Hidden Passions (Hidden, #7)(54)

Chris was sorry he'd brought it up, but he explained. "You said you'd never, you know, felt as much as this before."

"Oh my God," Tony said. "That is awesome. You're jealous!"

Chris squirmed on the bedcovers. "I'm not jealous. Exactly. You'd be abnormal if you'd never had a crush on someone."

Tony snickered into his chest.

"You're not denying you had a crush on him," Chris noticed.

"Am I supposed to?"

Chris frowned at the ceiling. Maybe Tony guessed he was miffed. Chris felt his grin broaden.

"I love you," he said, patting Chris's side gently. "Nate's a great guy, but you . . . call to me more than him. Even if he were gay, I expect that would be the case."

He expected that would be the case. "He's too fussy for you," Chris said.

Tony kissed his breastbone. "Go to sleep, mon chat."

Despite his lingering annoyance, Chris did precisely that.

~

They woke up starving a few hours later. Tony thought it was sweet that neither had been in the mood to eat without the other. Chris ordered burgers from room service. They ate, then showered, then made love nice and slow. Tony liked that more than he suspected he should let on.

Afterwards, they slept through the night. Tony forced himself to get up before the alarm, so he could sit and watch Chris sleeping. True to his animal's nature, the big cat was good at it. He slumbered through Tony's trip to the bathroom and him dressing.

His eyes only cracked open when Tony combed his wonderful gold-streaked hair behind his ear.

"What time is it?" Chris mumbled.

"Still early. I need to go home for fresh clothes."

Chris rolled onto his back and stretched, his massive chest a sight to see. "Last night was good."

"Yes, it was, mon--"

"If you keep up that mon chat crap, I'm gonna call you pup."

Chris was assuming Tony wouldn't like having a nickname. "You can do better than that," he said aloud. "When we were kids and I annoyed my brother, he used to call me Ant."

"'Ant' as in a bug?"

"That too, but short for Anthony."

"Ah." On his side again, Chris tucked his hands underneath his cheek. "I'll remember that."

His smile was Cheshire-like. Tony's heart welled up, but he kept the words he was thinking inside of him. A guy like Chris wouldn't want to hear I love you every five damn minutes.

"I better go," Tony said, pushing from the mattress onto his feet.

"Bye, Ant," Chris said teasingly.

Amused, Tony shook his head. His hand was on the door when Chris spoke again.

"Tony," he called softly. "I love you."

The grin that stretched Tony's mouth warmed his face all day.





CHAPTER NINE


SHORTLY after rescuing the dragons, Rick moved into Cass's place. She lived atop the downtown Maycees department store, in a lavish penthouse with a pool and a roof terrace. Not only did it have room for Cass's menagerie, but the building's security made it easier to keep the press and other curious folks out of their business.

Operating on the logic that creatures everyone knew about would be harder to move against, Cass and Rick had introduced the brood to the city on Jin and Bridie's As Luck Would Have It show. Two months after the program aired, the resulting dragon mania hadn't yet died down. Every other kid Tony saw was either skipping in dragon sneakers or carrying a dragon lunchbox or--most goofily--warming their little heads under crocheted dragon hats. The latest trend in reptilian wear was charming it to smoke. The day before, Tony had spotted an otherwise conservative businessman with a fire-breathing dragon-shaped tiepin.


Tony was seriously considering buying Rick one for his next birthday.

Given that Rick had all but abandoned the brownstone, Tony didn't expect to return from a run and find him on his couch.

"What's up?" he asked, toeing off his shoes and leaving them at the door. Using his shirt hem, he wiped the worst of the sweat from his face. "Cass come to her senses and toss you out?"

Rick was picking at the label of one of Tony's beers. The living room was marginally less cluttered than usual, and there was room to sit. Though Tony was glad to see him, Rick's at-homeness made him grateful he hadn't left anything to do with Chris lying out.

To Tony's surprise, Rick didn't roll his eyes at the joke. Instead, he looked very serious.

"Cass agreed to marry me," he said.

Tony's face split into a grin. "That's awesome! When is the wedding?"

"I don't know. March maybe? She and her girlfriends say there's stuff to plan." Clearly, the thought of that stuff inspired anxiety. "We're throwing an engagement party on Cass's roof this weekend."

"Great. You want my help with anything?"

"I don't think so." Rick hesitated. "You're really okay with this?"

"Why wouldn't I be? You know I think Cass is super."

Rick rubbed his knees awkwardly. "We haven't . . . talked about you in a while."

"Why do we need to talk about me? I'm good."

Tony was better than good. Despite needing sneak around, seeing Chris on a relatively frequent basis made him the happiest he'd ever been.