Page 140 of The Long Game

“And now you are?” Grady asked, his concern obvious.

Jack cupped Grady’s cheek. “I am. You played the long game just right, even if you didn’t mean to.”

“Are you sure? If you need more time—”

Jack cut him off with a kiss. When he drew away, Grady tried again and Jack shut him up with another press of his lips. For a long while, he got lost in the kiss and the way their hips shifted against each other.

He drew back slowly and smiled at Grady’s dazed expression.

“I don’t need more time,” Jack said. “I don’t want to be anywhere other than here. With you.”

“And two teenagers, a twenty-one-year-old just getting his feet under him, and a newborn baby?” Grady asked, a hint of incredulity in his voice.

“Doyouwant to be somewhere else? Or wish it hadn’t shaken out this way?”

“Never.” The answer was immediate and certain.

Jack smiled. “It’s the same for me.”

“If Garrick and Sam are to be believed, you’re afraid of Fiona. What are you going to do when you live with a baby?”

Jack shrugged. “Learn. Get better. Grow some fucking balls and do what needs to be done.”

Grady laughed and Jack couldn’t resist him, rolling so he pressed Grady to the mattress.

“That easy, is it?” Grady said between kisses.

“I don’t think it will be easy,” Jack admitted. “But itwillbe worth it.”

Grady kissed him again, which Jack took as agreement.

In fact, for the next twenty minutes, Grady agreed quite thoroughly.

Jack ended up sprawled on his back on the rumpled sheets, his body cooling in the air conditioning while Grady wiped them both down. The house was quiet, the room cozy with the blinds drawn and only the black light on. Grady stood beside the bed, the washcloth still in his hands as he trailed his eyes down Jack’s body and the ink glowing under his skin.

He looked like he couldn’t believe it was real. Or maybe that was Jack projecting.

But it was real, and it was perfect.

Jack wondered what he could add to his ink to signify all he was feeling, then he pressed his hand over his heart and Grady’s name.

Then Jack realized, for the first time in his life, he had everything he needed.

THE END