Epilogue #3
“Mmm.” His eyes fluttered but didn’t open. “Come back quick.”
I chuckled as I shucked off the condom and carefully deposited it in our bedside trash can. “As quick as I can, I promise.”
By the time I’d wiped myself down with a warm cloth in the bathroom and re-wetted and re-warmed it for Jamison, I could hear soft snores coming from the other room.
It was even odds whether he’d sleep through being wiped off or not, and I laid a bet with myself that this time would be a “doesn’t wake up.
” That lovemaking had been…intense. Honestly, I still felt kinda wobbly.
I carried the washcloth back into the bedroom and set to work cleaning up Jamison’s stomach and ass.
He mumbled something and allowed me to turn him over when it was called for, but didn’t open his eyes.
“Fucked you unconscious, huh?” I quietly teased his sleeping form. “I must have done something right.”
Jamison snorted, then cocked one eye open, surprising me. “Fuck yeah, you did. Now get back in bed.”
The crankiness surprised me and I couldn’t hold back a chuckle at his adorable grumpy face. “As you wish.”
***
Jamison
I wasn’t sure how long we slept, but it was full dark when I opened my eyes again, which meant it had to have been at least two hours.
I propped myself up on one elbow and looked down at my boyfriend.
Hen was still asleep, his auburn lashes fluttering against his cheeks.
I had a strong urge to either kiss his nose or blow a raspberry into his neck, but he’d been known to wake up flailing when I did that, and I didn’t want any random bruises today. So instead, I just studied him.
His hair was tangled around his head, and I knew the first thing he’d do when he woke up would be to shove it out of his face and start searching for an elastic to pull it back.
I vaguely recalled one pinging across the room as we rolled around in bed, and I didn’t see it anywhere within view, so oops on that.
Moving carefully, I rolled out of bed and went into the bathroom to fetch a new elastic.
It was the little things that made a relationship strong. Like understanding your boyfriend’s love-hate relationship with his hair.
When I returned to bed with an elastic wrapped around my wrist two minutes later, Hen’s eyes were open. “Hey,” I said softly, sitting down on the edge of the bed.
“Hey,” he tried to say, though his voice was hoarse and it came out in a croak. He cleared his throat and tried again: “Hey. How long were we out this time?”
I shrugged. “Maybe two or three hours. You want to get up and finish cooking dinner?”
He wiggled a few inches across the bed until he could wrap his arms around my waist, his face pressed into my back. “Wanna hug you.”
“Boo, you can do that any time you want.” I tried to turn so we could hug face-to-face, but his arms tightened, holding me in place. “Ok, ok. Consider me trapped and subject to your whims.”
“Love you,” he said into my shoulder blade. “I don’t know why you stayed with me through all the drama -”
“Hon,” I interrupted, “you’re saying that as if the drama is over. Newsflash: we are plenty dramatic. See also: the sex scene we just completed.”
Hen scoffed. “You know what I mean. My meltdown. Meltdowns,” he corrected himself. “Because it wasn’t like there was just one in there for a while.” He sighed. “Anyway, I love you and I’m grateful you stuck with me.”
I put a hand over my shoulder and managed to run it through his hair without poking him in the face on the way. “I love you too, and I’m equally grateful that you fought through the rough stuff and made it to where you are today. You’re so strong, Hen.”
He made a noncommittal noise that I knew was his noise for I don’t agree but you’ll yell at me if I say that so I’m not saying it out loud.
“Gay says in a good relationship, each partner fills in weak spots for the other. So I guess in our case, you handle the confidence gaps and I handle the…I don’t know, the woodworking gaps? ”
Still so hard on himself. I petted his hair some more, and he finally let me twist to face him, though he didn’t pick himself up, so he ended up with his face smooshed against my pec.
“Dude, you know how to do things. You can fix your own house, make business phone calls where I would only ever email and hope, and you taught me everything I know about cats. And,” I added, “you’re just pretty loveable in general, you fucker. ”
Hen laughed at that and pressed a kiss above my heart. “Do you think our cats would get along?”
I blinked at the non sequitur. “Uh, probably? Kellogg loves everyone, and Minnie just wants to play. Solo might not appreciate being pounced on, but he probably wouldn’t fight with her about it.
And Curie doesn’t give a fuck about other cats as long as she has her people’s laps available to her.
” I paused. “Why, did you want to schedule a playdate? That could be pretty cool, actually.”
His eyes dipped away from mine for a long moment before he raised them again, a determined look flashing across his face. “I was thinking something more…permanent.”
“Permanent?” Did he mean…?
“I mean,” he went on, ignoring my question and looking down again, “you spend most nights here anyway, and it just seems silly for you to keep paying for an apartment you hardly use. And if the cats get along…”
I cupped a hand behind his head and forced his gaze up to mine. “Henry, are you asking me to move in with you?”
He grimaced, then offered me a sheepish smile. “Badly, apparently. But yes.”
I wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of my life in this man’s pocket. But… “Are you sure you won’t mind me being in your space all the time? I mean, you’re my introvert, but you’re still an introvert, and I respect that you don’t always want to be around people.”
He scoffed. “You don’t count as people, Jamie. You haven’t for a long time.”
“Wow,” I said with mock-offense. “I see how it is. I’m sub-human.” As I’d hoped, that seemed to deflate some of the tension he’d been holding.
He chuckled and tickled my side.”You know what I mean.”
Jerking away from him defensively, I halfheartedly slapped at his hand. “No fair tickling!”
“Say yes,” he demanded, tickling me again, “or I won’t stop.”
“Never!”
The tickling intensified. “Say it!”
I couldn’t stifle my laughter anymore. “You’re awful,” I told him through it. “But fine, fine. I surrender. I will move in with you. Is that what you wanted to hear, you brute?”
His hands immediately stilled, and then his arms went around my waist and he gave me a squeeze hard enough to force the breath out of me. “Yes,” he said simply. “As long as it’s really what you want and you’re not just saying it to get out of a tickle war.”
I gently pried one of his hands off me until I could breathe again. “It’s a real yes, I promise.”
With a relieved sigh, Hen released me entirely and flopped back on the bed, making the whole thing bounce. “Thank fuck.”
“It was never gonna be a no, Hen,” I assured him. “I don’t think I could say no to you even if I wanted.”
He grinned. “Love you.”
“Love you, too.” I sprawled on top of him and kissed him deeply. “Wanna put on pants and go pet the cats to celebrate?”
“It’s like you read my mind.”