I snorted. “Believe me, I can’t act or sing.”
He smiled at me as he drove. “They liked you just the way you are.”
“They’re remarkable people.”
“They are. They do a fair bit of charity work and fundraising. The Acacia Foundation is my mother’s brainchild.”
I sighed and leaned back in my seat. My head was still swimming. This day had been a dozen emotions on repeat. Andrew went to a drive-thru and got us burgers and fries, and seeing Emilio’s shop was shut and the lights were turned off, we went straight up to my flat. We fell on the couch and devoured our burgers. I moaned after the first bite. “Oh my God, this is soul food.”
He laughed. “Saturated fats have healing properties,” he said, shoving some fries in his mouth.
When I was done, as I cleaned up my flat, my safe haven, and had a belly full of food, my thoughts went back to Yanni. Andrew brought his empty drink into the kitchen. “Why the frown?” he asked softly.
“Just thinking.”
“About Yanni?”
I nodded.
Andrew put his arms around me and held me tight. How he knew what I needed the moment I needed it, I’ll never know, but I buried my face in his neck. “I’ve never seen someone so scared,” I mumbled. “He was petrified.”
Andrew pulled back and traced his thumb down the side of my face. “You saw yourself in him, didn’t you?”
I stared at him. I felt stripped raw, skinless, and without any defences. But I nodded. “Yes.”
He kissed me then, hard and soft at the same time, with a fierce but gentle fervour. He tasted of salt from the fries he’d eaten, but there was emotion on his tongue, in his hands, in the way he kissed me. And when he pulled back for a breath, his eyes were dark, and there was no mistake—no mistake at all—what he wanted.
I wanted it too. I wanted him to take me to bed, to be inside me. I wanted to feel the power and emotion of his entire body. I wanted to feel connected to him in every possible way.
Then I remembered…
Oh, fuck. I laughed and put my forehead to his cheek. “Oh, you’re not going to believe this.”
He looked at me, confused. “What?”
“I was going to buy condoms today on my way home. But then the whole Yanni thing happened and I forgot.” I sighed, like the universe had conspired against me. “I don’t have any here.”
Andrew surprised me by laughing. “You know what?”
“The world hates me?”
He kissed me with smiling lips. “Well, there’s that. But let’s just go to bed anyway. Not for sex, let’s just go to bed. Today’s been… well, today’s been… tiring.”
I sighed. “It sure has.”
As I flipped the lights off, I saw the vinyl record he’d brought with him when he turned up earlier. I’d forgotten about it. I slowly picked it up and looked at him. It was literally a dozen of my favourite songs played on piano. The most perfect gift from the most perfect guy, who had only a short while ago admitted to his mother that he was in love with me. A confession I still had to process. “Andrew.” I swallowed hard. “I…” Unable to think, unable to speak, I just shook my head.
He took my hand and leaned against me. “I know,” he whispered. “Spencer, I know.” And with that, he took me to bed.
We stripped to our underwear, and we lay in the barely lit darkness. He rested his head on my chest and pulled my arm around his shoulder, where he took my arm and inspected it. “What does this tattoo mean?” he asked.
On my left forearm were six roses, drawn exactly opposite the ravens on my right arm. I explained the roses were for every year Aunt Marvie took me in. Above the roses were the words ‘The Impossible Dream’ for her favourite song. I explained the five stars in the Southern Cross formation was for Australia, and the compass was to remind me of the direction I was going.
He replied with soft kisses to my bare chest every so often, and when I was too tired to speak, he hummed my favourite song, “Hallelujah.” And although I couldn’t be sure, I think he skimmed his fingers across my chest like I was a piano, until I fell asleep.
And without my consent, with my defences in ruins, while my brain was sleeping, my stupid heart went and fell headfirst into love.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
I woke up when Andrew knelt on the bed and kissed me goodbye. “I have to go home, grab my gear, and get my arse to the gym before work.”
“Your arse can stay here,” I said, barely able to open my eyes enough to see it was too early for coherent conversation.
He laughed and tweaked my nipple before he climbed off the bed. “Don’t tempt me. I’ll call you later. We still on for dinner tonight?”
The cogs in my mind turned over sleepily. Dinner… dinner… Friday night dinner. I was buying everyone dinner tonight. “Oh, yeah. Dinner. For sure.”
“I’ll just come by after work.”
“Cool.” I rolled over and pulled his pillow under my arm and hugged it instead.
“Don’t get up or anything,” he said sarcastically.