Carter’s expression didn’t clear. If anything, it grew more troubled. He pursed his lips, and his broad shoulders hunched in for a moment before he took a deep breath and straightened them. “Are you…?” He met Jeff’s eyes. “Are we okay?”
What?Jeff’s mouth dropped open. “Carter—yeah, of course we are. Why would you think…?” Had he somehow been ambiguous? He’d basically moved in. He didn’t want to be anywhere else.
Then again, Carter didn’t know Jeff had sold his condo or bought property locally.
Damn it. Jeff tried again as his stomach sank with the weight of his dread. “Areyouunhappy?”
“No!” Carter said quickly, mouth opening in horror. “No, God, Jeff—I’ve never been this happy in my life and my foot’s broken.” He gave a breathy puff of laughter and shook his head. “Guess I should’ve been watching where I was going instead of flirting with you.”
“Nah,” Jeff squeezed out past the sudden tightness in his throat. “Who knows how long it would’ve taken me to get a clue if you hadn’t?”
“I was thinking about engraving an invitation if the hike didn’t work,” Carter teased.
Jeff stuck his tongue out. “You could’ve said something, you know.”
“Oh, like you did, you mean?”
Now that was just unfair. “How many thinly veiled Top 40 love songs do you need?” Jeff gently kicked his left ankle under the table. “I thought we weren’t talking about them because you didn’t feel the same and I made it awkward. I didn’t know you were just being obtuse.”
“Hey,” Carter protested. “How was I supposed to know? And even if I thought maybe some of them were about me, was I supposed to assume you felt the same way more than ten years later? That you meant it the way I—I mean, lots of artists have muses—”
Jeff stared at him, openmouthed. “Oh my God.”
Carter stopped, the apples of his cheeks burning red, and dropped his gaze to the tabletop.
“Oh my God,” Jeff repeated. He’d been operating on the assumption that they were on the same page, but obviously Carter thought Jeff was still reading the introduction or something.It’s not like he doesn’t know, Jeff had written in that social media statement—but maybe, somehow, he didn’t. “How do you not—Carter.” Fuck this. He reached across the table and grabbed his hand, because by God he would have eye contact for this. “You are so lucky you have a big dick,” Jeff said, “because if you haven’t realized how stupidly in love with you I am, then you areso dumb—”
“Hey!” Carter said again, but he was laughing now, and the flush had calmed from embarrassed red to a pleased pink. “Don’t ruin the moment.”
“The moment was ruined when I had to do my love confession song live in front of five thousand other people,” Jeff said dryly, “and apparently it didn’t eventakewith the person I most wanted to hear it, so—”
Honestly, did Carter think Jeff made public statements about who he was dating for just anyone?
“All right.” Carter tried to raise his hands in concession, but he was still holding one of Jeff’s, so the gesture turned out kind of lopsided. “You made your point. I was dumb. I thought maybe you weren’t ready.”
“No shit.”
Carter made a face. “In my defense, the first time Iwantedto say it, you looked like you were going to have an attack of the vapors.”
“Oh, I was,” Jeff agreed easily. He knew exactly which moment Carter was referring to—that campfire-night comment and the way Carter had looked at him afterward, as though Jeff were the stupid one. “You wait fifteen years to hear that from someone, the idea that you might actually get what you want is kind of overwhelming.”
Speaking of, Carter had not actually said the words yet. Jeff was trying to be patient, but like he said—fifteen years of waiting. Suddenly another fifteen seconds seemed like too long.
For a second, he wasn’t sure if Carter was teasing him on purpose or just being dumb again, but then he caught the hint of a smirk in the corner of his mouth. “You’re not gonna have one now, are you?”
Jeff sputtered. “Time will freakingtell—”
Carter kissed him, which was cheating and also probably the fastest way to get Jeff to shut up. The kiss was warm and sweet and full of promise, and at the end it got a little dirty, so that by the time Carter pulled away, Jeff was leaning in for more. Carter stopped him with a finger to his lips, and his blue eyes were soft and serious and so, so fond when he said, “I love you too.”
Sothatwas great.
Jeff got to bask in the glow of that for a whole twenty-four hours, and then he picked up the keys to his brand-new cottage, double-checked the cabin was empty, and went to sit on the dock of his brand-new multimillion-dollar gamble.
“No big deal,” he told himself as he plucked out a few notes on the Seagull. “Just the possibility of getting everything you ever wanted.” The Ottawa concert was the day after tomorrow. He didn’t have time to panic.
The sound of tires on gravel pulled him out of his contemplation of the water. That would be the contractor. He went and let them in and gave them a quick refresher tour—they’d already had a basic one when he had the inspection done—and then his phone rang.
Ella Rhodes.
