company. It felt…easy. We deserved easy for a change.
"Nah. I wouldn't break out the Blue Ribbon for other girls. For you? Nothing but the best." He shot me a smile and my heart melted in one fell swoop.
This was all I'd wanted from the start of this whole mess. Just me and Bash. And the beer was a plus.
"I'm so glad I'm here," I said. I knew it was strange to say out of the blue, but the words were eating at me. I needed him to know how much the gesture had meant to me. How much he meant to me. It was never more clear than now, when I’d gotten so close to losing him again.
He shifted on the blanket and leaned in, just near enough that I could smell his intoxicating cologne on the air. "Yeah. I am too.”
His lips touched mine for a split second before he pulled back.
“Now let’s eat, drink, and be normal. I’m even going to take the day off my training diet, because we have some stuff to celebrate.” He picked up a cannoli and a beer and grinned at me. “Just don’t tell Butchie. We called him and he’s flying in next week to get at it hard-core with me now that we know the fight is on. If he finds out I ate a Twinkie?” He used the pastry in his hand to mimic a knife across his throat. “Heads will roll.”
For the next hour, we ate ourselves sick and laughed ourselves sicker. I talked him into a silly drinking game and we were both halfway to drunk when he suddenly set his beer can down and pointed to the sky.
“Holy shit, did you see that?”
I shook my head and peered into the starry night. “Nope. Was it a spaceship?”
He scooted down further on the blanket and laid back, waving for me to join him. “It was a shooting star. Come on, maybe there will be another.”
I hunkered down next to him, so happy I could explode with it, and snuggled against him, resting my head against his chest and looping an arm around his waist.
"You know…" I bit my lip, almost stopping myself from saying another word. But he was close. And it felt so right. Here on the roof with everyone else so far away. Like the whole world belonged to us.
There was only one thing that would make tonight better, and tonight I wasn't in a mood for second-bests. He’d stripped off his suit jacket and button-down when we’d gotten to the gym and now wore just a white fitted T-shirt with his suit pants. The look did amazing things for his biceps. His muscles rippled as he held me tight, and I swallowed hard to keep from drooling.
"You know," I started again, "I heard this legend once. About the stars."
He angled his head back to see my face. "Oh yeah?"
I hiccuped and covered my mouth with a laugh, refusing to let my buzz ruin this for me. "This one, here?" I pointed to a red dot in the sky, set apart from the rest. "That one was in love with this one." My finger traced a path to a little white star halfway across the sky.
"And what happened?"
"Well, they loved each other. From afar, you know. And then one perfect, magical night, they got a chance to be away from it all. Away from the palace guards—"
"There are palace guards?"
"Sure. They’re not relevant to the story, though.” I thumped his chest to shush him before I forgot the rest of my fake legend. “Anyways, like I was saying, one perfect, magical night, they found out that they were going to be able to be together and they wanted to celebrate. So the big red star gave the little white star the best night of her life. And the little white star wanted to reciprocate." I inched toward his mouth, swallowing hard in an attempt to moisten my dry throat. Why was I so nervous? We’d slept together a dozen times by now. Maybe more.
But this is the first time you’re doing it without doom and gloom hanging over you.
We were finally free.
"There’s a problem with your little tale." Bash’s voice was temptingly low, and as he spoke, the heat of his breath kissed the skin of my cheek.
"Oh yeah?" I asked, as he laid me low with his intense gaze. I tried to sound
"Nah. I wouldn't break out the Blue Ribbon for other girls. For you? Nothing but the best." He shot me a smile and my heart melted in one fell swoop.
This was all I'd wanted from the start of this whole mess. Just me and Bash. And the beer was a plus.
"I'm so glad I'm here," I said. I knew it was strange to say out of the blue, but the words were eating at me. I needed him to know how much the gesture had meant to me. How much he meant to me. It was never more clear than now, when I’d gotten so close to losing him again.
He shifted on the blanket and leaned in, just near enough that I could smell his intoxicating cologne on the air. "Yeah. I am too.”
His lips touched mine for a split second before he pulled back.
“Now let’s eat, drink, and be normal. I’m even going to take the day off my training diet, because we have some stuff to celebrate.” He picked up a cannoli and a beer and grinned at me. “Just don’t tell Butchie. We called him and he’s flying in next week to get at it hard-core with me now that we know the fight is on. If he finds out I ate a Twinkie?” He used the pastry in his hand to mimic a knife across his throat. “Heads will roll.”
For the next hour, we ate ourselves sick and laughed ourselves sicker. I talked him into a silly drinking game and we were both halfway to drunk when he suddenly set his beer can down and pointed to the sky.
“Holy shit, did you see that?”
I shook my head and peered into the starry night. “Nope. Was it a spaceship?”
He scooted down further on the blanket and laid back, waving for me to join him. “It was a shooting star. Come on, maybe there will be another.”
I hunkered down next to him, so happy I could explode with it, and snuggled against him, resting my head against his chest and looping an arm around his waist.
"You know…" I bit my lip, almost stopping myself from saying another word. But he was close. And it felt so right. Here on the roof with everyone else so far away. Like the whole world belonged to us.
There was only one thing that would make tonight better, and tonight I wasn't in a mood for second-bests. He’d stripped off his suit jacket and button-down when we’d gotten to the gym and now wore just a white fitted T-shirt with his suit pants. The look did amazing things for his biceps. His muscles rippled as he held me tight, and I swallowed hard to keep from drooling.
"You know," I started again, "I heard this legend once. About the stars."
He angled his head back to see my face. "Oh yeah?"
I hiccuped and covered my mouth with a laugh, refusing to let my buzz ruin this for me. "This one, here?" I pointed to a red dot in the sky, set apart from the rest. "That one was in love with this one." My finger traced a path to a little white star halfway across the sky.
"And what happened?"
"Well, they loved each other. From afar, you know. And then one perfect, magical night, they got a chance to be away from it all. Away from the palace guards—"
"There are palace guards?"
"Sure. They’re not relevant to the story, though.” I thumped his chest to shush him before I forgot the rest of my fake legend. “Anyways, like I was saying, one perfect, magical night, they found out that they were going to be able to be together and they wanted to celebrate. So the big red star gave the little white star the best night of her life. And the little white star wanted to reciprocate." I inched toward his mouth, swallowing hard in an attempt to moisten my dry throat. Why was I so nervous? We’d slept together a dozen times by now. Maybe more.
But this is the first time you’re doing it without doom and gloom hanging over you.
We were finally free.
"There’s a problem with your little tale." Bash’s voice was temptingly low, and as he spoke, the heat of his breath kissed the skin of my cheek.
"Oh yeah?" I asked, as he laid me low with his intense gaze. I tried to sound
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