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I couldn’t tell if he was messing with me or not, but I nodded. “I really mean it.”
“What if I said I love you back?”
He looked so damn earnest it didn’t feel right to laugh at him, but I just couldn’t help it. “I would say that’s a good thing. Otherwise, things were about to get really awkward.”
“I think this is the part where you’re supposed to kiss me.”
He was such a damn brat, and I absolutely adored him.
Palming the back of his neck, I pulled him into a slow, gentle kiss. As much as I wanted to throw him down on the cushions and devour him, I didn’t linger. We had all the time in the world, and right then, he needed sleep.
“So, can we go see this big bed of yours?” he asked when we broke apart.
“I never said it was big.”
He tilted his head. “Well, is it?”
“Yes.”
A huff billowed from his lips, and he rolled his eyes. “Gage.”
“Fine,” I chuckled. “But the only thing we’re going to do in that bed is sleep.”
“But—”
“Sleep.” I slid my hand around from the back of his neck to his jaw and brushed my thumb over the bruised skin under his eye. “I’m not saying no, but right now, you look dead on your feet.”
He chewed his bottom lip for a moment and tilted his head. “Later?”
Fuck, he was going to be the death of me. “Definitely later.”
Eight
~ Nathan ~
“I’m not even tired.”
I vaguely remembered uttering those words before falling into a death-like sleep the instant my head had hit the pillow. It had been that deep, restorative kind of sleep, but also slightly disorienting. The kind of sleep that left me unsure of the day, let alone the hour.
The brilliant blue sky outside the window had darkened to a dusky gray, casting impenetrable shadows in the corners of the room. Beyond that, I didn’t see a clock, or any other evidence of the time.
Warm, comfortable, and still groggy, I snuggled deeper into the blankets and tried to ignore my aching bladder. I fought a losing battle, though, and a few minutes later, I rolled out of bed and stumbled into the attached bathroom with an irritated grunt.
Squinting against the harsh lighting, I shuffled to the toilet, my toes curling over the cold stone tiles. After relieving myself, I stripped out of the borrowed T-shirt and shorts Gage had loaned me and turned on the shower. While I waited for the water to warm, I searched for a towel, finding a stack of fluffy gray ones in the cabinet under the vanity.
Stepping into the glass shower stall, I groaned as the hot water cascaded over me, heating my chilled skin and chasing away the last remnants of sleep. I smiled to myself as I reached for the shampoo on the triangular shelf built into the wall. It hadn’t been a dream. I really was in Gage’s house, his bed, and he really did love me.
Was this what unconditional happiness felt like? With the senator, anything that brought me even a smidgen of joy came with fine print, red tape, and numerous strings attached. Gage didn’t care what I could do for him. He didn’t think I owed him something, simply because I existed.
No hidden agenda. No ulterior motive.
He wanted me, just the way I was, and he expected nothing in return. Which only made me want to give him everything.
I fully admitted I didn’t have much to offer, at least not yet. In fact, being with me would probably bring him more trouble than anything else. I could give him love, though. No one else in the world would love him like I did.
There were those who would argue I didn’t know how to love. That I was too young, too naïve, and everything between us had happened too fast. They would call it lust. Attraction. Infatuation. They would call it shallow and say it wouldn’t last.
Honestly, I didn’t know what the future held, but neither did the naysayers. I did know my own heart, however, and what I felt for Gage went beyond mere physical desire. While I was grateful for everything he had given me, my feelings didn’t spawn from that gratitude.
