I slide into the bed, careful not to wake Dom. But as soon as I lay my head on the pillow, a big arm wraps around my waist and pulls me across the bed. My back rests against his warm body, and he holds me tight. His breath is on my hair, and I never knew it could be like this.
“Not alone,” he rumbles at me.
“I know,” I tell him. “You’re here.” For how long, I don’t know. But I’ll take it while it lasts. I raise his hand and kiss his palm. Just once. I set it back down against me.
“No,” he says. “You’re not going alone. To Idaho. I’m going with you, and that’s final.”
“How did you…?”
“Light sleeper. Thin walls.” He presses his face into my hair and breathes deep. He scrapes his lips against my neck. Just once. I shiver. “If you’re doing this for me, then I’m doing it for you. It’s time you realize that.”
“Dom. I….” I don’t know what I’m trying to say. So many things still need to be said, and I can’t decide which is the most important.
“Later,” he says. “We’ll figure the rest out later. Now get some sleep. We’ve got a long drive ahead of us.”
Friends until we’re old and gray. Beginning to end, day after day. It’s this thought I have as sleep chases me.
And for the very first time, I fall asleep in his arms. It feels like coming home.
23. Where Tyson Hears the Inevitable
WE GET a late start because Dom thought I needed to sleep more. He’s probably right, especially with what we’re driving toward. The plan is to drive straight through without stopping, taking turns driving while the other sleeps. It’s fifteen hundred miles and twenty-two hours, and I don’t want it to take any more time than it has to.
Dom’s told me not to worry about his job. He’s gotten a few more days extended to him. Apparently, people owe him some favors and will cover his shifts. I still worry, of course. He’s doing this because of me. I don’t want it to be for nothing.
“It’ll be fine,” he tells me as he puts our bags in the back of the SUV.
“So you say,” I grumble at him. “What about Ben?”
“They’re not due back for a couple more days,” he says. “I talked to Stacey while you were in the shower. She’s says Ben’s having fun, and he told me about how Goofy gave him a hug and how he went on a train. We should get back a day or so after them. It won’t mess with Ben’s schedule.”
There’re a least a billion more questions I need to ask, and I open my mouth to do just that (Did you tell her anything else? and Was last night just a dream? and When did you decide you wanted me? and Can you kiss me again? Just once more), but Kori and Sandy come out the front door and I swallow my questions back down. Hopefully, there will be time. Later.
Kori pulls me away from Dom and around the side of Sandy’s house. “Spill,” she says.
“I have no idea what you mean,” I say, looking everywhere but at her.
“You little liar. Did he suck your cock?”
My eyes bulge. “What? Of course not! He just kissed me!” Oh shit. I meant to keep that to myself for now.
“Aha!” she cries. “I knew something had happened! You were all brain-dead last night and now you and Dominic keep giving each other fuck-stares.”
“What’s a fuck-stare?”
“It’s that thing you do when you look at someone and wonder what they look like without their clothes on,” she explains.
“You kids today and your slang,” I say, shaking my head. “How crass.”
She rolls her eyes. “Uh-huh. Because that so matters.”
“He was fuck-staring me?” I ask, feeling strangely giddy at the thought.
“Total fuck-stare. I thought for sure you had at least rubbed one out with him. Just a kiss? How depressing.”
“It was a little bit more than depressing,” I reassure her.
She grins triumphantly. “I so called this.”