Page 56 of Can't Stop Now

“Hi Marsha, you look amazing! This is Will, my boyfriend,” Jacob said, and Marsha shook Will’s hand.

Will’s felt like his heart stopped when Jacob introduced him.Boyfriend. Will’s eyes immediately landed on Jacob’s face and their eyes met for a split second before Jacob turned back to Marsha and kept talking.

Will couldn’t help a smile from permanently fixing itself on his face. He and Jacob had definitely been hanging out with each other nonstop since he had moved to California, and he knew that Jacob wasn’t seeing anyone else. But Will had been afraid to bring up the topic of being official boyfriends with Jacob. He knew Jacob had to move at his own pace, since he was new to the world of dating guys. Butholy shit– he had just introduced Will as his boyfriend, at a work event, no less. Will felt like his heart couldn’t contain itself.

After a few minutes, Marsha left, telling Will it was nice to meet him. Jacob turned back to the buffet table.

“Damn, I havegotto get more of those pigs in a blanket. They are the best ones I’ve ever had,” Jacob said, making a beeline to the tray.

Will grabbed Jacob’s bicep, stopping him from walking.

“Jacob.”

“What? I know I already had three, but did youtrythem? So good!”

“Jacob. That’s not what I mean.”

“What?” Jacob smiled, looking Will in the eyes, feigning ignorance.

Will smiled back, his grin widening as he realized Jacob knew what he was thinking.

“Okay. It’s fine. Go ahead, go get more pigs in a blanket…boyfriend,” Will said, pinching Jacob lightly on his side.

Jacob grinned back at him. “I hope you’re okay that I called you that. I figured she might as well know what you are to me, since ‘friend’ doesn’t really cut it,” Jacob said.

Will nodded in agreement, amazed at how far Jacob had come. “You’re right. It doesn’t.”

They hung out at the party for another hour and a half, and Jacob introduced Will as his boyfriend to at least four more people. Will couldn’t believe it. He was so happy to be here in California with Jacob, and finally have someone he could truly call his own.

Epilogue

Jacob signed his name with a flourish after reading through the 20-page tome that was the lease. He and Will had found a small house a few miles away from the ocean, right in between Oceanside and San Diego, and were moving in together.

For the year that they had lived in California, they had essentially been living together already – Will spent most of his time at Jacob’s apartment in San Diego and they were inseparable the entire year. But they had just made it official and would be moving into their first place together.

After their landlord left and it was just Will and Jacob in the front yard of the house, Will wrapped his arms around Jacob in a hug, bringing him in close.

“I love you so much, baby. We did it! We found our house!” he said, placing his lips sweetly on Jacob’s.

“I love you too. And who knows,” Jacob smiled, “maybe we really will take the landlord up on their offer to sell the house later on – in a few years, we might be making enough to actually buy this place.”

Will took a deep breath in. “I love it so much!”

“Wanna go down to the beach? We’re only a couple miles away,” Jacob grinned, opening up the driver’s side door of the car.

“Hell yes. Let’s go,” Will said and headed to the passenger side.

They drove to the beach, parked, and walked out across the sand, finding the usual spot where they liked to sit.

“So I was thinking,” Jacob said, looking over at Will.

“Yeah?” Will said, running his hand through Jacob’s hair.

“Marsha at work said her cat just had kittens. And she’s giving them away totally for free. They’re the most adorable white, fluffy little guys,” Jacob said, showing Will a photo on his phone.

“Oh my god, I love them,” Will said, staring at the photo.

“So when we move in in two weeks… can I tell Marsha we’ll adopt one?” Jacob said, a huge smile spreading across his face.