’t realized he’d needed settled. Ramsey couldn’t change his past—it was part of him, and he wouldn’t even necessarily want to change it—but he couldn’t date someone for real if they were going to stew about it. If they were going to be jealous.
Instead, Nate just seemed smug about it.
“That shouldn’t be cute, but it is,” Ramsey admitted.
“What, feeling damn good about the fact that it’sme?”
Ramsey nudged him again. “Yes.”
“Get used to it, baby.” Nate leaned in and kissed him again.
“That should also not be cute,” Ramsey said.
“Me calling you baby?”
Ramsey nodded, and Nate’s expression softened into seriousness.
“Do you not like it? I can call you something different—”
“No, no,” Ramsey said. “I . . .I wouldn’t think I would, but I do. I do like it. It feels good. Real. Like you’re really dating me.”
Nate’s brown eyes softened into fondness. Ramsey didn’t think he could look away even if he wanted to. “Baby, Iamdating you for real.”
Ramsey had known it. He’d known it from the moment he’d told Nate the truth about how he’d been dying to tell him about today.
He’d known he’d wanted it for even longer.
Nate had to know that, but Ramsey still felt he should say it. “I want you to know how much it kills me to say this, but I’m not going to be good at it.”
“Dating me?” But Nate just started laughing without even waiting for Ramsey to answer. “I don’t want you to be anything but you, okay?”
“Easier said than done, when you get annoyed with me,” Ramsey grumbled.
“And I’m still going to want to date you, even if I get annoyed. That already happened, didn’t it? You freaked out and ran away, and I was annoyed about that for awhile. Few months, easy. And guess what, the moment you showed up again?Boom. Still wanted to fucking date you.”
It was impossible to keep the smile on his face from growing bigger and wider, completely breaking through containment.
“Yeah, baby?”
Nate just chuckled. “Yeah, baby.”
Chapter 13
Ramseydecideditwasweird because of hownot weirdit was.
He kept waiting for his freakout. When they ate the takeout on the couch, the Stars and Leafs playing hockey in the background, Nate’s arm slung across his shoulders casually. As if he hadn’t even noticed it, he just wasn’t ready to let go of Ramsey.
And, it turned out, Ramsey wasn’t ready for that either.
When the game finished, Nate looked at him. Easy, still. In the back of his mind, Ramsey knew it was because Nate was still concerned he was going to panic and bolt. It was difficult to blame Nate for that, though it was still a little embarrassing, because Ramsey kept waiting for it himself. And it kept not happening.
“So,” Nate said.
But even though Ramsey understoodwhyNate might be concerned, he wasn’t going to let him off the hook entirely. “You can stop looking at me like I’m a horse that’s gonna spook,” he teased, elbowing him gently in the side.
Nate flushed. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be,” Ramsey admitted. “I keep waiting for it, too.”
