Page 93 of Ethan

“I always feel good about each and every freaking day,” Ethan said, and he wasn’t exaggerating. He woke up every single morning hoping thattodaymight be the day that Hank made it back to New York. So far it hadn’t been, but Ethan hadn’t stopped hoping.

“Yeah, I kinda feel like you guys need a stouter set of d-men,” Hank said.

He didn’t need to persuade Ethan that he had a point; if he counted the games where a better defense would’ve won them the game, he would easily be on two hands at this point.

They were better in December than they’d been in November. They were right in the playoff hunt, now, but they wouldn’t stay in it, wouldn’t make it in the end, if theydidn’tget better in that area, and in about half a dozen others.

“We fucking do. Weneedyou.” Ethan didn’t add,I need you, but he thought Hank probably knew it, anyway.

“I know you wanted it to be December; I wanted it to be December, too,” Hank said, sighing.

“If you had, what would it be like?” Ethan finished the last pot and set it on the drying rack, picking up the phone and heading back to his bedroom.

Shut the door behind him and flopped down on the bed.

“What would what be like?”

“Like, tonight,” Ethan said. He thought about this kind of shit all the time; he’d wondered if Hank did too, but he’d never said. “Charlie and Max are in the other room, practically canoodling. What wouldwebe doing?”

Hank raised an eyebrow. “I thought we weren’t—”

“I don’t mean sex,” Ethan said. His pulse leaped at even the word. There was so much he wanted with Hank; so much they hadn’t done yet.Eitherof them. So many firsts, and he needed them to experience them together.

“No?” There was a matching flush creeping up Hank’s cheekbones now.

It was adorable how obvious his arousal was; Ethan wanted to strip his T-shirt off and see how low his reddened skin went.

He didn’t have a lot of regrets about how that night in September had gone, except that he’d never gotten any of Hank’s clothes off. He’d never gotten to see him in all his glory, and Ethan had gotten enough brief glimpses—even though he’dalwaystried not to look in the locker room—to know itwouldbe glorious.

“No, like what would we be doing?”

Hank leaned back against his pillow cushion. “Well, I’d have helped you do the dishes.”

“Yeah?” That shouldn’t be sexy, but it was. Sexyandadorable. “I like that. Hip to hip at the sink. You washing and me drying.”

It had been nice to talk to Hank while he’d been doing his chores, but it would’ve been even better to do themwithHank.

“Who says it would bemewashing andyoudrying,” Hank teased.

Ethan couldn’t help his smirk. “Well, I kinda thought we’d try it both ways, see what we liked the best.”

Hank flushed even redder. “I’d be down for that.” He dropped his voice. “I’d be down for anything, if it was with you.”

“Same.” Ethan made a sharp bark of incredulous laughter. “How did we end up talking about sex again?”

“Were we?” Hank tried to pretend innocence but there was a knowing edge to his grin. “What would we do after the dishes? Not sit there and watch your brother and Max cuddle, that’s for sure.”

“The holidays are coming up. Maybe we’d do our own kind of cuddling. Share my laptop. Do some online shopping for gifts.”

“I’m terrible at gifts,” Hank admitted.

“Me too,” Ethan said. “But maybe if we combined our miniscule powers, we’d be better together.”

Hank’s smile was soft. Approving. “I kinda think that’s gonna be true of a lot of things.”

Ethan thought so too. He’d thought it for a long time, but the closer he and Hank grew, the more sure of it he became.

“Maybe I’d even convince you to order something sweet for dessert,” Ethan said. “And we could share it, tucked up in my bed.After.”