“Mmm, that smells good. What’s for dinner?” Usually Sloane did the cooking and Dex washed up. Dex was a great cook, but he loved to eat the food more than he liked to make it. He was also very particular about how things should be cleaned and stored, so Sloane didn’t even attempt to do the washing up afterward. Unless it was a lone mug or cereal bowl, he left the cleaning up to Dex. Also, with Sloane doing the cooking, it meant there was always some kind of vegetable on their plate rather than double the carbs.
“Lemon and herb chicken, baked garlic parmesan potato wedges, and parmesan baby broccoli.”
Sloane gasped. “You cooked little trees?” Several months ago, Dex decided vegetables were too annoying to be called by their names and therefore renamed every vegetable to cross his plate. As if renaming them would somehow get him out of eating them. Broccoli was now referred to as “little trees.” Carrots were “veggie vampire killers,” sprouts “shrunken cabbages,” and asparagus “pee stinkers.” The list went on.
Dex rolled his eyes. “Yes, oh love of my loins.” He narrowed his eyes at Sloane, his lips curling into an evil grin. “I baked alive your precious baby trees. Muahaha.”
“And I bet they’ll taste delicious.”
“Did you get dessert?”
“Of course.” Sloane held up a carton of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream in each hand. “Cherry Garcia and Phish Food, as requested.”
“You’re the best,” Dex said, then blew Sloane a kiss before he started washing up the dishes he’d used to prep dinner. Dirty dishes in the sink gave Dex hives. Once all the groceries had been put away, Sloane turned to Dex, momentarily captivated by his beautiful partner. Today’s socks were ninjas leaping and summersaulting—a Christmas gift from Cael. The charcoal gray distressed T-shirt Dex had on with a Nintendo controller on it and the words “Classically Trained” was fitting a little snugger these days, thanks to the muscle he’d put on, and although the black pajama bottoms he wore were loose, they couldn’t hide that delicious ass. The man really was a feast for the eyes.
Unable to help himself, Sloane slipped his arms around Dex, his chest pressed against Dex’s back and his fingers splayed on Dex’s chest, keeping him close. A sweet love song floated up from the Bluetooth speakers in the living room, and Sloane hummed softly, stopping only long enough to kiss Dex’s cheek. He began to sway, head pressed to Dex’s.
“Less than two weeks,” Sloane murmured. “In less than two weeks, we’ll be having our first dance as husband and husband.”
Dex dried his hands on a dish towel before placing them over Sloane’s. He laced their fingers together and joined Sloane, swaying in time to the music. Sloane’s heart skipped a beat at the thought of their upcoming wedding. Part of him was nervous as hell, but the other side of him couldn’t wait to stand with Dex, hand in hand before the whole world, as they exchanged vows. Dex had been prepared to write his own, but Sloane asked if they could keep the traditional wedding vows. There had been no hesitation on Dex’s part when he agreed.
Details like color scheme, type of cake, and venue were all things Sloane left to Dex, and he preferred it that way. It was too much for him. He never thought he’d be lucky enough to find someone who’d love him the way Dex did, much less get married, so he’d never given any thought to what kind of wedding he’d have. Dex, on the other hand, had very specific ideas. For Sloane, making sure Dex was happy was more important than Sloane randomly choosing a certain flavor of cake, which was what would have ended up happening had the choice been his.
When Sloane asked to keep a few traditions, Dex beamed at him. The fact Sloane was asking was enough for Dex to know it was important to him. After the vows, they discussed what other traditions Sloane wanted to keep. The big ones for him were keeping the ceremony traditional as far as vows, music, wedding party, and attire. Together they’d approved the venue, and Tony had insisted on taking care of the rehearsal dinner, since Dex was paying for the wedding. Tony hadn’t been happy about it at first, and he’d been prepared to argue with Dex, thinking Dex was just trying to save him from a huge bill, but the truth was, Dex intended on following tradition and having his parents pay for his wedding.
After John and Gina Daley were killed, their life insurance policies had paid out a huge amount of money. When Dex had added Sloane’s name to the house—a house Dex bought with some of his parents’ insurance money, along with his car—he’d disclosed how much money he still had left. It had shocked the shit out of Sloane. Now, not only had Dex found the perfect use for a portion of that money, but he’d also found a way to include his parents in his wedding day. The three of them had sat in Tony’s living room, not one dry eye among them. Tony had smiled through his tears and agreed it was a wonderful idea.
Sloane closed his eyes, loving the feel of Dex’s warm body pressed to his, how perfectly he fit against Sloane, and the delicious scent that was all Dex. God, how he loved this man. He couldn’t imagine his life without Dex. Without his gorgeous smile, infectious laugh, and his big heart full of so much love. Despite the emotional roller coaster of the last few years, after everything Dex had suffered, he hadn’t lost any of what made him Dex. He still l
aughed at his own silly jokes, wore crazy socks, rocked out to eighties music, and enjoyed driving Ash crazy.
Dex turned his head so Sloane could kiss him. “I can’t believe it’ll be four years since we met. Do you remember?”
“Remember?” Sloane chuckled. “How could I forget? You left me speechless.”
“Yeah, it wasn’t one of my better moments,” Dex said with a laugh, most likely recalling the instant their lives changed forever.
“I’ll admit, when you smacked your head against mine, my first thought was that you were an idiot.”
“I kinda felt like one at the time,” Dex muttered.
“That wasn’t what left me speechless, though.”
“Oh?”
Sloane released Dex and gently turned him so they were face-to-face. Dex’s beautiful smile stole Sloane’s breath away. What could he possibly have done to be so lucky? “It was your eyes.” Sloane stroked Dex’s eyebrow with his thumb and cupped Dex’s cheek. “Four years. It seems like only yesterday, but at the same time, it’s like I’ve always known you.” He brushed his lips over Dex’s, coaxing his beautiful mate to let him in. Dex parted his lips, and Sloane slipped his tongue inside, tasting, savoring the taste of him. Dex stroked Sloane’s right arm where his—as of five months ago—tattoo was. He smiled against Sloane’s lips before pulling back to look down at it.
“I can’t believe you had this done for me.”
Sloane smiled, his fingers brushing along Dex’s own half-sleeve tattoo on his left arm. Calvin designed Dex’s first, which meant when Sloane approached him, asking him to design a matching one, Calvin was able to design it so when they stood with their arms together, the images fit. Sloane’s ship faced Dex’s lighthouse, both sharing the same starry night and swirling sea.
“When you said you were getting one and I saw the design, I knew right away I wanted one too. So you’d always be with me.”
The oven timer beeped, and Dex kissed Sloane before cheerfully announcing dinner was ready. “Grab a plate, sexy pants.” He removed the trays from the oven, and Sloane went to the fridge.
“What are you drinking?”
“Water’s fine.”