Chapter 18 Ace
EIGHTEEN
ACE
“I have an idea.” A few weeks had passed and we were having dinner at my apartment, as had become our usual.
Dallas gave me a small, teasing smile and raised his eyebrows. “I’m listening. Scared, but listening.”
I threw a balled-up napkin at his head but he dodged it. “Don’t be scared. You know you love my ideas.”
Dallas’s smile grew. “Name one.”
“Well… how about the midnight picnic on the museum roof?”
“Dangerous on many levels.”
“You still loved it. Okay, how about the trivia night team name?”
“Queeriosities? Too hard to pronounce.”
I stuck my tongue out at him. “Reorganizing your kitchen equipment by historical era. You hated it at first, but hey, you know where the antique tea strainer is now.”
He shook his head. “We’re the only two people who can find anything in there.”
“Nobody needs to be hunting through your kitchen except us anyway. How about the plant we got from the queer plant store?”
“Planthony? You never remember to water him.”
I sighed with mock annoyance, knowing his rebuttals were all part of the banter. “Fine, here’s one. The world’s largest rooster statue. You know how much you loved seeing that big cock.”
“There’s definitely a big cock I like to see, but I’m not sure that’s the one I’m thinking of.”
I laughed and flipped him off. “You know you loved all of them.” I took his eye roll as confirmation. “Okay, so as I was saying, I have an idea.”
“Proceed.”
“Let’s take a trip.”
“A trip? Where?”
“The mountains. I have a friend whose family has a cabin up there. He just renovated last summer, and he said we could stay if we want. Free. We could go for a weekend, or we could stay for all of spring break. Your call.”
Dallas sipped his wine. “That’s not a bad idea.”
“Are you saying we can go?”
“Well, I’ll need to request some time off and put a few things on hold at work, but I don’t see why not.”
I beamed at him. “You won’t regret it.”
“I sure hope not,” he said, chuckling softly.
A few weeks later, we found ourselves at Emery’s family’s cabin for a full week, which was on a lake in the mountains and much bigger than the single-room place I’d been expecting.
It had three bedrooms, two full bathrooms, and a beautiful, rustic-themed kitchen with everything we needed.
Spring break was in mid-March at the university and while it was cold, there wasn’t snow on the ground anymore and plants were just about ready to start budding and turning green.
After much cajoling, I convinced Dallas to go on a hike with me.
We made our way up the side of the mountain, following the white blazes on the trail.
As we approached the summit, my stomach ached and my chest tightened—not with exertion but with the knowledge of what was about to happen.
After what felt like days of walking, we made it to the top and looked out onto the Blue Ridge mountain range.
Dallas stopped and looked out at the mountains and the valley in the distance, quiet and still for a long few moments. “This is…”
“Yeah,” I breathed.
“Sometimes I forget how beautiful Virginia can be.”
I nodded and shook off my backpack, letting it hit the ground. “It really is.” A beat passed. “Are you hungry?” I opened the backpack and pulled out a bag of trail mix and a couple of bottles of water. I also pulled out a blanket and spread it on the ground carefully.
Dallas watched me with a grin. “You came prepared.”
“I wanted to have a picnic.”
“You do love a good picnic,” he teased, sitting on the blanket with me.
My heart leaped into my throat as I tried to speak. “Dallas?”
He looked at me, brow furrowing. “Are you okay?”
“Never better.” It was the truth, too. I’d never felt more cared for in my life. I’d never had a partner who accepted all of me the way he did. “I need to tell you something.”
“If you brought me up here to break up with me—”
“No,” I said in a hurry. “Not at all.” I took a deep breath and nodded, trying to reassure myself as much as him. “I love you.”
“Oh,” he said quietly.
A long, quiet moment passed between us and my stomach began to ache again, adrenaline rushing through me as panic set in. “You don’t have to say it back. I mean, if you don’t feel that way, I completely understand. I just… wanted to tell you.”
He looked at his lap and then reached for my hands, looking back at me. “I don’t know what to say.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make it awkward.”
“No, that’s not what I mean.”
“What do you mean?”
He exhaled slowly and gave me a soft smile. “I made dinner reservations tonight in town. I was going to tell you I love you at dinner tonight. I didn’t expect you to beat me to it. I had a whole speech planned and everything.”
I couldn’t help but let out a buoyant laugh, feeling lighter than I had since I’d decided to tell him how I felt. “Are you serious?”
“When have you ever known me to be not serious?”
I laughed again, face warming. “Fine. You’ve got me there.” After a moment, I leaned in and kissed him. “What was the speech?”
Dallas shook his head. “Nope, you don’t get to hear it now. Maybe at dinner.”
I shoved his shoulder, but he captured my wrist and pulled me close, until I was straddling his lap. My breathing tightened as I dipped my head for a long, passionate kiss. It wasn’t long until we were both panting and hard, my erection straining against my jeans.
Dallas reached between us and ran his hand over my length. “Maybe we should wrap up this hike, huh?”
“I mean… we don’t have to. We could get each other off right here.”
He scoffed. “As much as I’d like to, I’m not sure I’m ready for that much risk.”
I scrambled off his lap. “Fine then. Race you back to the cabin.”
We packed up the picnic that never was and hurried back down the trail, ready to spend the rest of the week worshipping each other’s bodies and expressing our love.