“You didn’t have to sacrifice your child-free time to help me pack.” Rhett said to Penny as she carefully stacked books into a box.

“Rhett, I have three hours and no kid. Doing anything while not smelling of spit-up is a miracle, even if it’s helping you move into your boyfriend’s house.” Penny gave him a look from the corner of her eye. “Speaking of which, you and Cole Mallory? Since fucking when?”

“A few months ago. We kept it quiet.” Rhett hated lying to Penny, but it was for the greater good.

“You didn’t have to keep it a secret from me, Rhett.”

He turned this comment over in his mind as he taped another box closed and wrote books on the outside in black marker. “It was important to us.” It frightened Rhett sometimes how willing he’d been to lie to people for Cole, how expert he’d become in the art of half-truths. Other things, like his feelings for Cole, frightened him more than a few basically harmless lies.

“Aww, Rhett, I only want you to be happy. It’s your relationship; you’re allowed to keep it as private as you want. But I’m here if you need anything.” Penny’s smile sparkled. “Speaking of needing things, are you still up for watching Tyson so David can take me out for our anniversary?”

“Of course I am.” Rhett’s phone chimed with a text. He expected it to be Macy, finalizing his hours for the coming weekend. She was booked solid and, for the first time, Rhett actually minded being busy the entire weekend. He tried not to think about all the hours he wouldn’t be with his boyfriend when he finally dug his phone out of his pocket.

Instead of Macy, the clinic texted him with his test results. Negative, as he’d expected. Rhett went from annoyed to horny and annoyed in two seconds flat and without thinking, he sent a text to Cole. He’d been lonely and bored all alone in Cole’s bed that morning and had entertained himself with a variety of selfies he’d intended to save and send later.

“You’re abandoning me, aren’t you?” Penny asked, taping a box shut.

Rhett’s face heated. “Maybe. Yeah, okay. I am. Not much more will fit in my car anyway.” Rhett looked around at his apartment. He’d been coming here during the day while Cole worked and had packed most of his stuff. With Penny’s help, he’d finished the rest of it. “I hate to run out on you, though.”

Penny lifted a box, Rhett carried two, and she followed him out to his car. “Rhett, all I’ve ever wanted is for you to be happy, and you look happy. So if you’re waiting for a protest or an inquisition, you’ll be disappointed.” Penny glanced at her watch. “I have another half an hour of freedom; I think I’ll run and get a coffee.”

Penny hugged him briefly, kissing his cheek before climbing into her car, waving a hand out her window as she drove away. Rhett filled his car with boxes and drove home, surprised, but only slightly, to see Cole’s car already in the driveway.

Rhett carried a box into the house and set it down in the foyer. “How many laws did you break to beat me here?”

Cole appeared with a dazzling smile Rhett liked to pretend was reserved exclusively for him. He wrapped Rhett up in his arms and kissed him, long and deep. He moaned as Cole released him. “You’re going to make me burn dinner. Unpack your car and take a shower. You’ve got time.”

“What are you making? Whatever it is, it already smells delicious.”

“It’s a surprise. Now go unpack your car before I pin you to the wall and take you right now.”

Rhett stole a kiss.

“I wouldn’t be opposed to that,” he offered, turning for the door.

“You deserve better than a frantic fuck in a foyer, Rhett.”

Rhett’s heart constricted and he grinned, hopefully hiding how much the sentiment meant to him. “I bet you say that to all the boys.”

“Only you, Rhett.” Cole blew him a kiss, then disappeared back into the kitchen.

Rhett hated that Cole could make him blush so easily, but he’d started to become accustomed to the way his face would heat up and the way his insides would flutter. He secretly hated none of it. There wasn’t a single thing about Cole that Rhett didn’t find perfect or fascinating. He sometimes couldn’t believe that he’d spent his whole life next to someone like Cole Mallory and hadn’t ever thought of wanting more from him.

Rhett mused on this while he unpacked his car, stacking the boxes out of the way in a spare room with the others. He showered, taking his time to enjoy it. Cole’s house never ran out of hot water it seemed, and Rhett could spend forever under the spray, but being naked and thinking of his boyfriend was often something that led to Rhett having an orgasm, so he finished his shower off without touching himself and dressed in a pair of fitted jeans and a shirt that he’d purchased for a date he’d never gone on. It was blue like the ocean in Tahiti and Rhett loved the feel of the fabric against his skin.

Rhett found Cole in the dining room. He’d set their places opposite to each other at the eight seater table. “You cooked a feast.” Rhett grinned when Cole pulled his chair out for him.

“Did you know that this is the first time I’ve used this room?”

“Really?” Rhett asked, even though Cole’s question was likely rhetorical.

Cole poured him a glass of red and nodded. “Never had a reason to use it before.”

The table setting was simple, nothing extravagant, but it was the normalcy that sent a thrill through Rhett. How perfectly normal it felt to sit down in the dining room with Cole. To watch him pour a glass of wine for him and ask about his day while Rhett looked at the fare on his plate. Grilled steak and Caesar salad. Rhett knew what dessert was and though he wanted to eat slowly, savor every bite, and wring every bit of conversation out of Cole that he could, he also wouldn’t complain too loudly if Cole decided to fuck him on the vacant side of the table.

“Are you all moved in?” Cole inquired, taking a sip of his wine, staring at Rhett over top his glass.

“Almost.” Rhett frowned. “There’s a couple more loads of boxes, and the furniture, but we don’t really need the furniture.”

“There’s probably room for it in the garage if you wanted to keep it. Or we could get rid of some of mine, incorporate yours a bit. Whatever you want, Rhett.”

Rhett shrugged a shoulder. “My stuff wouldn’t look all that great in here. Besides, I’m not attached. It’s just furniture. But it does seem a shame to let it rot in the garage. Do you know any young people just starting out who might need stuff?”

“I can ask around at work. Until then, we can store it in the garage. I can move it over when you’re working this weekend. I’ll make your brother help me.”

Rhett sighed. “For the first time in my life, I hate working on the weekends.” Before Cole, Rhett hadn’t minded working all weekend. He hadn’t minded having built-in excuses to not go away for weekends with his boyfriends. He didn’t mind that his schedule often meant that he’d spend less time with his partners. He told himself that it made the time they did spend together even more precious.

But none of that was true with Cole. It made him sound pathetic and clingy, he thought, but he hated the idea that Cole had to work all week, and he had to work all weekend, leaving them with only bits of time together. Moments snatched from their busy lives wasn’t enough to satisfy Rhett, who wanted to bask in the glow of this relationship.

“How is this going to work?” Rhett asked, slicing off another bite of his steak. “You work all week. Events almost always happen on the weekends. We’ll never see each other.”

Cole mulled the comment over for a minute. “Well,” he started, and Rhett could almost see the gears turning in his head. “You could be the official Mallory Vineyard event coordinator. If people want to get married at Mallory, they’d have to use you. And you’d, of course, have staff, and there wouldn’t be a wedding every weekend. It’s an option, but think of it this way. You always have a venue, your father owns the linen rental company, so naturally you’d use him. Mallory hosts a couple of large events every year and we always hire an event coordinator for those anyway. If we had someone on staff, it would make that a lot less of a hassle for me. I could work with you. I think I’d like having you around all the time.” Cole took another sip of his wine. “But if you’d rather start your own company, we’ll make it work. This might be a good start, but whatever you want, Rhett.”

“You just want me around so we can have all the office sex you want.”

“So that’s a yes?” Cole chuckled.

Rhett didn’t even have to think about it. “Yeah, that’s a yes.”

“Excellent. And to launch the career of the official Mallory Vineyard event coordinator, you can plan our wedding.”

Rhett had always wanted to be married at Mallory in the spring, but now he’d take any date at all. The date didn’t matter half as much as the person he’d be marrying. “I can’t wait.” Rhett squeaked a little, then stared at his mostly empty plate. He lifted his gaze. “I think I’ve eaten enough.”

Cole stood at the same time Rhett did. He grabbed the bottle of wine and Rhett’s hand, and they walked upstairs together. Rhett practically trembled thinking of how it would feel when Cole slid inside of him bare for the first time. He’d finally know how it would feel to be marked by Cole Mallory. He felt oddly happy, as if Cole would be claiming him forever.

Cole tugged Rhett into his room, their room now, and set the wine on the dresser. His hand came up to Rhett’s face, as it often did, and Rhett let himself lean into the touch. He thought Cole might say something, and though part of him was dying to know what Cole was thinking in that moment, he didn’t ask.

Instead, he leaned in and kissed Cole, wrapping his arms around his neck, moaning into his mouth, pressing their erections together, using his body to beg for his touch on his skin, to beg for the feeling that overtook Rhett whenever Cole was near him like this. The way Cole fucked Rhett left him feeling happy and sated, well used, and treasured all at once. Cole always held him after, stroked his heated skin, kissed wherever he could reach—his forehead, his lips, his shoulders.

Cole looked at him as if he were important. He kissed him as if he were a treasure, and he fucked him as if they’d die if he stopped.

Rhett thought they just might.

He kissed Cole, parting his lips, allowing Cole’s tongue inside his mouth and he wondered when he had let Cole inside his heart.