Chapter Eight #3
What he was doing in that bedroom alone, was nothing less than securing their future.
Alex was looking at rings.
As of late, Corbin was getting edgy and dropping hints all over the place about their relationship.
Oh, and he’d picked up on all four hundred of them. Honestly, he was impressed that the man managed to bring up ‘marriage’ as much as he did in a week.
Corbin shoved it into every conversation, somehow.
And he loved it.
It was so damn difficult to not let on that he understood what the man wanted.
Forever.
Well, Alex wanted that too. While they’d only been a couple over a week, he was picking up what his boo was putting down.
He just had to be lowkey about it. So, he was pretending not to know what was going on, as he was absolutely working in the background to give them both what they wanted.
LOVE.
It was all Alex really wanted. He’d found a really good guy who did sweet things for him, and made him feel safe in his masculinity, all while being gay.
Corbin was a treasure, and Alex was smart.
He was locking this crazy man down.
PERIOD.
He only hoped he could hold on until the rings arrived, and they were in the clear to leave the brownstone.
If it was up to Alex, they’d be heading to the Justice of the Peace.
Yeah, that was exactly how he felt about Corbin Price. The man had caught him off guard and swept him off his ‘once-straight feet’.
Love rushed in, and Alex wanted to celebrate it.
Only, they were locked down so hard, that slipping out to go to the Justice of the Peace wasn’t happening, and neither was picking out rings together.
The danger just wasn’t worth it.
So, he was going to buy some rings and get them delivered at some point—if Corbin ever gave him a few minutes to breathe.
ALONE.
He’d come to this room to do his nefarious business while he could, in hopes he could cover later, but it appeared that Corbin needed his attention.
What he’d realized is the man had moments of worry, peppered with fear and the belief that what they had wasn’t real. Alex could read it in Corbin’s eyes.
So, he would reassure him with this romantic gesture. Then, they could get back to the wooing portion of this incredibly amazing romance.
When the door opened, Corbin poked his head in.
“Are you up?” he asked, checking out the scene. Alex was in bed, and his hair was all mussed up.
Only, he didn’t look like he was just waking up.
He looked fully awake.
Uh-oh.
This was off.
“Can I come in?” he asked.
Alex slid up in bed and nodded.
“Sure, Corbin,” he stated, seeing the tray, and wondering what this was. What he wanted to do was giggle in glee that this sweet man was his.
Oh, this secret was going to make him explode in joy, but still, he fought to keep the ruse going.
At least until the rings came.
As Corbin came in, Alex got a closer look at what was on the tray, and it made his heart skip.
This sweet man had made him breakfast in bed, and it was his favorite things. He’d even made roses out of the fresh strawberries.
Yep.
At some point, he was getting hitched to this sexy man as soon as he possibly could. No one had ever loved him like this, and there was no doubt no one else ever would.
Corbin was one in a million.
And his.
For now, he just needed to reassure him as much as he could until they were able to go back out in the world and be a couple.
“I made us breakfast,” he offered, his nerves on edge. “I know you worked late last night,” he said, “So I wanted to give you time to sleep in.”
He smiled.
Oh, he had worked late.
Alex had been dealing with some research and paperwork until almost five in the morning. He’d literally only slept for three hours before he got up so they could spend the day together.
Well, when he got up to buy those shiny gold bands that they’d both wear until their final breaths.
“That sounds good,” he said. “I do love breakfast in bed,” he stated.
Alex was biting his tongue as he tried not to look like an overexuberant fool.
It was so damn difficult, too.
At his comment, Corbin moved further into the room, and there was a little café table not far away. This room had been an office, at one point, and there was a sunroom attached. It was where Corbin came to work most of the time when he was home.
No one slept in here.
Until now.
Sadly, it was a place for Alex to run and hide.
Apparently.
Seeing the man so happy in the spare room did something unpleasant in Corbin.
It made that self-doubt creep in, and Corbin fought that slide in his mood.
It took all he had to stay calm as he hoped and prayed that there was a logical reason Alex came here, and not to bed with him.
He’d been pretty clear that he wanted a relationship, and that he wanted it with him.
In his world, that meant sleeping together—no matter what time someone came to bed.
Yeah, this one change in the man’s normally consistent behavior had him worked up.
Corbin was so goddamn confused.
When Alex told him to leave his brownstone in Damascus, on the last case they worked together, he had. He’d believed it to be over until Alex showed up at his place. They’d had an honest conversation and fell into bed.
Since then, they’d been together, and nothing had changed.
Until now.
Corbin fought to stay in control, even when he believed this man was slipping through his fingers.
“I hope you’re hungry.”
Honestly, Alex was. He was also excited, giddy, and feeling a million feelings that had been kept from him for so many years. Corbin unlocked them, and now, he was in a damn good place in his life.
“Here or the table?” Corbin asked.
Alex smiled happily.
“The table is fine. It’s a nice day out there.”
Was it?
Corbin felt like there was a storm brewing, as a tornado came sweeping into his world.
“Okay.”
Slipping out of bed, Alex put on his slippers, and he followed Corbin out onto the patio. It took all he had not to skip along like a lunatic.
He was going to get the man and make him his. It was wild how the universe moved so fast when it dropped Corbin into his lap.
It was a goddamn good day in his world. Now, he’d see how many times Corbin hinted at marriage or a relationship.
Oh, and not giggle and give away the surprise.
When he got there, he could smell breakfast, and it made his mouth water.
He’d prefer waking up to sex, but this was a pretty damn good thing too. Besides, it was his fault. He’d snuck into this room to do some shopping.
That was on him.
When he saw the heart drawn out of whipped cream on the french toast, he wanted to jump the man and kiss him.
Yeah, that sweetness made Alex’s heart skip in his chest.
Corbin.
Was.
His.
In the little over a week that they’d been doing this mating dance between them, Alex had learned one thing.
He got damn lucky.
Corbin was the kindest, sweetest, most generous person he’d ever met in his life. He made him feel whole, and he didn’t want to lose this.
He wanted to show him, and that was why he was ordering the rings.
There was a wedding in their future.
Bet.
On.
It.
What he wanted was to see if Noah could get out here, and maybe Elizabeth, too so they could elope. He wanted the people he loved there when he took his vows to this man.
Forever.
When you knew, you knew.
Alex was terrified of losing this, and he wanted to make sure this man stayed his partner and person.
“That looks delicious,” he said.
Corbin hoped so.
He was praying that Alex would see how much he loved him by his actions. God knew he wasn’t picking up on the freaking hints he was dropping all over the damn place.
He knew the truth.
Corbin was fighting against the odds. Alex was a quiet, private person, and over the last week, he’d come out of his shell a bit, but there were still things he didn’t know about him.
Like, was he in love, too?
Corbin was all in, and he was dying to figure this out. He couldn’t rush this, but he wanted to.
Desperately.
Now, he had to figure out how to slip marriage into today’s conversation so he could see if they were on the same page.
OR.
NOT.
Sitting down, Alex’s heart fluttered when Corbin pushed his seat in for him. It was the little things that made him want to jump the man.
He was just so damn sweet.
Oh, he almost passed out from the sheer joy of this moment.
“Thank you,” he offered.
Corbin took a chance and lifted his chin to kiss Alex on the lips. He kept it sweet and simple, just so he could figure out what had happened.
“No, thank you,” he said. “I love having breakfast with you,” he admitted.
Him too.
As Corbin sat, Alex took one of the cups of coffee and sipped it.
It was perfect.
Like this man.
He didn’t even mind running on three hours of sleep if he could be with Corbin. He made everything so much better.
“I needed that,” he admitted, as Corbin put a plate in front of him, and took the other for himself. As soon as the tray was cleared, he placed it on the floor out of the way.
Corbin wanted information, but he couldn’t make it look like he was prying.
That was NOT going to get the man to open up. There had to be a way to get Alex to tell him what was bothering him, and why he was backing away from him.
What had he done wrong?
Damn it!
He wanted to call Gene to ask his advice in the worst way. He was screwed and flailing.
So, the not-so-obvious Spanish Inquisition began.
“Yeah, I bet. What time did you get to sleep?” Corbin asked as calmly as he could.
Alex laughed.
“Well, it was about five. The two agents I was helping closed it, and I sent the paperwork to Ian around then.”
Corbin sipped his coffee.
That still didn’t explain why he didn’t come to THEIR bed.
When he didn’t get the information he needed, Corbin kept going.
“Did you get any sleep?” he asked. “I hope I didn’t wake you in here while you were alone,” he said, hinting that this was NOT the place to sleep. “If I was up, I would have joined you.”
Alex cut into his french toast, and fought to ignore the blatant hints that Corbin was dropping.
Yeah, he hadn’t wanted to sleep alone, but he couldn’t scroll on his phone with a hot man sleeping beside him—especially when he was trying to buy him a ring.