Second Chances in New Port Stephen - Chapter 108

[adminnovelsaudio]

Listen Audiobook Version:



Second Chances in New Port Stephen - Chapter 108

He could see the light dim in Eli’s eyes. “Yeah. No. I get that.” He ducked his head and shuffled
back a step, then thought better of it when it brought him perilously close to the edge of the
dock. “This was kind of a dramatic long shot, right? I mean, New Year’s, the ball drop—if this
were a movie, I’d get to kiss you at midnight and everyone would cheer. Hooray.” He shook a fist
half-heartedly in the air. “Sometimes things don’t work out the way you want. At least I got it all
off my chest, huh?”
Nick felt like he was underwater in the way most people meant it: disoriented, breathless,
senses muffled, no clue what to do next. But then he remembered: he was at his best
underwater. He reached for Eli’s hand and pried it out of a fist. Their fingers threaded together.
“I love you too,” he said. “Never stopped, actually.”
Eli’s mouth fell open. A sheen of happy tears formed in his eyes, colored by the fairy lights that
hung along the patio. “And you couldn’t have said that forty- five seconds ago?”
Nick shook his head, a smile already creeping across his face. “Too cliché.”
“You rebel.” Eli lifted their joined hands to his lips and kissed Nick’s knuckles. His eyes squeezed
shut as he did so. “Wow. Okay,” he murmured into his skin. “You love me too.”
Then he looked up and kissed Nick. Or Nick kissed him. It was impossible to say who leaned in
first and who followed whose lead. It didn’t matter. Nick had his arms full of warm, happy Eli,
and that was all he cared about.
Actually. No. There was one thing he needed to make sure Eli knew.
He pulled back from the kiss and leaned his forehead against Eli’s. “So we agree—boyfriends? It
sounds so…”

-- 216 of 228 --

“Like we’re eighteen again?” Eli leaned in to peck him on the chin. “I don’t hate it.”
Nick wasn’t sure why that made him smile, but it did. “Okay. Boyfriends. I am a man dating
another man—and that man is fine with me being some currently undefined flavor of
questioning?”
Eli stared at him like he was speaking Greek. “Dude. Yes. You’re my favorite person. I am fine
with everything you are or could ever be.” He snugged his arms tighter around Nick’s neck. “I
don’t need you to pick out a flag today, or ever, if you don’t want to.”