He slid into the bed next to me, slipping his left arm under my head and resting his hand on my left shoulder. “What do you think?” he whispered.

“Wow,” I said again. “That’s amazing.”

“I always loved the night sky, and I thought it would be cool to make love under the stars.” He rested his head against mine. “I haven’t opened it up since Cade left.”

“You never opened it for Chad?” I teased.

“I never had sex with Chad in here.” He shrugged. “We fucked in the living room. I only let special people into my bed.”

“But—” I started to say, you had sex with me in here the first night, but realized what that meant and couldn’t finish. I felt tears coming to my eyes again. I muffled a sob.

“Shhh, baby, don’t cry.” He kissed the top of my head. “I told you, I knew when I first saw you. That’s the one, I thought, and it was just a matter of time till it happened, you know? I knew someday you’d live here with me, and every night we’d go to sleep under the stars, in each other’s arms.”

What?

“Um, Dante—”

“Shhh.” He laughed, kissing the top of my head again. “I know it’s too soon to talk about you moving in here, but someday, I hope you will. Just being around you, Jordy, makes me happy. I feel—this is going to sound cheesy, so don’t you dare laugh at me—but I feel somehow whole when I’m with you, in a way I haven’t since Cade left.”

I could feel the tears rising again. “Dante—” I rolled away from him, my back to him, and stared at the wall. I started to cry softly into my pillow.

He rolled over to me. “Baby, what’s wrong?”

“I’m not going to be here!” I burst out. “I’m only going to be here for two years. I’m going to Harvard after the next school year.”

He started kissing my neck. “Jordy, shhh. That’s okay, it’s okay, baby, don’t cry, please, I hate seeing you cry.”

I turned back over, wiping at my tears. “I . . .”

“We’ll worry about that when the time comes.” He nuzzled my neck. “In the meantime, all it means is we have to enjoy every moment we have together, okay?” His warm hand drifted down to my crotch, and he put it on my cock, which was already stiffening.

In that moment, I was ready to say, to hell with Harvard, to hell with everything, I want to spend the rest of my life with you, being with you in this incredible bed under the stars. But he was kissing my neck and I was getting aroused, turned on, as his hand worked my cock while his tongue traced circles on my neck.

Oh, my God, it felt so good.

He moved down to my chest, toying with and teasing my nipples with his tongue. My back arched, and I started moaning. I couldn’t help it—it felt so amazing. His body was right there, so I started stroking his back, his broad hard muscular back, and his mouth moved down my torso, his tongue snaking in and out of my navel.

“Oh, God, oh, God,” I moaned, as his other hand slid under me and one of his fingers started flicking my asshole.

“I know you prefer to top,” he whispered, “but I really want to be inside of you.”

I swallowed, my breath coming almost too rapidly for me to speak. “I’ve never done that before,” I whispered back, “but you can if you want to.”

There was nothing I’d refuse him.

He moved until he was on top of me, all of his weight on me, but I didn’t care, he didn’t feel heavy, he felt wonderful, and his cock was grinding against mine, and I wrapped my legs around him. Our mouths came together, and he bit my lower lip gently, and I was ready to scream, it all felt so good, it all felt so right—and he was squirting lube into his hand, and then one of his fingers entered me—and there was a sharp pain that made me stiffen, but he whispered, “Relax, baby,” and his finger slid into me, and maneuvered, and I bit my lip not to scream but not because it hurt but because it felt amazing, it felt like he was opening me, and then his thick cock was pressing against me, and I opened, relaxing, and he slid in, ever so slowly, and I could barely breathe, it hurt but it felt good at the same time, and he went in a little more, and I arched up into him, and he kept whispering, I love you I love you I love you, over and over again, and then I needed him inside of me, I needed to feel him all the way inside, and he went in all the way, and it was all I could do not to scream, it was amazing, I’d never ever felt anything like it before, and I was loving it, I loved it, I loved him, and I wanted him and I loved him and he was moving faster and faster against me, and his eyes were closing, and I could feel my cum starting to rise, but I didn’t want to come, I wanted him to fuck me and fuck me and never stop, I wanted him inside of me always—

—and I screamed as I came, my entire body convulsing, I couldn’t stop and I couldn’t catch my breath, and my cum was raining down on me, and I could see the stars above me—

—and then he was rigid, moaning and shaking as he came.

He leaned down and kissed me softly on my lips, and I moaned a bit as he pulled out.

He pulled off the condom and tossed it in the trash, and started wiping me down with one of the towels we had outside, and he was wiping himself off, and he fell down onto the bed next to me.

“I love you, Dante,” I whispered, because that was all the noise I had strength enough to make.

“I love you, Jordy.” He kissed my cheek and wrapped his arms around me again.

I turned my back to him, cuddling back up against him.

And fell asleep, safe in his arms, where I wanted to be forever.

Chapter 15

Iawoke under a blue sky, with puffs of white cloud drifting lazily across it.

I wiped sleep out of my eyes and sat up, realizing I was alone.

I looked at the clock on the nightstand table. It was almost eleven. “Shit,” I said, jumping out of the bed. I had to be at the house for my meeting in two hours. I started looking for my clothes, and remembered I’d left them outside. I dashed over to the sliding glass door, opened it, and smiled at Dante. He was sitting at the picnic table, drinking coffee and reading the paper. “Morning, sleepyhead,” he called.

“Why didn’t you wake me?” I picked up my shirt. It was still damp, and so were my shorts. I sat down at the picnic table. “Christ, I’m going to run home and get clothes.”

“Relax and have some coffee.” Dante picked up a carafe and poured another cup. “You’ve got plenty of time. Just go take a shower and drink some coffee.”

“I don’t have anything to wear,” I moaned, taking a sip of coffee. “Hey, this is good.”

“Only the best for my baby.” He smiled. “Now, jump in the shower. You can borrow some of my clothes.”

“Your clothes won’t fit me,” I replied. “And I have to run home, anyway—the stuff I need for the meeting is there.”

He got up and picked up my clothes. “I’ll put these in the dryer while you shower, and you can change when you get home.” He winked. “I put out a toothbrush for you in the bathroom. Now, go. You don’t want to be late.”

I took the coffee with me into the bathroom and turned on the shower. I quickly lathered up and washed my hair. As I let the heavy spray pound my body, I felt like I could conquer the world. This is it, I thought, rinsing the lather out of my hair. What are you going to do, Jordy? Are you going to fight to stay in the house or are you going to drop your bombs on them and walk out with your head held high?

I got out of the shower and dried off. I brushed my teeth. When I walked back into the bedroom, my clothes were lying on the bed. I slipped on my underwear and got dressed. According to the clock, it was now eleven-thirty. I sighed and headed back outside. Dante was back at the picnic table. I sat down and refilled my coffee cup. It really was good coffee. “Okay, I’m going to drink this cup and head home,” I said as Dante folded the newspaper and put it aside.