Page 16 of The Baker and the Kraken

Calder wanted to kiss him and had said that Adam could kiss him whenever he wanted, but they got to do all their usual things, too.

It was so perfect.

They ate lunch together, and Calder escorted him home so that he had time to do laundry and errands before work tomorrow. With only one day off, there wasn’t a lot of time.

“I’m sorry I don’t have more time,” Adam apologized.

Their hands were still clasped. It seemed like it had become their default setting if they were walking. Adam loved it.

Calder squeezed his hand. “Valentine’s Day is only once a year.”

“Thank the gods!” Adam said fervently, making Calder laugh. Then he grimaced. “Although we’re busy at Christmas, too. Most of the holidays, really.”

“That’s not a problem,” Calder assured him, “as long as you’re enjoying it. There are times when I’m busy as well. I look forward to when we can spend time together.”

“Me, too,” Adam breathed.

So much.

Adam had always worked and taken the overtime pay, but maybe Maggie would be okay if he took a holiday next year instead?

Calder leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to Adam’s mouth.

“Until next time, sweetheart.”

“Bye,” Adam said, breathy and a bit dazed.

He almost floated up the stairs to his apartment—and then tripped and nearly fell on his face. He managed to catch himself before actually face-planting and made himself pay more attention until he got into his apartment.

But he couldn’t stop smiling.

“Oh, my gods! You actually kissed! Freaking finally!”

As Adam had theorized, he hadn’t even needed to say anything; Simon had just known. Given that Adam was still smiling on Tuesday morning, maybe this was no great feat.

There was cheering from the front, where Evie had evidently heard him.

Simon’s grin was manic, his hair bubblegum pink with frosted tips for the impending holiday. “Tell me everything!”

Adam cleared his throat, but he still couldn’t seem to stop the smile that curled up his lips. “It was amazing.”

He was scooping cookie dough onto a tray and carefully forming them into hearts. He’d perfected the optimal shape so that they’d cook evenly and still look like hearts when they came out of the oven. He had cookie cutters for some of the types, but chocolate chip was still shaped by hand.

Simon snapped his towel at him, but gently. (He’d learned the hard way that if Adam tried to dodge something, it would probably end in tears.) “Of course it was amazing! And if only you’d listened to me, you could have been doing this for weeks!”

Adam huffed a breath. Simon wasn’t totally wrong. “I wasn’t ready before.”

Simon’s expression softened, and he reached out to gently squeeze Adam’s arm. “I know you weren’t, boo. But Calder waited, and now here you are.”

Yeah, Adam still couldn’t really believe it. But he and Calder were still texting, and Calder had told him more than once how much he was looking forward to kissing Adam again, so it wasn’t like the whole thing had just been a fever dream.

Bashfully, he described his actions, and Simon chortled at Adam’s complete lack of game, but his smile was soft as he agreed that no doubt, Calder was the most amazing kisser to have ever kissed.

“I’m glad for you.”

Adam was glad, too. And greedy. Even though he was exhausted when he got home and needed to go to bed at approximately the same time as a toddler, he wanted to see Calder, and Calder had agreed to stop by… possibly every day this week. And whereas Adam had always tried to behave reasonably and rationally before, now he just went for what he wanted.

So Calder brought over takeout so that Adam wouldn’t have to cook, and the two of them watched the Great British Baking Show or ocean documentaries for a couple of hours before Adam’s yawns got the better of him.