Movement to my side had me circling Dan’s waist. “I just hope it’s dry next Monday for the first day back at school. The students are going to be feral else.”
Dan offered me a smirk as we stepped out of the open doorway and locked up for the night. “And there I was wondering why you decided to change specialties and become a librarian rather than a teacher.”
His words earned him a pinch on the butt.
“Come on. I need feeding,” I said.
We stepped into the kitchen, and Dan pulled out the leftover risotto from yesterday. “This okay?” He indicated towards the tub.
“Sounds good to me. I’m going to jump in the shower before dinner.”
He smiled, and I knew it was because he loved how comfortable I was in his space. He may have mentioned it a time or two. “I’ll warm this through while you’re washing up.”
I stepped close and planted a kiss on his mouth. “Thanks, and thanks for coming out tonight. It was nice.”
“Even though your brother gives us shit?” He quirked a brow at me.
My brows dipped low at his words.
“What’s that look for?” he asked, surprise in his tone.
“You think Craig’s bothered?”
He didn’t even pause before he shook his head. “No. I think he’s happy for us. Honestly, he’s known from the moment I did how I feel about you.”
My heart flipped at his words. We still had a lot to share with each other, and it seemed like this was one of many such moments I’d like for him to tell me about. “Really?”
“Absolutely.” Seriousness had his focus not wavering from mine. “It sounds like he’s known howbothof us have felt for years. It’s probably less of a shock for him than anyone. Even us.”
I chuckled. He was probably right. I’d already figured I wasn’t as stealthy in my feelings for Dan as I’d attempted to be. “I was sure you knew how I felt,” I admitted.
Wide-eyed, Dan answered, “No, not at all. Perhaps I would have made a move as soon as I came home if I’d been more certain. I seemed to forever be walking that fine line of not screwing up our friendship, or mine with Craig.”
“We’ve got a lot of history.”
“And years with barely any contact,” he added.
“And that’s a good thing?” Curiosity lifted my words into a clear question.
“Damn straight. It means we grew and ventured out into the world—”
“Brisbane is hardly the world,” I quipped, adding a smirk for good measure.
He laughed. “Fuck off. I took holidays overseas.”
His words just made me chuckle more.
“My point is,” he clarified, squeezing my waist and drawing my attention back to his words, “it also means our connection… or history have kept us together in many ways, but we became adults apart, so you know, we’ve still got stuff, and uhm… things to learn….”
My lips twitched at his awkward sweetness, and I brushed my thumb over the patch of skin above the waist of his jeans. “You have no idea what you’re talking about, do you?”
He shrugged a little, a delicious pink creeping up his neck. “I know what I mean in my head, and it sounded all right then, until I tried to put it in words.” He huffed out a laugh. “I just don’t want you to be concerned about Craig, is all.”
I melted a little at his words and found reassurance in them. I couldn’t imagine Dan ever steering me wrong. “Thank you, and I think I know what you’re saying. We both had a lot of growing up to do, meaning that when we ended up back together again, we had time to reform our friendship.”
“Yes, that.” He bobbed his head, chuckling. “We didn’t rush into this.”
“Well, me jacking off to thoughts of you intermittently over the past eighteen years means there was zero rush in the making of us.”
