Page 134 of All Tied Up

“No. I just wanted it to be a surprise,” he grumbled.

“Coming out of the closet?”

Jamie rolled his eyes, even though he was laughing. “You only get to use that line once.” He lifted his face hopefully and melted a little bit when Neil took him in his strong arms and gave him an enthusiastic kiss. “Mmmmmm… How was your last day of work?”

Neil gave him another small kiss, and another. “Fantastic. I cleared out my desk, handed over the cases I’d been working on, and then my whole department went out to lunch. After that, there was nothing else to do, so I came up here.”

“Still feels like the right choice?”

“Still feels like the best choice. I have no regrets at all. Hopefully I can even start spending more time here.” He gestured shyly toward the window, and the riot of red and gold leaves decorating the mountains beyond it.

Neil had decided months ago to quit his law practice, but it had taken him a lot of long weeks to get there. He was still tired every time he made the drive out to the Meadowlark on Friday night, fighting to stay awake while they fed him and tucked him into bed. And as much as Daddy loved fussing over his boy, they both wished he wasn’t so exhausted. They’d thought he might come out sometimes mid-week, but Daddy had put a stop to it unless Neil took a full day off.

Now that era was over.

“So, what’s all this?” Neil stepped back carefully and looked around the room.

There were drop cloths on the floor, furniture half-moved away from the walls but not put back, and Jamie’s tools everywhere. There was a pile of clothing, still on the hangers, piled at the foot of the bed, and Jamie’s collection of prosthetics leaned against one wall.

“I was just…” Jamie wrinkled his nose. “It was supposed to be a surprise.”

“Should I actually come back?” Neil asked more seriously now.

“No…” Now Jamie was the one feeling shy. “I thought that if I expanded the closet in here and got a second dresser that, um, you could keep more of your things here. And, um, not leave as often.”

They hadn’t really talked about it before, but for the past few months, Neil’s life had been sharply divided between Portland and the lodge. It had given them time to find their footing in the relationship, but all of their talk about Neil coming out here to live had been more hypothetical. They talked about having more time together, or about how much Neil enjoyed the mountains, sometimes even teasing about his permanent guest pass from the contract they’d never used.

But what Jamie really wanted was for Neil to move in.

It was awful saying goodbye to him each Monday morning. At the same time, he hoped this was the right choice. They’d moved even faster with Henri and it had been a terrible plan. Jamie just had to trust that Neil would continue being the calm, thoughtful, and generous man he had… grown to have very strong feelings about.

Neil was beaming. “Thank you, Jamie. I’d like to keep some of my things here then. I mean, I already have a few sweaters here. But I don’t need that much space.”

Jamie drew in a deep breath. This was supposed to be a conversation with Daddy too, and he was making a mess of it. “No, I said that wrong. We want you to stay. I mean,” he added quickly, “if it’s not too soon.”

Neil’s look of wonder was already enough to wipe his worries away. “Stay as in… move in?”

“Yeah.”

“So you got a new dresser and–” He poked his head in the closet, which probably didn’t look too impressive. “–did all this for me?”

“Yeah. Um, do you like it?”

Neil lifted Jamie into his arms, peppering his face with kisses. Daddy picked up Jamie all the time, but having Neil do it was exhilarating and new. Jamie clung to him, trying to get in as many kisses as possible and bumping their noses together in his enthusiasm.

They were both laughing by the time Neil crashed into the bed, his bulky frame pinning Jamie to the mattress. Some of the piled-up clothes slid to the floor. “I like it, Dragonfly. And have I ever told you there’s nothing sexier than seeing you in your makeup and toolbelt?”

“I’m not wearing the toolbelt.”

“Yeah, but I know you were doing all sorts of sexy construction work. Same thing.”

“It’s just some drywall shifted over a few feet to take some space from the closet in the room next door,” Jamie protested, but his chest felt like it was swelling up like a balloon. With Neil’s heavy weight above him, it was a heady feeling. “So, will you move in?”

“Yes,” Neil breathed. “I’ve wanted to for so long, but I didn’t want to bring it up too soon.”

“It’s not too soon.”

“Good.” Neil was rocking against him now, his thick thighs pushing Jamie’s apart in the best way.