“Me too. I like that. I change my answer to that.”
I dropped my mouth to his, and he immediately let my tongue inside. I would never get used to the way he melted against me, to the want that thrummed through him and seemed to say my name.
We kissed our way to the couch before I lay down and pulled him on top of me. We made out for a while, and then Milo took off our clothes, got on his knees, sucked me until I was close to coming, then finished me off with his hand, my load painting his chest.
He cleaned us up. Sometimes he did that; sometimes he didn’t. When he was done, I tugged him down to lie with me again. “I talked to Dad,” I said, and relayed the whole conversation to him.
He pressed his lips to mine. “I’m so proud of you…and you’re worthy and wanted and awesome at sex.”
I chuckled. “Well, thank God for that.”
“Mom wants to talk to Gene,” he added. “I’m going to take her there tomorrow. I don’t think she hates you anymore.”
“I don’t think so either.”
We lay there quietly for a few minutes, my fingers dancing up and down his spine, Milo’s cheek on my chest. “Gid?”
“Yeah?”
“Know how I talk about us being bestie goals? Like all other best friends should want to be like us?”
“I do, and you have a point.”
I didn’t have to see his smile—I could feel it. “Now we’re boyfriend goals. We’re basically the best boyfriends ever.”
“Oh, for sure.”
“Everyone should want to be like us.”
“I agree.” Our bodies vibrated together in laughter. There was nothing like being with him, having fun with him.
“I love you, Gid.”
“I love you too.”
“I said it first this time. I win.”
“You’re ridiculous.”
“Hey, do you think you can get it up again? I kinda want to have sex.”
I let loose another chuckle. “What am I going to do with you?”
“Love me, laugh with me, have sex with me.”
“Totally boyfriend goals.”
That sounded perfect to me.
EPILOGUE
Milo
Three years later
“Excuse me? Mr. Sign Guy? It’s not straight,” I said to the man who was currently on a ladder in front of our building. “We should have done it ourselves. I told you, Gid; we should have done it ourselves.”
“He’s not done,” Gideon replied just as one of the sign guys said, “We’re not done yet.”
We’d just finished another remodel, this time knocking down part of the wall between Conflicting Ink and Little Beach Books. We put in glass doors. We wouldn’t always want them open, and maybe to some people it was strange, this combination of bookstore and tattoo parlor, but we liked the idea and we were us, so who cared what anyone else thought.
“Oh my God. What are they doing? They’re not doing it right.”
“Lo…it’s fine. Relax.”
“How many times do I have to tell you that saying relax doesn’t work?”
“I love you? Wanna have sex?”
“Cheater!” I teased. “It really is a cute sign.” In large letters it read: INK & INK. On the left side, in small print, it said Conflicting Ink, with an image of a hand holding a tattoo machine; on the right were books and my store’s name.
It was basically perfect.
Kind of like us.
It had been an interesting three years. Gideon had taken a part-time job for a while, determined to pull in more money. He’d wanted to pay me more, but that was just silly. We were in love, and I owned the building. I didn’t want his rent for the apartment or the tattoo parlor. So he’d put it away and had paid for this remodel, and we would now split the taxes every year. It worked.
“Let’s get out of here,” Gideon said.
“Absolutely not.”
“Lo…”
“Ugh. Fine. I hate you sometimes.”
“We have to go to Mom and Dad’s for lunch anyway.”
He was right, we did, and I loved going over there, so I didn’t pout too much.
Rachel had graduated from college, so she didn’t work with me anymore, but we still hung out all the time. Besides Gideon, she was still my best friend. She had a new boyfriend, and I’d been a little worried how that would go. I wasn’t for everyone, and what if Rach fell in love with someone who didn’t like me? She’d said she would kick him to the curb if that was the case, but I would never expect that.
Luckily, Dontrell was really great. He treated Rachel the way she deserved, loved Cammy, and got along with me and Gid. Cammy was still one of my favorite people too. Sometimes, she’d just hang out with me and Gideon for the day.
A woman named Serena worked with me now, and I liked her a lot too. She was older than us, in her forties, loved reading, and wasn’t just looking for something to fill her time while she finished school, so she was perfect.