AllFreeNovel
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I’d already told him, reiterated with my actions, that I was queer as a seven dollar bill. That bit of who I was hadn’t been spoken aloud. Ever. But he deserved more.
“I’m af-fraid of this. Us. Jacqueline,” I whispered one truthful emotion, a test so to speak.
“Thank you for sharing that part of you with me.” Drake laced his fingers through mine atop his heart. “I can’t imagine the anxiety you deal with, especially when it comes to Jaqueline and her nature. All I can do is promise to always listen without judgment and be here for you if you’ll let me.”
I believed him. He’d proven his loyalty time and again, having only walked away from me that once because of how much he wanted me.
I understood the choice he’d made that night. Thoroughly appreciated it now that I was aware of why. But I had no such reasoning. My timidity had sent me scurrying from the one man I could count on to stick by my side through thick and thin.
“I-I’m sorry for leaving without t-talking to you first. I…I’m just horrible with anything that rouses agitation or might become an argument.”
“I know, baby,” Drake murmured before releasing a heavy exhale. “I forgive you.” His stomach growled loudly, making us both snicker even as my muscles loosened from his words.
“I have a lasagna in my freezer if you’re interested?” I asked the obvious, thinking it was a good time to escape the heavy talk for a while.
“Stouffer’s?”
Not trusting the sudden longing to spill all my damned secrets, I nodded rather than opening my mouth.
“God, yes,” he groaned, his low tone making the skin on my arms pebble.
Face hot, I took my hand from his and started for the kitchen. “Sam Adams?” I offered, and of course he accepted.
I was well aware of all his favorites and had grown to love them, same as he did.
Chapter 25
Drake
It was only six-thirty, but darkness already claimed the sky outside Preston’s windows by the time I wiped out half the pan compared to his single piece of lasagna. What were the chances we both shared a love of the same premade dinner I had packed in my own freezer?
His place was far nicer than mine with more square footage—which was a good thing, considering he owned a baby version of the grand piano like the one he’d had in New York. What I wouldn’t give to just sit and listen to him plink on the keys, creating music out of ivory, strings, and hammers I thought he’d called them?
But we had to talk.
Or rather, he had to open up some more and tell me what all was going through his mind so we could move forward. Fear might be the underlying emotion, but I needed to understand where it rooted from so we could work through this shit together.
Knowing how easily he shut down, I would have to lower his defenses before weaseling into any serious conversation. That meant getting him to where he relaxed the most—cuddling, or at least as close as I could coerce him into.
We finished eating and cleaning up together before going into the living room.
“Sit here.” I patted the couch cushion beside me when he hesitated over where to perch his cute ass. “I won’t bite unless you ask me to.”
Even with the distance separating us, I could make out the swell of his pupils.
Kink noted.
Grinning, I beckoned with my fingertips. “Come on, Preston. There’s no one around. We have complete privacy, not that we need it. I don’t know about you, but I’m beat and couldn’t get it up even if you wanted my dick.”
A total lie, but anything to get his body next to mine where my touch and close presence might lower his walls enough he would relax and eventually talk to me.
He huffed an exhale and listened, sitting primly on the couch’s edge as I’d expected.
“Nuh huh.” I tugged him into my side, my arm around his waist, and he melted into me same as he always did. “Much better,” I murmured against his hair as he burrowed his face in my chest and sighed.
The scent of vanilla filled my nose, and I breathed him in, my own insides calming for the first time since I’d taken that catnap back in New York earlier in the morning.
We sat in silence for a little while. It would be up to me to break the quiet moment between us so we could get shit straightened out.
