“I like how soft this is,” he said running his hands through my chest hair. I didn’t have a lot, but what I did have was mostly on my pecs. I had a stocky build, but Elias was still wider than me, and sitting like we were now, I felt enveloped by him. “I wondered how you would feel. You feel better than I imagined, and I had created very lofty expectations in my head.”

I smiled, turning around so I could kiss him again. “I can’t say this is unexpected on my part. I wanted to jump you from the moment I saw you.”

He laughed and grazed his lips on the palm of my hand, which was such a ridiculously romantic thing to do. I would be hopelessly lost to this man in no time at all. “I was wondering if those looks you gave me in Awassa every time you had a couple of beers were just a coincidence. You would go like this.” He did this squinty-eyed thing and said, “I was going to suggest you go to the eye doctor.”

I balked and tugged on one of his curls. “Hey, watch it. That’s my smolder.”

He legit guffawed at that, “Like in the Disney movie?”

“Yes!” I wailed, which only sent him into another fit of laughter.

After he finally calmed down, he shook his head and looked at me like I was the cutest thing he’d ever seen. Then he grabbed the back of my head and kissed me until I was squirming against him. He pulled back, smiling. “You crazy farenji.”

I backed away a bit, waved my hand between us and crowed, “Hey! It worked.”

I always got fidgety when I felt I was under someone’s scrutiny, like if they looked long enough they’d realize I was a fraud. That I didn’t mean any of the things I was doing. But Elias looked at me like I was something worth understanding. As if he hadn’t worked it all out yet, but what he could see, he liked a lot. I got closer and ran my hands over his chest, tucked my head right under his chin, and took a deep breath.

He sighed too and said, “I’m very glad to be with you here right now.” Then he laughed in a way that wasn’t exactly humorous. “It’s also a little bit frightening. I’ve been thinking so much about Ari and Dante in the past few weeks.”

I turned so I could look at his face. “I wondered what you thought about the book. You didn’t say much when it ended.”

He tightened his arms around me as he spoke. “Everything I felt after we finished it seemed too dangerous to say in the moment.”

I nodded in understanding. “How does it feel now?”

He pulled me closer, and in a very serious voice said, “Too good to question.”