Page 71 of Stick By Me
“Yeah, I get it.” With a frown, his gaze slid to my chest, and he brushed his fingers around my nipple. “Do you get a tree for your place? Maybe we could um, go to a Christmas tree lot together.” The edge of his lips tugged up.
“What?” I freed a soft chuckle. What an odd request. “Wehaven’t gotten a tree, but maybe it’s time we did.”
“Yeah, when I first met you, Jonah said you reminded him of the kind of guy that was in those Christmas Hallmark movies.” Shaking his head with a smile, he rubbed his eyes. “He asked if we were going to be having hot chocolate at a Christmas tree lot.”
“Oh.” A choked laugh sprang from my throat. “Yeah, I’ve watched those with girlfriends before.” I thought a moment. “Wait, so I look like one of those small-town guys in flannel?” I cocked a brow. “But I don’t wear flannel.”
“No, silly.” With a giggle, he tapped my chest. “I’d say you have more of the nerdy, but hot metro-sexual look down.”
I shifted my head over the pillow. “I do work with numbers and spreadsheets, so I guess you’ve got me there.” I squeezed him to my chest. God, I loved him more by the minute. And times like these were so special. If only we could have more of them.
“I wish I’d have known you back when I had to take Calculus. Damn, that was hard, and I could have used your help.” He slid his leg over both of mine, pressing his dick to my hip.
“Yeah, that was easy for me. My statistics and database classes were a little hard for me, but I think I had a bad professor.” Yeah, I’d blame it on the teacher. I kissed his hair, my eyelids growing heavy. It was way later than I’d usually stayed up, but I didn’t want this moment to end. “So, what have we got for me to make in the morning for breakfast?”
“The guys like those high-protein pancakes and breakfast sausage. We get it all from Costco in huge boxes.” He relaxed against me. “Leo? I’m getting sleepy.”
“Yeah, you’ve had one hell of a long day.” Shit, he’d even played a full game of hockey tonight. “Let’s turn off the light, but stay just like this, okay?”
“Yeah.” He switched off his lamp, then snuggled into my side with a rumbling sigh. “I love you, Leo.”
“Love you, too. Goodnight.” I pressed a soft kiss to his lips, then shut my eyes. Best night of my life.
The next morning,after a round of very satisfying blowjobs, I pulled the drawstring tight on a pair of sweats and put on an oversized sweatshirt Archer had given me, then trudged into the kitchen to make breakfast. Everyone else was still asleep, as far as I could tell. I rummaged through their kitchen, which looked original to the 1980s home, finding bowls, and frying pans.
Archer ambled out of the hallway in his ASU athletic sweats and combed his fingers through his unruly bangs. “Need some help?”
“Nope. I’ve got this.” I poured the pancake mix into a bowl, then water, and stirred it with a whisk. “I do this all the time for Remy and Axel at home.”
“Yeah? They’re lucky bastards.” He kissed my cheek, then stepped to the coffee maker. “I’ll get the coffee started.”
“Don’t make it taste like mud this time.” Ace strolled into the main room, his almost black, curly hair framing his dark eyes. “Your coffee was so strong, I thought I was going to have a heart attack.” He dropped into a tall stool at the kitchen island and set his thick forearms on top.
“That was back when we were studying for mid-terms, and we all needed it.” With a scoff, Archer poured ground coffee into the filter, then shut it.
“How much coffee did you put in there?” Ace pointed at Archer.
Archer halted at the sink, holding the glass carafe. “Not that much.”
I strolled to the coffee machine and opened the filter. The beans were filled to the top. “Holy fuck, Archer, you’re going to kill us.” With a sharp laugh, I pulled the filter out and emptied some of the beans into a trash bin.
“Leo, don’t ever let him make the coffee.” Ace chortled.
“Fine.” With a shake of his head, Archer filled the carafe with water.
“There, that’s how much coffee should be in there.” I held the filter up to him, holding back a snigger. Note to self,always make the coffee first, before he can get to it. Staying the night was teaching me so much more about him.
“Yeah, okay.” He poured the water into the machine and stepped away.
I slid the filter and grounds back into place and turned the machine on, then set two frying pans on their stove and took the sausage out of the refrigerator.
“So, Ace, don’t you have some big assignment due for your ethics class?” Archer joined him at the island.
“Yeah, it’s pretty much done though.” Ace slumped his shoulders.
“What are you studying, Ace?” I poured pancake mix into a pan, then set sausages onto the other pan. I’d finally get to know his best friends outside of the rink and the bars.
“Business with an emphasis on finance.” Ace smirked at me. “I need to know how to handle all that money I’m going to make when I get my NHL contract.”
