Page 75 of Say It Again
“What I’m trying to say.” Daniel’s mouth suddenly itched as he scooted in closer toward Aaron, his heart river dancing into his throat. “Okay. What I’m trying to say is—sorry. Give me a minute.”
Aaron chuckled, swabbing a hand over his face. “Uh-huh?”
“Nothing. I mean, it is something. But.” He drummed on his lips to cue the tiny dancer to knock it off. “Nothing.”
Aaron gave in to a yawn. “Is it nothing? Or is it something?”
“It’s just—”
“It’s just what, kid?”
“I’m in love with you.”
Aaron’s eyebrows rose, and his mouth dropped open. Olivia huffed in a breath and shot up to mirror him.
“I think I’m, like, in love, in love with you. Like bananas in love with you.”
Aaron blinked in response. No words. No facial clues as to what he was thinking. Then, without moving a muscle, he said, “Oh. Shit.”
Olivia gasped. “Oh shit.”
Daniel gulped. Oh shit.
Other than that brief delivery, Aaron was frozen in time. An eternity passed as Daniel sat there, tapping his fingertips together. It was definitely long enough for the sun to swallow the earth, but that didn’t happen like he’d hoped. He parted his lips to speak with no clear summary of what might roll out.
“Shh, for a second.” Aaron held up a hand. His forehead wrinkled. “Is this the mushrooms talking?”
“Yes. I mean, no! Okay, yes, I said it just now because of the mushrooms, maybe, but there is this gravitational tugging of you and me together, and you are this robust presence in my life that I’ve never had before and don’t want to have with anyone else, because there’s no way it could be as good as you and me and us, and you are quite honestly everything—you’re everything to me.” He gasped his first breath in a minute. “And I thought you should know.”
Aaron gripped him by the waist and hauled him onto his lap. Not gentle and controlled but fumbling and raw. He straddled Daniel’s knees around him and jolted their bodies close and tight. “Say it again.”
He tried to hide the fact that he was out of breath and disoriented. He studied Aaron’s face for clarification, but it looked just as thunderstruck. “Say….? All of that again?”
Aaron shook his head. “The first part.”
“Oh.” He swallowed. “Say I love you?”
Aaron nodded. Something behind his eyes was so intense, it was almost punishing to stare at. “Again.”
“I love you.”
“Again.”
“I love you.”
Aaron sucked a breath through his teeth as he touched Daniel’s face all over. He swept his fingertips down his temples, then cheekbones. He thumbed his chin and rubbed his neck. It was almost like he had to do it. “I wish you could see the way your mouth moves. I wish you could see how you look when you say it. Say it.”
Daniel’s eyes stung because of course they did, but he stayed present, gripping Aaron’s face, smiling against his lips. He whispered, “I’m in love with you.”
“You should not stop.” Aaron’s fingers twisted his shirt, clawing until it was inching up his back. His voice was a deep hook. “Don’t stop.”
“You like it?”
“Daniel.” Aaron nodded. “It’s the best thing I’ve ever heard.”
He winced when Aaron thrust them even tighter, tight enough to hurt, but God, bring it on. Give him this man’s skin against his. If his nervous system was going to go down in a wonder of flames because he was wholeheartedly in love with a sex worker, then he might as well pour the champagne and eat the damn cake.
“I love you,” Daniel said in between these wild, wild kisses, breathing only when he had to. Let Aaron’s mouth be a journey where no corner was left untasted. “Aaron Silva. I love you.”