“I love you more,” he murmured back. “We should host Christmas.”
John kissed him. “My parents usually host, it’s sorta their thing.”
“Okay,” Wyatt kissed him back, nipping his lower lip. “Wecan host New Year's.”
“Yes,wecan.”
“And I’ll propose in front of everyone there. Champagne, ring in the bubbles, make it a whole big thing.”
John laughed, blushing, scrubbing a hand over the back of his neck. “You’re not gonna let this go, are you?”
Wyatt shook his head, smiling. “Never when it comes to you.”
John stared right through him and into his soul. “Good. I love you.”
“I love you.”
Chapter 22
John
Christmas night
“I’m surprised you didn’t go back home,” John said to Samuels, who was unlocking his locker.
“Yeah, well, been busy here,” he said with an indifferent shoulder shrug.
John’s gaze narrowed. Maybe he was spending too much time with Wyatt, but he had been noticing body language far more often lately. And he was noticing that Samuels seemedoffthis week.
“Not to push the subject…” John began.
Samuels’s chin hitched to the side, green eyes fixed on his. “Something tells me you're about to push anyway.”
“Well, yeah. I care about you, man. And you’ve been distant this past week. Wanna talk about it?”
Samuels scratched his whiskered cheeks, debating. “Now?”
John nodded, glancing around the empty hallway. They were off the clock, both heading home, and it was the holidays. Mostly everyone was in a good mood, unless they were coming in as a patient.
“Yeah, now.”
Samuels’s hands stiffened on the sweater before tugging it on, ruffling his hair. “It’s…”
“Complicated?”
“Yeah.”
“Aren’t we all?”
Samuels arched an eyebrow, “Have you started therapy, or is that Wyatt talkin’?”
“Both,” John admitted, unable to stop the warmth spreading through his entire body at the casual reference to Wyatt’s influence on him.
Once they had returned to work, both men disclosed their relationship to their higher-ups. After several lengthy conversations, Tanya agreed to let Wyatt stay, but only on different shifts until he was fully accredited and licensed, after which they could work together. So for now, Wyatt worked with Walsh on the night shift. The other agreement he came to with Tanya was that Wyatt and he would have the same days off.
Being passing ships during the workweek was hard, but having the same days off together made it more bearable.
They also planned to travel, taking much-needed vacations and seeing the world together. John hadn’t taken a proper vacation in years, but now he had a reason to. And he may have impulsively decided to go ring shopping with Justine and his mom last week, so… there was that.
