Page 149 of Perfect Storm
All these siblings meant it was a very full house. Such a different vibe from last year, when Aidan hadn’t wanted to talk to or evenseeanyone. He’d sulked when Riley had shown up with Landry and Levi.
But now he was surrounded by people he loved, that loved him right back.
None of them was as important as Levi, though.
Maybe they’d been together less than a year, but already Levi was the most important person in his life, and they’d become inseparable.
“Oooooh,” Logan teased as the group of them spread out among the chairs surrounding the firepit. “Someone was thinking about breaking the PDA rule.”
Aidan had been forced, after the second day here, to enforce a no-PDA-in-public-spaces rule. Not for him and Levi—but for everyone else.
“It’s my house,” Aidan just retorted and sank back into the chair Levi was sitting in. Levi’s arms went around him and pulled him in close until he was practically sitting on his lap.
Riley raised an eyebrow. “Seriously, bro?”
“Seriously,” Aidan said.
“Did you realize they were gonna be like this?” Lyla asked Landry.
“So smug, like they were the first ones to discover how great falling in love is?” Landry retorted fondly. “No. But I guess I shouldn’t be very surprised.”
“You shouldn’t be,” Riley said affectionately. “A Flynn’s gonna Flynn, even if he’s a Flynn in love.”
Landry pressed his lips to Riley’s cheek in a lingering kiss. “Especially when it’s a Flynn falling for a Banks.”
Lyla and Paige had pulled out the makings for s’mores, so they spent the next hour or so toasting marshmallows. Levi got chocolate smeared all over his face and Aidan felt duty bound to lick it off and didn’t even feel bad, because Logan had Dylan’s sticky fingers in his mouth twice already.
“This is perfect,” Levi said with a happy sigh as he relaxed back in the chair, his legs bracketed around Aidan’s thighs. Aidan was leaning against his chest, feeling the contentment spread through him, the steady pulse of Levi’s heartbeat aligning with his own.
“We should do this every summer,” Riley agreed.
“Kind of ballsy, don’t you think,” Logan asked, “volunteering your brother’s house?”
“What doyouthink, Levi?” Riley asked again, smirking.
Levi just laughed. Maybe Aidan should’ve felt some kind of way about everyone assuming that his house was basically Levi’s house, but itwasand it was impossible to even be upset about it because he liked it so much.
Levi turned to him. “Bro, what’s your take on this?”
“I’m down,” Aidan said.
Levi didn’t look surprised because he probablywasn’tsurprised.
He liked—no, heloved—having Levi in his space. Even when he stole all the blankets in a cold Toronto winter. Even when he was driving Aidan crazy by prancing around in electric yellow short shorts. Even when he invited half the team over for aMario Karttournament on a Monday afternoon that was supposed to be a day off because, “Aidan, you need to loosen up some.”
Levi was usually right, which had sort of chapped Aidan’s ass at the very beginning, and now he just found both reassuring and comforting.
Hedidusually need to relax, and often Levi could take him out of his own head with sex, or with teasing, but sometimes there was nothing like the distraction of having twenty football players eating him out of house and home, slumped all over his couch and his barstools, arguing about whether someone cheated.
Levi always knew what he needed, and Aidan sometimes wondered how he’d made it through a whole football season without him before. He had. Many times. And yet, when he thought of how plain fuckinggreathe felt now, versus then, he wondered how he’d ever managed it.
“You guys are adorable,” Lyla said quietly.
Landry groaned. “Don’t give them any more ammunition! They already know how hot and built and cute they are.”
Aidan glanced back at his boyfriend and wasn’t surprised to see a tender look on his face. “Hey, babe,” he said, “did you hear that? We’re hot and builtandcute!”
Levi looked delighted. Delighted and in love. Aidan’s two favorite looks.
