IRL: In Real Life (After Oscar, #1)(86)

His cool hand slid over my hip to the bare skin of my ass and toyed lightly in the crease. “You sure about that? We don’t have to use cuffs. In fact—”

I smacked his ass again. “Behave. If you want to fuck me later tonight, that’s fine. You know I’m happy to bottom for you.”

He went quiet for a minute, and I was sure he was debating whether he wanted the pleasure of fucking me, which he enjoyed on occasion, or his usual preference for having me take him and own his body completely.

“Uhhh,” he finally answered. “Can we do both? Or…”

I set him down so I could lock the office door. “Or?”

And my sweetheart suddenly blushed to the tips of his ears. “Or, could maybe I ride—oof!”

I clapped a hand over his mouth as soon as I spotted his mom and her neighbor Bill turn the corner right in front of us. “Ponies!” I blurted. “Hi, guys. Conor wanted to know if there were pony rides at the festival.” I pulled Conor’s face into my chest and wrapped my arms around him to hide his mortification.

Liz wrinkled her brow. “I think you’re confusing Downtown After 5 with Saturday Night Lights, honey. I’m pretty sure there won’t be pony rides tonight. But they do have dancing. We were just coming by to show you where our crew is sitting.”

I stepped away from Conor long enough to kiss Liz on the cheek and shake Bill’s hand.

“You all set for your camping trip tomorrow?” Bill asked as we made our way up the street in the direction of the music.

“Yes, but still no word from James about whether they plan to join us,” Conor huffed. “I still don’t get why he’d fly all the way here just to spend the weekend in a hotel room.”

“Really?” I asked him, reaching for his hand and giving it a squeeze. “You can’t think of any reason?”

He swatted at me.

I took his fingers and brought them to my lips. “Like I said, hon, there’s no way he’s joining us. I’m not sure James is the outdoor type. When he met us at Comic-Con last month, I swear he even got itchy when he stood too close to Groot.”

Conor’s eyes got big. “Did you just make a correct Marvel reference? Oh my god. You leveled up.”

Liz snorted. “So proud of you, Wells. You’ll be full geek by Christmas.”

When she almost lost her step over the edge of a curb, Bill quickly reached out to steady her with an arm around her waist. Once she regained her footing, he kept his arm there.

I met Conor’s eye and raised a brow. Thankfully, Conor was smiling. I knew he respected and appreciated Bill, and he seemed happy that the two of them might have something special going on.

When we reached the festival, we wove our way through the crowd to join our group of friends sitting at a big round table by the dance floor. Everyone cheered our arrival and handed us drinks they’d been saving. Roya was there, along with Conor’s employees from the shop and two of my coworkers from the foundation. A few minutes after we sat down, our new neighbors John and Andros waved to us from one of the drink stalls. We gestured for them to join us so we could introduce them around.

As I sat and watched Conor chat animatedly with the incredible community we called home, I thought about how much richer my life was. I remembered Saturday afternoons this time last year. I would work in the office by myself until it was time to take a long run in the park and get dinner. Then I’d most likely work some more from home.

Now, my Saturdays were filled with fun and family. Conor and I would sleep in and make a lazy breakfast or walk to a nearby bagel shop. Then we’d go for a hike or a long drive down the Blue Ridge Parkway before making our way back to grill something over at Liz’s house. Usually, her big backyard would be full of her old students or other faculty friends from the university. When she was having a bad day, we’d have the party at our house or do all of the work for her at hers. But she loved the company, even on her weaker days.

Thankfully the treatments had resulted in far fewer weak days, which put a light in Conor’s face I hadn’t seen there before. Our foundation funneled as much money as possible into research for the disease, and we all had high hopes it would help make a difference. In the meantime, she was already pestering us to make our relationship official and start a family. While both of us wanted kids one day, we were in no hurry. And since the doctors were optimistic about Liz’s prognosis, we had time to enjoy our lives together before adding another family member.

Conor loved going to work every day at his printshop, and I felt the same about my work at the foundation. Most of the Grange business was managed smoothly by Deb and my management team, and I was able to handle the rest of it just fine thanks to the great people we’d hired at the foundation.

I smiled, enjoying the moment surrounded by so much love and support, content for the first time in my life.

Conor leaned over and put his head on my shoulder. “What’re you cogitating about so hard over there?”

I turned and placed a kiss on his head. “What a difference a year makes, yeah?”

He snuggled against me. “I think you mean what a difference love makes.” Before I could respond, he suddenly sat up and gasped. “Oh my god, I can’t believe I forgot to tell you!” he said, grabbing my arm. “Scotty is coming to visit and then going to Dragon Con with us.”