TBH: To Be Honest

An HEA: Happily Ever After Bonus Short

Rafa

I stared up at the ceiling of the large bedroom as my heart rate slowly returned to normal. A sleek steel ceiling fan spun in lazy circles, setting the linen curtains in motion and cooling my sweat-damp skin. “We have got to stop doing this.”

Sami turned to face me, his olive skin glowing honey-bronze in the afternoon sunlight. Dark, damp tendrils of hair stuck to his temple. “You make it sound like we accidentally fell into bed after having one too many vodka sodas at a club.” His teeth flashed white. “You invited me to Vermont for your best friend’s wedding, habibi.”

I let out a dissatisfied grunt. “This was supposed to be a one-night stand.”

His laughter rumbled lazily in his chest, vibrating my arm. “You’ve said that every night we’ve spent together. Which is a lot of nights,” he added unnecessarily. “Since we’ve been sleeping together since August. Last August.”

“I don’t do repeats,” I reminded him a bit desperately. Maybe if I said it enough times, it would be true.

“Mm. You say that every time too.”

I propped myself up on a forearm so I could meet his eyes. “You said the same thing back when we started. You said you didn’t want anything serious.”

Sami made a humming sound and reached up to run fingers through my hair. “No. I said I’d just been through a breakup a few months before. That I wasn’t ready for another relationship yet. And I wasn’t.”

I fell back onto the bed and stared at the ceiling again. “Then why were you so clingy? Why did you ask me to stay over that night?”

Even though I’d spent the better part of a year trying to figure out why I couldn’t seem to shake this man, I still hadn’t come up with any conclusions that made sense.

He shifted closer and laid his head on my chest, using his fingertips to drive me absolutely insane by drawing too-light patterns over my pecs and down onto my abdomen.

“I told you why. A few hours before we connected on Grindr, I’d run into my ex, right in the lobby of the hotel I was staying at. He didn’t so much as glance in my direction, which stung my pride and made me feel like shit. I wanted to be held, to be touched. To fuck. You were geographically closer than anyone else, so I invited you up to my room.”

The night after Wells and Connor’s wedding had been hot as hell. I’d left Hugh downstairs with his camera equipment and stepped onto the elevator. Moments later, Sami had yanked me into his hotel room and proceeded to blow my mind. We’d sucked and fucked on and off for hours before finally passing out wrapped around each other’s naked, sticky bodies.

It had been enough to make me seriously second-guess my casual attitude toward dating, which was the reason I’d caved when he’d pinged me again on the hookup app the following weekend.

“Yes, and you didn’t happen to mention your ex was Oscar Fucking Overton.”

Sami laughed again. “Why would I have mentioned that to a random Grindr hookup?”

I blew out a breath. “It’s just weird.”

“It is now. Sure.” He nestled further into my chest with a yawn.
Considering we’d just had epic sex in Oscar’s guest bedroom, I could definitively say it was more than weird.

“Is it… awkward for you… you know, knowing he got married? That we’re here for his wedding reception?”

“Of course not. I was over Oscar well before you and I ever met.” His laughter ran through me like a clean, cool breeze. “Now, running into him naked in your kitchen last month when I went for a glass of water in the middle of the night… that was awkward.”

I still felt the secondhand embarrassment keenly. “I didn’t know they were there. They almost never stay at the apartment.” I tried to stop there, but remembering the way I’d run into the kitchen at Sami’s shocked yelp only to find his gorgeous golden, thickly muscled body on display—and his junk just barely covered by the strategically placed Too Hot To Handle potholder he’d grabbed off the counter—while Oscar stammered excuses and tried (unsuccessfully) to avert his eyes, I couldn’t help adding in a growl, “You should have put on pants.”

His fingers continued to tickle my chest and stomach. “You’re jealous.” He slung a leg over mine. “I kind of like that.”

“Me? Jealous?” I snorted. “Hardly.”

“Mm. Are you saying you don’t care? That I could have dropped to my knees and sucked him off that night and you would have⁠—”

I slapped my hand over his mouth and now felt the warm heat of his laughter against my palm.

“Would you have?” I asked, unsure why I was pushing him. After pulling my hand away from his lips, I cupped his cheek instead.

His index finger dragged across my skin to the center of my chest and drew a heart shape directly over my breastbone. “You already know the answer to that question, Rafa,” he said quietly. Seriously. “And I think it’s time you stop dancing around the point and tell me what you want to tell me.”

My stomach twisted in excited knots. He was right—I’d brought him here for a reason. “I want… I want…” I cleared my throat. “More.”

He rolled onto his back and cast his eyes to the heavens. The knowing grin wasn’t just clear on his full lips but also in his teasing expression.

“Fucking finally.”

I gritted my teeth. “No need to act so smug. This isn’t easy for me, you know.”

“Mm. I know, angel. You like to pretend you’re a playboy.” He gripped my chin between his thumb and forefinger. “But in reality, you’ve been secretly monogamous for months, haven’t you?”

I sucked in a breath and shoved him away with my hand against his upper chest. “Oh my god. Did Hugh tell you? That asshole! I cannot believe he betrayed me⁠—”

His laugh lines deepened, and the warm brown of his eyes drew me in the way they always did. “No. Your sister Elena told me back in April. She said you’d deleted your apps, had started watching YouTube videos on the history and culture of Egypt, and were trying to learn Arabic so you could talk to my mom. She said she thought something had changed around Christmas.” He lifted his eyebrow at me. “Did something change around Christmas, Rafa?”

I ducked my head and pressed my face into his armpit, mostly so I could hide my hot face but also because I happened to love the way he smelled. I sucked in a deep breath. “Perhaps.”

His laughter made me smile. One of the things I loved about him was how easy he was. Nothing seemed to stress him out, which made him rock steady, like an anchor I desperately needed when I always felt so scattered and untethered.

Sami kissed the top of my head. “Are you going to admit what it was?”

“Probably not,” I mumbled into the musky-scented hair before reaching my tongue out to taste his salty skin.

His fingers raked into my hair again. I loved that he always seemed to need his hands on me. The man was touchy-feely in the very best way. “I went away… and you realized you missed me.”

I closed my eyes and fought the embarrassment. It was no use though. My face ignited anyway. “Can we not talk about this?”

He pushed me over onto my back and leaned over me, pinning my thighs with a muscular leg and pressing my shoulder into the mattress.

“You finally realized I’d become a regular fixture in your life, and you actually liked it.”

I reached up to trace the little grouping of tiny moles on his jawline. “I missed your fat cock, that’s all. You’re an easy lay. So much less effort than scrolling the apps. Besides, I’m aging out of the scene. I needed a sure thing.”

“You will never age out of the scene, Rafael. You’re the most beautiful, compelling man I know.”

His words warmed me straight through. It wasn’t the first time he’d said them, and each time he did, I felt the truth of them deep down, like he couldn’t possibly mean them more.

“I did miss you,” I admitted softly. “So fucking much. More than I would have believed.”

“So you did what any mature adult would do…” He lifted an imperious eyebrow.

I narrowed my eyes at him. “We’ve all made mistakes while under the influence of alcohol.”

He leaned in and took a long, sensual kiss, teasing me mercilessly before pulling back. “You drunk texted me on New Year’s.”

I sighed. “You already know this.”

“Yeah,” he agreed happily. “But I like remembering it.”

“I realized I didn’t want to be kissed by cute boys at a bar. I wanted to be in bed celebrating the new year with a sexy man. And not the sexy man who was geographically closest to me,” I said before he could ask. “A very specific sexy man. You.”

“Mm, I like the sound of that.”

“It was a bit… eye-opening to realize how much I’d become used to you. How much you’d snuck into my… routine.”

“Sure, baby.” Those clear brown eyes always seemed to see right through me. “Your routine.”

“Fine. Fine,” I said with a groan. “If you must know, I… I’d developed feelings. Feelings like my damned best friend, who’d finally admitted to falling in love with your commitment-phobic ex. And maybe at New Year’s, I realized Hugh wasn’t the only one. Okay? Are you happy? There, I said it.”

He smiled again. The man was always smiling and making my heart melt every damn time. It was incredibly inconvenient. “No, baby. You didn’t actually say it. It’s been over six months, in fact, and you still haven’t said it.”

I looked everywhere but at him. SamiTsunami_212 was only ever supposed to be a nameless, faceless one-night stand. He was never supposed to lure me off my merry path to shallow non-connections and into something real.

“Rafael Clavel,” he purred. “I’ve waited long enough for you.”

My eyes jumped back to his. He was so sexy, so fucking patient. How had I gotten this lucky?

“I love you,” I whispered.

His face was as bright as the sun. “Was that so hard?”

I stared at him in offended shock. “That’s your response? As a matter of fact, yes! Yes, it was.”

He leaned in slowly until the soft pad of his lips brushed my ear. “Rafael, my sweetest angel. I love you with my whole heart. Will you be mine? Forever?”

I turned my face to meet his lips. “Fuck yes. Yes…”

We kissed until I had no more breath to share, and then we kissed some more. By the time we made it to Hugh’s wedding reception, the party was in full swing, and I realized that I was late for one of my biggest event-planning jobs of the summer.

But I knew my best friend and his new husband wouldn’t mind.

They were suckers for a good love story.

We hope you enjoyed the HEA: Happily Ever After Bonus short, TBH: To Be Honest!

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