He nods and I stay silent the rest of the way to his penthouse, deciding to let it go for the moment and give him the benefit of the doubt that he will indeed do what he should in order to not end up in the ER again.
* * *
“Do you want to go out tonight?” Dex asks a few hours later, after I forced him to take a nap with me.
“No, I want to stay here. Relax, drink a little, watch TV, and enjoy being with you. That’s it.”
He plops himself next to me on the couch and puts his legs on mine. “There are a few things I want to say, beardy.”
That’s never something I want to hear from Dex. He overthinks everything all the time.
I rest my hand on his knee, waiting for him to start, my heart galloping faster than a derby horse.
“First, I don’t want the group to know about today’s hiccup.”
I raise my brows in confusion.
“I mean it, I’ll slow down, reassign stupid Marlene, give more to Aiden to do, but you can’t tell them.”
I roll my eyes but nod nonetheless. Dex and his fucking secrets. We still haven’t officially announced that we’re together. I told Julie and he told Ian and Ryan, but Virginia is still in the dark. It’s like he’s afraid to tell her or something. He says it’s to keep them out of his business, but I think it’s for him to have an escape. She’s the only one who will call him on his shit, apart from me.
“Second, I want to sell this place. I hate it.”
“So do I. It’s fucking ugly and so not you.”
“Right. Before I look for something else, I want to know if you would like us to maybe… I don’t know… like… move in together or something?”
He’s so nervous, I want to laugh. I generally wouldn’t use the word cute to describe Dex, but right now, he looks like a teenager asking someone out for the first time. It’s adorably charming.
“Are you waiting for an answer?” I squeeze his leg to try to get his attention, but it seems his lap is more interesting than my eyes. He shakes his head, and I’m a little confused.
“Here goes nothing…” He lifts his head. “I need to tell you one last thing before you answer, beardy.” He sighs heavily and, with a trembling voice, announces, “I love you.” He winces as if he needed to rip off a bandage.
It’s not the most romantic ‘I love you’, but he opened his heart to me, and it’s a huge step for Dex.
“You do?” I tease, trying to release the tension in his body.
“I think I’ve loved you for a long time, I just was afraid to tell you.”
I bring him into my lap and kiss all over his neck.
“Not on your lap, beardy.”
“Babe, you just said you love me. Let it go. Nobody’s here to see.” I feel him relax, and I tip him over slightly to get better access to his pants. My hand slides under his shirt, and I bring my lips to his. “I would love to live with you, babe. I love you. I told you you’d fall for me.”
“You’re dumb. I had already fallen for you when you said so.”
His hands wrap around my neck, and I deepen the kiss. Feeling our dicks getting hard, mine against his legs, his in my hand over his pants, I know how we can celebrate our decision to live together. I stroke him gently, seeing him relax under my touch. His eyes close, and he sighs in pleasure. While his lips part, I slip my tongue in his mouth and stroke his at the same pace my hand touches his dick. He whimpers until I need to stop so I don’t just jerk him off and make him come on his suit.
I straddle him and undo his shirt, button after button, but I let it fall open on his sculpted chest. I lower my head to kiss his nipples, but he brings me back to his mouth, devouring me as if he can’t get enough of me. I grunt my desire. His hands fumble with my pants, and he tugs me forward abruptly, bringing my dick to the level of his mouth. I tug my jeans down and move my length closer to his face. His tongue darts out, and like the first time he blew me, he takes my dick through my underwear. I love when he’s so impatient to taste me that he sucks through the fabric. His teeth scrape a little, and I moan his name as a warning but also in praise.
My dick is throbbing, so I move back and open his pants, freeing his erection then mine. I lie down on him and let our dicks rub each other, every thrust sending ripples of heat in my body. Our shafts frotting, our tongues tangling, and our minds being blown with the imminent orgasm building from the back to ours neck down to ours balls. If sex with Dex was sensational before, it surpasses all common sense now that I know he loves me. I feel like being loved by Dex is an accomplishment as monumental as climbing Mount Everest. I trained for years with other guys, decided I would do it as a challenge to myself, and once I started to ascend the mountain, I felt discouraged, I thought my heart would die, but in the end, I feel elated and delirious. As he comes, he repeats his love for me, and I shout all I have for him, happy I don’t ever have to descend from my mountain after months of emotional exhaustion. But unfortunately, I should have known you can’t ever stay on top of things and even less on top of Dex Crawford.
24
Dex
“Are you going to tell me what you’re doing here? I don’t have all day!” I had meeting after meeting and squeezed Ryan in between two appointments so he could ask me something of “huge importance.” I wondered if it was about his sobriety, but seeing the goofy grin he’s sporting, I know it isn’t anything too serious. Now I’m pissed to be losing precious time, yet again, because of one of my friend’s stupid lives.
“I heard you were more relaxed these days,” he says. “I guess that was fake news.”
“Shut up, Ry! Are you going to let me know what’s so important or shall I go back to work?”
“Can I have a coffee first?”
I roll my eyes. If he can rile me up, Ryan will do it—a bit like Luke used to before we were together. I hit my intercom and call my brand new, very capable assistant Susan. I gave Marlene a fake promotion to Lead Team Synergist, complete with a new office and a little raise and nothing at all to do except filing her nails and checking the gossip websites. Her job is to send me an email as soon as she sees something interesting from one of our clients. I was a little surprised she didn’t know I already have someone else doing the exact same job, but that just shows how little she did as my assistant, and I created a spam folder for any emails she sends me.
Susan is the first assistant I’ve had who is any good. She doesn’t take bullshit and works efficiently. Also, as she’s Luke’s second cousin, I’m a little more hesitant to scream at her. I know she’s reporting my stress level to my companion and his mother. Luke arrived with her one morning and it was a done deal without me having anything to say about it, and I understood I had little to no choice in the matter. I also know that he didn’t want me to hire his cousin as a favor to him. He found who he believed would help me the best so that I could delegate and not run like a rat in a cage.
“Susan, could you bring some coffee to Mr. Marley please?”
“Of course, Mr. Crawford.”
“Shit! You said please?” Ryan said, his eyes as wide as the gap between Marlene’s ears. “You’re much nicer than you used to be.”