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His head sank onto Jamie’s chest and he lay there, back bowed as they both fought for breath, Jamie threading his fingers through Chris’s short hair. He was exhausted, shaky, the loss of Chris’s weight pressing into him made him cold. Mustering up all the strength he could, Jamie pulled him into a kiss, rolling them onto their sides and wrapping his arms around the man’s neck.
Chris nuzzled his cheek, his hand running down the length of Jamie’s exposed side. Jamie bit his lip to contain the words that threatened to escape his mouth. He loved him. Completely and absolutely, Chris had seized hold of Jamie’s heart and he was trying so desperately not to tell him, not here, not now. Instead, he held Chris close and closed his eyes, drifting away with his lover’s hands on him and a cooling wet patch between them on the bed.
Chapter 14
Chris woke up smiling, mostly because of Jamie’s awful singing, which had penetrated the veil of sleep and roused him. The bed was empty, and the noise was coming from downstairs where rock music was playing, and Jamie was attempting to sing along, obviously clattering around the kitchen as he did so. He got up and dressed, picking up their discarded clothing as he went downstairs and padded into the kitchen to see Jamie at the stove, happily frying eggs and bacon. Chris leaned against the door frame and shook his head, smiling. Helen had been right—Jamie bounced back like a rubber ball. You wouldn’t have known how much of a bad state he had been in the evening before, looking at him now making breakfast and singing.
“Well, you’re surprisingly chipper this morning,” Chris said, arms folded over his chest.
When Jamie turned, the smile he gave was dazzling. “Yeah, well…I had a good night.”
“Apparently so.” Chris grinned as he walked to the counter, pulling out a chair to sit. “Seeing as we’ve been here a month and you’ve never made breakfast before.”
Jamie grinned back and shuffled some eggs and bacon on a plate. “I’m not allowed to make my guy some breakfast?”
“Oh, I’m your guy now?” Chris teased, picking up a fork and gratefully accepting the plate.
“Damn right you are,” Jamie replied.
The thought made Chris glow with happiness, and he dug in enthusiastically, Jamie smiling at him as he sorted coffee.
This was just so easy, this breakfast routine they had going, like they had been doing this their whole lives and would do it until the end. Chris didn’t want to think about having to stop.
Jamie had been a mess the night before at the Met, after Geoffrey Pierce. Even after Jamie’s last nightmare, Chris had never seen him in such a state. There was a whole story there that he desperately wanted to know, that he needed to know, but Jamie wasn’t ready to tell him yet. Chris could live with that. What he couldn’t live with was seeing Jamie in so much pain.
But this morning, it was once again like nothing had happened—Jamie was smiling and playful and flirty, gorgeous in his T-shirt and boxers and his hair messed up from having Chris’s hands in it the night before.
“This is surprisingly good,” he mumbled around a mouthful of bacon.
Jamie threw him an offended look, if only in jest. “What do you meansurprisingly? You ate my fantastic pasta—you know I can cook, even if I don’t do it often.”
“Well, maybe you should.”
“Maybe I will.”
They smirked at each other over the kitchen counter until they were disturbed by Jamie’s phone ringing. He glanced at the number and rolled his eyes. “The president is summoning me,” he said, rolling his eyes before answering the call and putting it on speaker. “Hey, Mom.”
“Hi, sweetie,” President Barratt replied. “How are you?”
“I’m great,” Jamie answered.
“Yeah?”
“Yes.”
“Aunt Helen said you had a bit of a bad evening…”
“Yeah, don’t worry about it,” Jamie answered hurriedly. “It was Pierce; he was being an ass’ it got to me. I’m fine now.”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course I am. It’s my birthday tomorrow; I’m not going to let anything put a dampener on that!”
Chris raised his eyebrows at him. He’d forgotten that Jamie was turning twenty-six the next day—this was going to be their last day alone for a while.
“About that,” The president continued. “I’m coming up in the morning, okay? I have a few days scheduled off, so we could spend a bit of time together if you like.”
“Sure thing, Mama,” Jamie replied, giving Chris a smile.
