“Both of you,” Zeke adds. “You could stay over, and we could all go to Pride tomorrow.”
I make eye contact with Ty. I can tell by his expression that he wants to say yes, but his wide-eyed stare is a clear sign he’s deferring to me.
“That would be great,” I reply.
Zeke lets out a whoop. “I told you they’d say yes. Micah is a great cook.”
“Is there anything you don’t like?” Micah asks. “Any allergies?”
“I’m easy,” I say.
Ty smirks. “So am I.”
“We didn’t need to know that,” Rett says.
“Speak for yourself,” Zeke retorts.
“As you can tell, Zeke is a brat,” Micah says.
I can’t help but laugh.
“We’ll see you around five?” Micah adds.
“See you then,” I reply.
The line goes dead.
“Are you sure you’re okay with spending time with my friends?” Ty asks.
“Of course.”
“And staying over?”
“Yes. Unless you’d rather I didn’t?”
“I want you to.” He bites his lip and looks away.
“What is it, baby?”
“Am I being too clingy? We’ve only just met.”
I squeeze his hand. “As you said, we’ve got a lot of exploring to do and not much time.” I’d heard vacation flings could be fast and furious, but I hadn’t believed it. Now, I do. I want to spend as much time as possible with Ty, so if he’s being clingy, so am I. “Why don’t we finish eating, and then we can get some sightseeing in before heading to your friends’ place?” I lean closer so I can nuzzle his neck. “And then we can explore each other more later.”
“I’d like that, Daddy.”
“Then we have a plan.”
During the afternoon, I show Ty some of my favorite places. Some are tourist destinations, like Grand Central Station, but most aren’t, such as my favorite coffee shop and the best examples of graffiti. We grab a bottle of wine on the way to Rett, Zeke, and Micah’s place, and arrive just before five. I have instant house envy. I don’t need a house, but if I did, I’d want one like this, assuming I didn’t move out into the suburbs,anyway. It’s a brownstone townhouse, not dissimilar to the building my apartment is in, except they own all of it.
Rett and Zeke answer the door, with the dog, Sandy, at their heels. I can tell it’s them, as they’re similar in age to one another and only look a few years older than Ty. I crouch down to give the dog some fuss.
“Come in,” Zeke says exuberantly.
“Daddy’s cooking,” Rett says, closing the door behind us.
I hand the bottle of wine to Zeke, who dashes off with it, while Rett leads us into the living room.
“You’ve got a gorgeous house,” I say.
