Chapter 21
NATHAN
It takes all my willpower to detangle myself from Eli and get out of bed the next morning. He groans in his sleep.
“Go back to sleep,” I whisper. I tuck him back under the covers and press a kiss to his curls.
He’s worn out, probably from all the sex we had last night. Round two lasted a lot longer than the first, and we were both ready to knock out by the end of it.
I wish I could crawl back to bed, but work calls. I haven’t had time to go grocery shopping since returning from holiday, but there are plenty of eggs and frozen bacon. I quickly make two plates and leave Eli’s in the microwave for him for later. I doubt he’ll be awake anytime soon.
Going out to face the cold air is even harder when I know there’s a warm body waiting for me in my bed, but I push through and head to work.
It’s a lot colder today than it usually is this time of year. The weather in the city has been all out of whack, in fact. It never usually snows in the winter, but there are piles of snow still left on the ground from yesterday.
The flurries come out by the time I make it to the office. Before I get started with work, I send a quick text to Eli.
Nathan
Breakfast is in the microwave
Can’t wait to see you when I get home
As soon as I send the text, I cringe, because why does it sound like I’m telling him to be a good boy and wait at home for me? I quickly backtrack.
Nathan
You don’t have to stay. I’ll probably be working late anyway
I wait five minutes, but I don’t hear a reply from him. He’s probably still sleeping. Which is just as well, since my manager comes to find me not even a minute later, and I’m scrambling to do his bidding, so much so that I don’t have time to breathe, much less check my phone.
Things calm down a bit when noon rolls around. We have a meeting in ten minutes, so I won’t have time for a proper meal. I grab a couple protein bars from my bag. I smile as I eat them, reminded of how disgusted Eli looked when he tried them at the cabin.
Thinking about him, of course leads to missing him. I’m happy to find a text from him when I check my phone.
Eli
I’ll be waiting xx
That one sentence is enough to wash away the fatigue of my busy morning. My coworkers comment on my cheerful attitude during the meeting, but I brush it off.
I can’t very well tell them that my boyfriend—who just so happens to be my stepbrother—is waiting for me at home. Preferably in my bed.
I’m practically walking on air when it’s time to clock out. Thankfully, there’s no overtime today, though my manager mentioned potentially having to come in tomorrow, despite it being a Saturday.
I toss that into ‘things to worry about later’ and practically race home. The weather has been gloomy all day, and it gets worse on my commute. By the time I reach my building, the snow is coming down hard.
I quickly escape inside and very impatiently wait for the elevator. I’d texted Eli letting him know I was on my way home, and he confirmed that he’s still there.
When I finally get to my door and have it unlocked and open, Eli’s waiting for me at the entrance. He’s wearing one of my shirts, but it’s so oversized on him that it hangs past his butt. His naked legs are on full display.
“What are you wearing?” I say and quickly shut the door behind me. I don’t want anyone to see Eli like this.
“I borrowed your shirt. I didn’t think you’d mind,” he replies.
I drop my bag and gather him in my arms. “I don’t mind one bit. In fact, I’ll be a happy man if you decide to live in my clothes, but why are you waiting here without any pants on? What if someone had walked by?”
“I’m wearing my briefs,” he says with an eye roll.
“Doesn’t matter,” I mutter. “No one but me is allowed to see you like this.”
He smirks and twirls my hair around his finger. “So possessive.”
I smirk back and kiss him. He’s right, though. I’m fucking possessive of Eli. He’s mine and mine alone, and I’m needy for another taste of last night.
I try to deepen the kiss, but Eli pushes me back. I try to chase his lips, confused why he pulled back.
“You should go wash up first,” he says shyly.
If he wants me to shower, I’m not going to argue. “Are you going to join me?” I ask hopefully, but I’m disappointed when he shakes his head. He pulls me into the bathroom and closes the door behind him. He didn’t even give me time to grab my clothes.
I go through my routine as quickly as possible because I’m desperate to get back to Eli. I don’t even bother drying off properly before wrapping the towel around my waist and exiting the bathroom to find him.
I’m confused when I don’t see him in my bedroom. I’m even more confused to see my completely bare mattress without even a sheet covering it.
“Eli?” I call out.
As if summoned, Eli enters my bedroom with my bedding in his arms. He grins when he sees me, drops the bedding on the bed, and rifles through it to pull out some pieces of clothing.
“Here, go get dressed while I make the bed,” he says.
I’m stunned in place the warm clothes he hands me, like they’d just been pulled from the dryer.
“You warmed up my clothes for me?” I ask, voice choked.
He smiles and looks a little shy as he replies, “I know you’ve had a long week at work, so I wanted to do something to comfort you.”
I’m speechless, and there’s a fucking frog in my throat. After Mom passed, nobody’d taken care of me like this.
“I love you,” I say and pull him to me. He hugs me and laughs with a grumble when a few water droplets drip onto his face.
He presses a quick kiss to my lips before pulling back. “Hurry up and get dressed so we can snuggle under the cozy blankets,” he says with a laugh.
As much as I’d much rather cuddle with him naked, I’m too touched by his gesture, so I pull on my warm PJs. They cover my skin like a comforting hug. Even better is when I slide under the cozy blankets with Eli, and all the stress from the week practically melts away.
“Thank you for doing this,” I murmur into his hair. He adjusts himself so he’s looking at me and kisses my freshly shaved chin.
“I love you,” he says in reply. “You don’t have to put up a front with me. When you’re having a bad day, I want to be there to make it better.”
“I think every day will be a good day if I’m with you,” I say honestly. Even though today was another long, shitty day at work, it wasn’t too bad because I knew Eli would be here when I got him.
He rolls his eyes like he doesn’t believe me.
“It’s true,” I say with a laugh, but he’s still skeptical. His lashes flutter, and I notice his dark circles are still there.
“Did you not sleep well last night?” I ask, rubbing the area under his eye with my thumb.
“I did,” he replies and hugs me. With his face pressed into my chest, he mutters, “Someone left me on read all week, so I didn’t get much sleep all week.”
“I really am sorry,” I say remorsefully. “It’s no excuse, but it really was hectic at work.”
He peers up at me again with a question in his eyes. “What?” I probe him when he doesn’t speak.
“Why are you working at a job you obviously hate?” he asks.
“I don’t hate the job.”
Eli raises his brow.
“Why would I hate it? It’s with a good company that’ll open tons of doors for me in the future, and I’m well-compensated, and—”
“And they overwork you to death. From what I hear, you don’t have a life outside your job. You go from work to home and then do it all over again. And most importantly, you don’t even look happy when your job’s mentioned.”
“For hating me, you really paid attention to my life,” I tease.
“Maybe that’s because I never really hated you,” he confesses. “I think I was angry and hurt by the betrayal, but hating you was so much easier than admitting that to myself.”
“I don’t think I can ever apologize enough for that incident. What can I do to make it up to you?”
“Just hold me like this,” he says and rubs his nose against my chest again.
I grab on tight, knowing that I’m fucking lucky to be able to hold him like this. If we hadn’t gotten snowed in together at my uncle’s cabin, then I never would have gotten the chance to clear up the misunderstanding, and he would have kept on hating and avoiding me.
It’s a bizarre twist of fate that led us there right when a storm hit, but I like to think my mom somehow had a hand in it. It was all because I wanted to get her album that we ended up there in the first place, after all.
I’m so cozy from the warmed-up blankets and Eli’s soft body against mine that I’ve almost drifted off when my stomach grumbles loudly.
Eli hasn’t said anything in a few minutes, so I figure he’s fallen asleep too. He does have a lot of sleep to catch up on from the past week. So I try to ignore my rumbling stomach, but the noises just get louder.
“Go back to sleep. I’m gonna grab a quick snack,” I tell Eli when he shifts and looks up at me groggily.
“Did you have lunch today?” he asks when the sounds coming from my stomach rival that of thunder.
“I had some protein bars.”
He frowns. “All you had were some cardboard bars?”
“They’re not that bad,” I say with a laugh.
He’s not convinced and untangles himself from me to slide out of bed.
“Where are you going?” I ask with a whiny tone. I want him back in bed with me.
“C’mon,” he says and pulls me up to my feet as well. “I’ll make you a sandwich.”
“I don’t think I have bread,” I tell him, though I’m very touched he’s willing to make me food.
“I know,” he replies. “I was bored and wanted to try making some bread, then realized your kitchen is depressingly empty, so I went grocery shopping.”
“You shopped for groceries for me? You know that’s not the reason I wanted you to say, right?” I grumble.
“I know,” he says and sits me down on a barstool. He moves around my kitchen like he owns the place, grabbing plates, deli meat, lettuce, cheese, and the homemade bread.
“You know you always get on my back about taking care of myself, but you’re pretty shitty at taking care of yourself, too,” he says as he slices the bread.
“I guess that means we’ll just have to take care of each other. We’ll have each other’s backs,” I say with a smile.
“I like the sound of that,” he replies softly with a shy expression on his face.
I can’t hold back from going to him and kissing him.
Our being there for each other, taking care of one another? I really like the sound of that as well.