Page 54 of Looks Real Good Now
We might just be in love with each other.
“Do not make an imprinting or a knotting joke right now,” I said.
“You’re no fun.” He pulled me into his side and pressed a kiss to my temple as I rested my head on his shoulder.
“I’m very fun. Did you not see my bow earlier?” I gestured in the direction of his dick.
“Yeah, I did. Do you want to go unwrap that gift?”
I pulled away from him slightly. “You know I bought that keychain because I didn’t think you’d let me get away with saying that I was your gift, but here you are, doing just that and expecting me to not give you shit for it.”
“You can give me shit for it if you want. In fact, I fully expect you to. And I definitely would not have said no to unwrapping you.” His palm tapped my hip.
Then I remembered that he had left me to get dressed earlier while he went to take my cookies out of the oven, just before they burned to a crisp, which meant he didn’t know what was hidden under my clothes.
“Maybe later. I think you’re gonna like the underwear I have on.” I patted his knee as I stood up.
“That’s…not fair.”
“Nor was the fact that I had to portion up a whole batch of cookies with your dick pressed against my ass and pretend that it wasn’t there,” I said, heading for the kitchen. Just as I left the room, I heard him groan.
33
Liam
It was too cold for me to be outside, but I’d woken up restless and I didn’t want to wake up Lenny, so here I was, running.
Or at least, Iwasrunning. I had managed two kilometres before I gave up and turned around. I was now walking back home via the bakery.
As I joined the queue of Westchester Bakes, my phone rang. A picture of the second greatest person I knew, spread-eagled on the ice after a particularly brutal practice, lit up my screen.
“Hey Teddy,” I answered.
“If it isn’t my favourite right-hand man,” Teddy replied.
“Ah, you miss me?” I teased.
“On the ice, not anymore. In general, shockingly yes. I feel like it’s been ages since we talked to each other.”
“It’s barely been a week. But how are you? You’re in Boston, right?”
“Yes, we are in Boston. And I’m feeling pretty good about it. The whole family came to Boston for Christmas, and it’s been nice to have them around. How’s home?”
“Home is…nice,” I replied. Home was starting to feel less likea place and more like a person. A person whom I had left in bed.
“Nice?”
“Just say what you want to say, Teds,” I sighed. I knew this hadn’t just been a friendly call. We did talk more often since I retired, but we mostly sustained our friendship on random memes and miscellaneous text updates in between physically seeing each other.
“My mom has both of us on Google alert and she got one a couple of days ago, for you. It was a bunch of pictures and a whole article about how you had found yourself a mysterious woman. You have a new girlfriend?” he said bluntly, also sounding a little hurt.
“Yeah, I do.”
“Why am I finding this out via Google and not from you? I wasn’t even aware you were dating, and I know you’re not on the apps, so how the hell have you found yourself a girlfriend?”
I took a breath. “It’s Alana.”
Teddy was quiet but I knew he knew who I meant.
