I blinked at him.
“Kidding. I’m kidding. I’m feeling a little high right now, ignore me. Okay, maybe don’t ignore me when I say this part. I love you too. But…”
My stomach dropped. “But?”
“No, I was calling you a butt. I love you too, Butt.”
I blinked at him again. This was going to take some getting used to.
“Evan,” he said softly. “I’m so fucking happy. I get stupid when I’m happy. Forgive me. Well, maybe instead of forgiving me, you could just… I don’t know… get used to it? The weirdness, I mean. Because it doesn’t really end. It’s kind of… permanently attached to my personality.”
I fingered the purple tangles. “I love your personality. But…”
“But?” Those little worry wrinkles appeared on his smooth forehead again.
“No, I was calling you a butt. I love your personality, Butt.”
He smacked me in the shoulder. “I’m the funny one. You’d do well to remember that, Chief.”
“I will. And I’ll get used to your teasing. Your happiness is all I need, Stevie. If you’re happy, I’m perfect.”
We snuggled against each other, idly running fingers along skin and exploring each other until I heard his stomach grumble.
“We missed dinner. C’mon. Let’s see what we can scrounge up.”
After pulling on our jeans, we made our way into the kitchen where I found a frozen tub of baked ziti leftover from a batch I’d made at the fire house the week before. I placed it in the microwaveand set the table, offering Stevie an assortment of drinks before inviting him to have a seat at the kitchen table.
As soon as he sat on the wooden chair, he hissed and hopped back up again.
“Whiskey tango foxtrot,” he howled. “That bites. Motherfucker. Where did you get this piece-of-shit chair?”
Smothering a laugh, I said, “I made it. It’s a basic chair, baby. I’m afraid the problem is with your delicate derriere and not the chair.”
I wandered over to pull him into my arms, reaching down to rub his cute cheeks through the denim. “You want me to get you some softer pants? I might have a pair of bike shorts to pad this tush for you until you’re feeling better.”
“Stop laughing. This wasn’t in the manual.”
“What manual?” I asked with another chuckle. He was even more enticing when he pouted.
“The Bottom’s Book of Banging,” he said with a sniff before reaching up to toy with one of my nipples. “Don’t tell me you’ve never read it. That’s how I knew to look for a sugar daddy like you. The book says older men aren’t strong enough to do too much damage to your?—”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I sputtered, cutting him off.
He lifted an eyebrow and smirked at me. “I thought you said you were going to get used to the weirdness?”
He was going to be the death of me.
“I did, Butt.”
17
STEVIE
After we demolishedthe pasta dish, Evan acted like the grown-up he was and brought up the topic I’d been avoiding all day.
“Who has Willow tonight?”
“Dina and her mom. The twins’ birthday is today, so they’re having a school-night sleepover. Dina will get them on the bus in the morning. I was kind of hoping to stay here with you. If that’s okay, I mean.”
