Scout answered the kiss languorously, obviously into it but fading fast into a well-earned sleep.
“Okay. You’re mine,” Scout mumbled, and then that adorable little giggle. “We’re each other’s. You don’t know, do you? One day it’s all good, and the next scary things happen. Let’s be boyfriends now. We can stop whenever we need to.”
“No,” Lucky murmured, hearing the catch in Scout’s voice even as he said it. “I can’t.”
“Me neither,” Scout said. “So we won’t. We’ll be boyfriends until we have to quit or until forever. You’ll see. Not scary. Only scary thing is not doing this again.”
“Mm.” Lucky found he was tired too. He reached over Scout’s body for the remote and turned off the TV and the lamp, and then snuggled down on Scout’s chest.
“This is awesome,” he said, meaning it. Everything. The entire evening. Watching TV with someone who enjoyed it, Scout’s company, the touching, the lovemaking, and now this, Scout’s warm body, holding his in the dark.
Lucky had never had a best thing before, but he was pretty surethiswas what made up a best thing.
He wanted more of it. He wanted it to go on forever and ever.
But first, he wanted to wake up in the morning with Scout in his bed. That could be his new best thing.
He closed his eyes on that note, listening to Scout’s even breathing because he was already asleep.
Questions and Theories
SOMETIME INthe night, Scout had awakened, needing to use the bathroom. He slid on his briefs and a T-shirt on the way back to bed and discovered Lucky had done the same, probably in deference to the chill.
But after that he slid back in bed next to Lucky, learning the pros and cons of sleeping in the same bed with another human.
Pros: Warmth, touch, soft noises when you rubbed his back
Cons: Mild snoring, which could be ignored
Scout closed his eyes to the sound of Lucky’s mild snoring, remembering the days of sleeping in a barracks with all those young men, not one of whom he could open his heart to. Most of whom snored far worse than Lucky.
He was so happy he was surprised he didn’t glow in the dark.
When the sun hit his face in the early hours of the morning, Lucky was folded over his back like a big thermal blanket, and Scout huddled deeper into his warm and welcoming body to ward against the chill in the air.
Then Kayleigh’s voice penetrated his happy fog.
“Give it up, Scout. It’s morning, you’re busted, and you totally need to hear what we figured out last night.”
Scout grunted into the mattress before squinting through the obnoxious sunlight. “Kayleigh, I thought you loved me,” he said, hurt.
“Idolove you, big brother,” she said, laughing softly. “In fact, I love you enough to have brought you and whatsisfacedonuts—from Donut Do Dat—since Helen hasn’t started cooking pastries yet.”
“Mm….” Scout fought against the exhaustion pressing his eyes closed. “Coffee?” he asked carefully.
“Yes,” Kayleigh said on a sigh. “Lucky’s got a coffee maker. I started some here. He’s also got the good creamer and some ice and a blender. I’ll totally make you a coffee drink, but first you need towake up.”
That did it. Reluctantly Scout opened his eyes and rolled out of bed, trying to put his brains together as he did so. “It’s so early,” he mumbled.
“It’s eight o’clock,” she said, giving Lucky a furtive look behind Scout as Lucky grunted and sat up. “And Helen and Marcus thought you might be super tired—Lucky too—because apparently you did big magic yesterday, which we all have to talk about. But first? Coffee, donuts, and I tell you what we discovered.”
“Toothbrush,” Scout muttered. “Water on the face. Pants.”
Kayleigh smirked. “Do you want me to ask why you’re not wearing any?”
Scout tilted his head to stare at her. “We weresleeping,” he defended crankily.
He didn’t want to face her hearty guffaw, so he stumbled to the bathroom with Lucky on his heels.
