“Boyfriend,” I murmured. “I like the sound of that.”
“Yeah?” He brushed my lips with his. “Good. I’m going to say it a lot. Make sure it really sinks in.” He paused. “I’m ready for bed. How about you, boyfriend?”
I smirked. “Yeah, boyfriend. I’m good with that.”
He took hold of my hand and led me into his bedroom. We kissed in the dark, fumbling to remove our clothes, and slid into bed together.
Like always, our chemistry sparked to life. Silas’s kisses were like a drug, and I was addicted. I kissed him again and again, reveling in the press of his naked skin.
But all the while, my head kept returning to the new reality between us. This wasn’t a fling. This wasn’t just sex.
It was so much more.
I broke the kiss, pressing my forehead to his. “At the risk of sounding sappy…”
“Do it. Boyfriends are all sap, right?”
I nuzzled into his throat. “I’ll never hurt you, Silas. I hope you know that.”
He cupped my face, meeting my eyes. “I know. I think I’ve known all along. It’s what made it so hard to just…”
“Hit it and quit it?” I joked.
“Well, that and everywhere I turned, you were there to help with the wedding.”
I smiled sheepishly. “That may have been by design.”
“I’m not oblivious,” Silas said. “I knew why, but…I guess that persistence made me realize how much you cared. You could have just moved on.”
“Nah,” I said, pecking his lips. “You’re impossible to move on from.”
“Obviously, not everyone feels that way.”
“Well, Michael was an idiot,” I said. “I consider myself reasonably intelligent.”
“You do, huh?” He laughed. “That’s fair. Michaelwasan idiot. I guess Chris was an idiot too, huh?”
I grimaced. “Turning the tables on me?”
“You know my story,” Silas said. “You’ve been patient with me. More patient than I probably deserved. I want to be here for you too, though. This can’t be one-sided, not if we want it to work. I’m all in now, Bryson.”
I flopped to the side, leaning against the headboard. Silas rolled onto his side, propping his head on his hand, giving me his full attention.
It wasn’t comfortable to talk about Chris, but the fact Silas wanted to share this kind of intimacy—emotional and not just physical—made our relationship feel real.
He was in this for more than sex.
Maybe he always had been.
“Chris said all the right things, but he’s good at that. He knew just how to twist the truth to make you second-guess your doubts. For the longest time, I was convinced I was just paranoid, but then…”
“You weren’t,” Silas said softly.
“No. I walked in on him with his assistant. He tried to gaslight me even then, but I couldn’t stay. All the pieces of the puzzle came together, you know? Every late night, every weekend trip, every doubt that I’d pushed down. He’d been cheating on me the whole time.”
“Fuck, Bry. I’m so sorry. You didn’t deserve that.”
I swallowed hard. “The hell of it is, I don’t think I even loved him. I mean, I said I did. I even moved in with him. But he was never right for me.”
