Chapter 18
Aleks
As usual, dinner was a quiet affair, which was so very different from the dinners I had with my own family back home.
But it made sense because even though some of the tension between Luca and Vaughn had eased a little, the reason we were all there wasn’t lost on any of us.
If I hadn’t had the nights to look forward to, I’d probably be going crazy.
But knowing what I had to look forward to every night with Vaughn made it easier to get through the days.
I supposed when it came to what people normally did in regard to sexual activity in bed, we were still keeping it pretty tame.
And that was on me.
But everything was so new to me that I didn’t want to mess it up with trying anything else.
And Vaughn didn’t seem to be in any hurry to do more, either.
It seemed like he was perfectly content to just kiss me for as long as I wanted and then let me grind against him until my body exploded with pleasure.
He always came too, but despite my comment that first night about taking our clothes off the next time, when it’d come time for bed, I hadn’t had the guts.
The only thing I had managed to do was wear the shirt Con had bought me so I wouldn’t mess up Vaughn’s shirt.
After all, why spend nights doing laundry when there was so much other pleasure to be had when darkness fell?
Once usually wasn’t enough for me anymore… I finally understood a little bit about what the word “addict” meant now.
Because Vaughn had surely turned me into one, though he hadn’t actually had to do anything other than let me use his body night after night.
I couldn’t get enough of that feeling of being free and floating.
And when Vaughn closed that bedroom door behind us and locked it every night, the outside world fell away.
After that, things played out much like they had the first night.
I wasn’t comfortable having Vaughn’s weight on top of me, even just for kissing, so it was always me lying on top of him.
And while I was okay with being naked when we showered together afterwards, my mind was convinced that things would go terribly wrong if we were naked beforehand.
Which wasn’t really fair to Vaughn, since he was forced to find his pleasure while still wearing his pajama bottoms.
But he never once complained, and when I once tried to apologize that I couldn’t get over my fears more quickly, he’d silenced me with a passionate kiss and had told me what was happening between us was perfect just the way it was.
As slow as things were progressing in the bedroom, they were moving at a snail’s pace when it came to finding Gio.
Vaughn and the guys spent most days strategizing and going through all the chatter that my “return” had generated.
I’d asked Vaughn to let me read some of the comments on one of the fake posts King had created, but it’d been a mistake because all it had done was set me back.
Technically, the posts Vaughn had let me see were probably pretty tame, but it hadn’t mattered…
my mind had sought to defend itself. I hadn’t blacked out, but I’d retreated to our room, thrown up the full lunch I’d eaten, and cried in Vaughn’s arms as he’d gotten me in the shower to clean me off.
Despite the fact that he’d seen me naked a dozen times in the shower at that point, I’d been so upset I’d freaked when he’d tried to take his clothes and mine off.
We’d ended up showering in our clothes and only when I’d calmed down had I let him undress me.
I’d tried to apologize to him, but he’d reminded me that the old me either would have escaped the whole thing by blacking out or shutting down to the point that Vaughn would have been able to do anything he wanted to me.
He’d said my behavior was more in line with what he would have expected to see.
It’d been a compliment of sorts, though I knew he hadn’t exactly meant it that way. But I’d seen it as me reacting to an extraordinary situation like a normal person instead of a freak who wasn’t in control of his own mind or body.
I hadn’t looked at any of the comments on the posts after that, and Vaughn had made sure none of the guys talked about specific posters and whether or not they were Stylianos if I was around.
The picture I’d had to take with Luca had been another really rough time.
The mere act of kneeling at the man’s feet while he’d put his big hand on my head like I was a prized pet had made it really easy to not need to act for the camera.
We’d gotten the image in one take and as soon as King had said it would work, Vaughn had told everyone to leave.
Luca had already been on his feet, stopping only long enough to help me up.
Then he’d been out the door like a shot.
I’d stood numbly in Vaughn’s embrace for a while and then we’d gone for a long walk on the beach and he’d held my hand the entire time.
I’d never looked at the picture.
During the week, King and Con had come and gone and Luca had spent most of his time holed up in his office. Dinners were the only times they came together unless they needed to have a strategy meeting.
And while the lack of leads seemed to cause Luca to withdraw into himself more and more, he’d done something very unexpected on my third day at the house.
He’d had flowers delivered.
And not flower arrangements.
Actual flowers.
For me to arrange.
There’d been dozens of types and they’d kept coming each day, along with a slew of different kinds of vases and bases.
I’d been shocked, but when I’d tried to thank him, he’d waved me off and told me to put the arrangements where I wanted to in the house.
Vaughn had seemed stunned by the gesture as well but hadn’t said anything to Luca.
Most of my days were spent coming up with creative arrangements that incorporated things I found on the beach during my daily walks with Vaughn. And the nights found me wrapped in Vaughn’s arms. When I wasn’t with Vaughn, I was thinking about him.
Yeah, I was definitely addicted to him.
But I didn’t know what that meant when all of this was over.
“Don’t you agree, Aleks?”
The sound of my name drew me from my thoughts.
“What?” I asked. I looked down at the food on my plate and noticed I’d managed to eat quite a bit of it while I’d been lost in thoughts of Vaughn.
That was new too… my body was finally starting to look forward to eating.
Maybe it was all the exercise I was getting by walking on the beach every day?
And grinding against Vaughn’s hard body at night…
“Aleks…”
“What?”
I looked up and realized I’d zoned out again.
Con was the one trying to get my attention.
Jesus, I really needed to focus.
“Sorry, what?” I asked as I put a piece of meat into my mouth. It was some kind of lamb dish that Vaughn and Luca’s mother had made often and that Con had learned how to make. I’d learned recently that although Vidone Covello had been Italian, Theodora had been Greek.
“I said, don’t you think that if Vaughn’s going to wash his pajamas every night, he should invest in more than one pair? How dirty could he possibly be getting them that he’s gotta run to the laundry room every night?”
I began choking on the food at the question. Vaughn’s hand came up to slap me gently on the back. He had a big grin on his face. Con, for his part, seemed to be completely clueless about the loaded question he’d asked.
“Um…”
“Yeah, Aleks, why do you suppose I can’t keep my shorts clean?” Vaughn asked.
“Must be his newfound love of grits,” Luca suddenly said out of the blue.
“Since when do you like grits?” Con asked, still totally oblivious. “Isn’t Aleks the one who likes grits?”
I was still struggling to chew the piece of lamb well enough so I could get it down. Vaughn’s hand was on my back rubbing circles into it. “Yes, he is,” Vaughn murmured.
“Hmmm, guess I’ll need to make another go at making him grits,” Con said absently. “I’m a way better cook than you, Vaughn.”
“Keep your hands off his grits, Con,” Vaughn said as he shot his friend a dark look.
“My brother’s fiancé makes me grits!” I blurted. “But Vaughn’s are better.”
All eyes turned to me.
“They are?” Vaughn asked me, his eyes going all soft.
“Um, yeah,” I stuttered. “I like how you, um, added shrimp… Magnus’s are really good but yours… I really, really like yours. They’re the best,” I added lamely.
Vaughn’s smile of pleasure did gooey things to my insides.
“I still don’t get what grits have to do with Vaughn’s shorts,” Con announced.
“Jesus, brother,” King muttered as he stood and grabbed his plate to take it to the kitchen. He smacked Con on the back of his head and snatched his plate too.
“Hey, I’m not done.”
“Yeah, you are,” King said. “Let’s go, Mr. Oblivious.”
Con’s gaze shifted to me, then Vaughn. He suddenly grinned and said, “Oh, gotcha… grits. Aleks, you sure you want to settle for his grits—”
“Okay, you’re doing the dishes,” Luca said as he stood and grabbed his own plate, then Con’s arm.
“I cooked,” Con protested as Luca practically dragged him from the dining room.
“Sorry,” Vaughn said. “They can be a bit much.”
I wanted to laugh at that. I did laugh at that.
“You haven’t seen anything yet.”
Vaughn’s fingers moved up to my neck and I found myself leaning into his sensual touch.
“What do you mean?”
“My family… they’re…” I shook my head. “Huge, for starters. I mean, I don’t go to many of their get-togethers…
okay, none, really,” I began. “But some of them come over to our house and the way they all joke… it’s like nothing I’ve seen before.
And Dante, he just… he loves it,” I said with a smile. “He deserves it.”
I felt Vaughn’s eyes on me and felt my body go all warm. “You’ll see what I mean when you meet them someday.”
I caught myself the second the words were out.
Did we have a someday?
We hadn’t actually talked about that.